Rolex’s Second-Ever Book Focuses on the Datejust

Last year, Rolex did something it had never done: it published a book about one of its own watches. Oyster Perpetual Submariner, The Watch That Unlocked the Deep wasn’t just a handsome coffee-table object. It included production estimates for every Submariner, Sea-Dweller, and Deepsea reference, down to single digits. For collectors who’d spent decades working from educated guesses, that was a watershed moment.

Oyster Perpetual Datejust, A Watch That Made History

Rolex is now following up with a Datejust volume written by Nicholas Foulkes and produced with Wallpaper*. The 224-page, silk-bound book is available to pre-order for £100 (about $136), with sales opening September 29 via WallpaperSTORE* and wider availability expected in October through select retailers and bookstores.

Why This Announcement Matters

The Submariner book changed scholarship because it replaced speculation about production numbers with hard figures from Rolex itself. The new Datejust book mirrors that project in authorship, publisher, and presentation, which strongly suggests a similar approach. Rolex has not confirmed whether production estimates will appear in the Datejust volume, but given the template set by last year’s Submariner book, it’s a reasonable expectation—and the reason collectors are paying attention now, before anyone has a copy in hand.

The Datejust's Scale and Complexity

Introduced in 1945, the Datejust is Rolex’s longest-running model. Over the past 80 years it’s appeared in multiple case sizes, across steel and precious metals, with smooth or fluted bezels, on Oyster and Jubilee bracelets, and with countless dials. That sheer variety has always made the Datejust harder to study than Rolex’s more narrowly defined models. If Rolex publishes production estimates across references, it would give collectors a clearer map of what’s common, what’s scarce, and where the real outliers live—context that could reframe how we think about the model’s history and value.

The Bottom Line

Right now, this is a pre-order announcement with outsized implications. If the Datejust book follows the Submariner volume’s lead, it could reshape Datejust scholarship for years to come. We’ll know more once the book is in collectors’ hands.