ca. 100K to
ca. 2M

Open:
11 3/4" x
2 21/32"
(29,8 x 6,7 cm)

This foldout was both an instruction booklet and guarantee. It seems to follow on the heels of the larger eight page booklet from the early 1950s and has most of the same information in a smaller package that would fit nicely inside a watch box. The final year of production seems to be 1966, and that seems to coincide with the time when Rolex began to use the punched paper guarantee booklets and papers.

These fascinating 32 (plus 4 pages for the covers) booklets were unique to the UK market, featuring the Rolex facility at Bexley, England. The first page was a guarantee page to completed at time of sale. The last page had a form to keep service records.

This 32 page information and instruction booklet had 8 additional pages in the center that held the guarantee. The guarantee pages were left blank to be completed by the dealer at the time of purchase. Four of the guarantee pages had tear-off perforations to be used when servicing the watch. Some booklets have a subtle date code stamped by the factory inside the booklet. The booklets guarantee came blank or with punched case numbers.

Guarantee & Companion Booklet (ca. 1968 - 1969) 

This booklet was produced with and without warranty sections. One version had the same 36 pages of information as the other, in addition, there were 8 pages with a guarantee form and punched case numbers. The other version had only the companion booklet. It can be assumed that this version of the booklet (without the guarantee) was used to accompany watches that had a separate green-border guarantee certificate (below) produced around the same time.

ca. 2M to
ca. 3M

This 36 page booklet was produced as either a companion or guarantee booklet. Some versions had a guarantee on the second to last page. Other versions had four additional pages, two at the front and two at the back with a form and punched case numbers on the second to last page. This booklet was the last companion booklet with guarantee forms. 

ca. 3M
onward

When Rolex finally separated the guarantee papers from the instruction booklets, these companion booklets were created. The first generation of these booklets (top left, white cover) looked very similar to the earlier guarantee booklets. But around 1975, the booklets changed size and shape (middle, right), and were printed in full color. 

The design has been changed more than a few times to keep up with trends, but the core information has remained virtually unchanged. It is interesting to compare the text of the English and US versions in some of the later versions.

 

Attestation
Small Open:
 8.25" x 6"
(20,9 x 15,3 cm)

Garantie
Small Open:
8.25" x 6 1/8"
(20,9 x 15,5 cm)

Garantie & Attestation
Large Open:
8.25 x 9"
(20,9 x 22,9 cm)

By the late 1960s, Rolex produced many chronometer rated watches, and it probably became impractical for the Bureaux Suisses to issue hand-written certificates for the quantity of watches submitted by Rolex for certification.
 
An arrangement was made by which "Bureaux Suisses - de Controle Officiel de la Marche des Chronometres (Swiss Institute for Official Chronometer Tests) continued to test the Rolex produced movements. But Rolex was allowed to issue certificates using the Bureaux Suisses red seal.