Air-King Past and Present

[MJ EXPLORER]

Nice cool night by the fire with the new Air-King. Similar photo with the 116900 from three years ago.





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[Chewbacca]

Wonderful pic.

I think that’s the natural vibe for that watch. A dressed down large fun stainless Rolex which doesn’t want to be taken seriously. Probably the biggest departure from an original version Rolex has done.

[MJ EXPLORER]

Thanks Chewy! I agree. It’s casual and fun. It’s not near as crazy as it looks in blown up photos.

I like them both, but personally I love the changes they made for the 126900. In particular the crown guards. Makes it feel sportier.


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[newonos]

I think the 116900 is better value. I know/get folks like the 05, on the newer iteration... but... the 116900 has the 3131 movement, while its newer counterpart has the 32XX. The 3131 hasnt had the amplitude problems, and has anti-mag. To me its a better value. Newer AK is more a dressed up OP. No shade to those who disagree. Just MHO.

[MJ EXPLORER]

I completely respect your opinion! Great take. I owned and love/loved both. I prefer the 126900, but they’re both amazing and underrated.


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[dannyp]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

Wonderful pic.

I think that’s the natural vibe for that watch. A dressed down large fun stainless Rolex which doesn’t want to be taken seriously. Probably the biggest departure from an original version Rolex has done.

Interesting point about the “departure” there. I’d say Daytona is up there, having started as a 36mm manual wind, but AK takes it.

[MJ EXPLORER]

I didn't know that about the Daytona! I assumed it was always 40mm. Great info.

[goldboy]

Originally Posted by newonos

I think the 116900 is better value. I know/get folks like the 05, on the newer iteration... but... the 116900 has the 3131 movement, while its newer counterpart has the 32XX. The 3131 hasnt had the amplitude problems, and has anti-mag. To me its a better value. Newer AK is more a dressed up OP. No shade to those who disagree. Just MHO.

Pretty subjective take here, I’d say the minor design changes outweigh positively compared to the movement and antimagnetic changes.

[Alvar*]

Originally Posted by newonos

I think the 116900 is better value. I know/get folks like the 05, on the newer iteration... but... the 116900 has the 3131 movement, while its newer counterpart has the 32XX. The 3131 hasnt had the amplitude problems, and has anti-mag. To me its a better value. Newer AK is more a dressed up OP. No shade to those who disagree. Just MHO.

Never gave any thought about the Air King until they released the 126900. Absolutely love it.

Wasnt the 116900 air king more like a dressed up op as it had the op/dj kind of case curves and also op/dj style bracelet clasp? The new one has crown guards and more like a sub style case and the professional style clasp.

But I think you might be right about the value as they have bumped up the price with the new reference.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Alvar*

Never gave any thought about the Air King until they released the 126900. Absolutely love it.

Wasnt the 116900 air king more like a dressed up op as it had the op/dj kind of case curves and also op/dj style bracelet clasp? The new one has crown guards and more like a sub style case and the professional style clasp.

But I think you might be right about the value as they have bumped up the price with the new reference.

The Airking today is a very underrated watch by many, but its a fantastic watch with a long past history. Some say the first Airkings were particularly designed for pilots as such but IMHO they were not, but world war 11 did have a part to play with the Airking. And many models now becoming collectible especially the Airking dates especially the red date roulette wheel ones.Now before WW11 Rolex was always popular with the armed forces in the UK, now old Hans being a good business man saw there was a market for a slightly bigger watch. Now watches at these times were quite small 30mm and under were the average size. Now Rolex started producing 33 mm models under the names of Air-Lion, Air-Tiger, Air-Giant and the Airking.They all used a 15 jewel manual wind movement then came in S.steel even a TT plus all gold but mainly then 9ct.And were in production from the mid 1940s to early 1950s when they were all dropped,except for the Airking. Now over the next few years the Air king gained a auto movement and now the same size as OP, and today some of the most sort after Airkings now are models like the 1960s 5504 with the honeycombed dial. Now the first Airking date arrived on the scene late 1960s Ref 5700 were only sold in the then Commonwealth countries like Canada and the UK. Now they made a 5700n Explorer Date but that was only sold in the USA.Later 1970s 5701 Airking dates had the cal.1525/35 movements,and they made a TT version of the 5701 quite rare, but again for the Canadian only market but the older Airking date faded out of production in the 1980s. IMO a shame the Airking has quite a lot of history, and IMHO now a very very underrated watch.With some modern Airkings have the retro look 1950s dials, myself prefer the Oyster bracelet over the Jubilee.PS great pictures to original poster.

[White Collar Boy]

Great info, Peter. And I agree with both points: very underrated; and great photos by MJ.

[brandrea]

The watch and the fire place both looks fantastic

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by padi56

The Airking today is a very underrated watch by many, but its a fantastic watch with a long past history. Some say the first Airkings were particularly designed for pilots as such but IMHO they were not, but world war 11 did have a part to play with the Airking. And many models now becoming collectible especially the Airking dates especially the red date roulette wheel ones.Now before WW11 Rolex was always popular with the armed forces in the UK, now old Hans being a good business man saw there was a market for a slightly bigger watch. Now watches at these times were quite small 30mm and under were the average size. Now Rolex started producing 33 mm models under the names of Air-Lion, Air-Tiger, Air-Giant and the Airking.They all used a 15 jewel manual wind movement then came in S.steel even a TT plus all gold but mainly then 9ct.And were in production from the mid 1940s to early 1950s when they were all dropped,except for the Airking. Now over the next few years the Air king gained a auto movement and now the same size as OP, and today some of the most sort after Airkings now are models like the 1960s 5504 with the honeycombed dial. Now the first Airking date arrived on the scene late 1960s Ref 5700 were only sold in the then Commonwealth countries like Canada and the UK. Now they made a 5700n Explorer Date but that was only sold in the USA.Later 1970s 5701 Airking dates had the cal.1525/35 movements,and they made a TT version of the 5701 quite rare, but again for the Canadian only market but the older Airking date faded out of production in the 1980s. IMO a shame the Airking has quite a lot of history, and IMHO now a very very underrated watch.With some modern Airkings have the retro look 1950s dials, myself prefer the Oyster bracelet over the Jubilee.PS great pictures to original poster.

And thank you for the brief history lesson Peter, great information

[HogwldFLTR]

Nice photos. I appreciate Peter's write-up as well. As far as Amplitude, anti-magnetism, and value are concerned, I own the 12 series as well as a Milgauss and OP41. I really like all three of them. I especially appreciate the new bracelet and lume on the Air King. The thinner case is great and makes the watch very comfortable on the wrist. The old dial wasn't bad but it seemed to drive many crazy due to the lack of a zero in front of the five. So far I've got three watches with the 70+ hour reserve and really appreciate that feature.



Below are some snip-its from Rolex Magazine. https://www.rolexmagazine.com/2013/0...g.html#/page/1

The Rolex Air-King has one of the most complex histories of any Rolex model spanning nearly 70 years of continuous production. During the Second World War, Rolex would supply their SpeedKing or other specified model on credit to British POWs. As the war drew to a close, Rolex founder, Hans Wilsdorf, chose to honor the RAF pilots of the Battle of Britain with a series of aviation themed watches. The "Air" series included the Air-Lion, Air-Giant, Air-Tiger, and of course the Air-King. Today, only the Air-King remains.

The first true Air-King was introduced in 1945 with the 4925. The 4925 was the follow-on to the 4365 series of "Air" models. For the international market the progression was from the 4925/4365 (sub-seconds), 4499, 6552, 5500, 14000, 14000m, then finally the super cased 114200. In 1958, however, a separate line evolved independently for specific markets. These included the Air-King-Date and the 550X models for the Commonwealth market. At the same time the 5504 Explorer 35mm case was used for the Air-King as well. This reference being the only 35mm Air-King to date.

[1William]

Nice pictures, great watch.

[MJ EXPLORER]

Originally Posted by Alvar*

Never gave any thought about the Air King until they released the 126900. Absolutely love it.

Wasnt the 116900 air king more like a dressed up op as it had the op/dj kind of case curves and also op/dj style bracelet clasp? The new one has crown guards and more like a sub style case and the professional style clasp.

But I think you might be right about the value as they have bumped up the price with the new reference.

The 116900 was in the Milgauss case with mk1 Explorer white gold 3,6 and 9. The 126900 feels like a Submariner case including crown guards and mk2 Explorer lumed 3,6 and 9.

But as a long time Explorer II wearer, I find the Air-King to very much remind me of the 216570 Explorer II on the wrist.

While the 116900 and 126900 look pretty similiar in photos, they wear completely different. I'm a fan of both!

[MJ EXPLORER]

Originally Posted by 1William

Nice pictures, great watch.

Thanks so much William! I had to be patient on this one. My AD came through but it took a long time and apparently there was a lot of interest in it.

[MJ EXPLORER]

Originally Posted by padi56

The Airking today is a very underrated watch by many, but its a fantastic watch with a long past history. Some say the first Airkings were particularly designed for pilots as such but IMHO they were not, but world war 11 did have a part to play with the Airking. And many models now becoming collectible especially the Airking dates especially the red date roulette wheel ones.Now before WW11 Rolex was always popular with the armed forces in the UK, now old Hans being a good business man saw there was a market for a slightly bigger watch. Now watches at these times were quite small 30mm and under were the average size. Now Rolex started producing 33 mm models under the names of Air-Lion, Air-Tiger, Air-Giant and the Airking.They all used a 15 jewel manual wind movement then came in S.steel even a TT plus all gold but mainly then 9ct.And were in production from the mid 1940s to early 1950s when they were all dropped,except for the Airking. Now over the next few years the Air king gained a auto movement and now the same size as OP, and today some of the most sort after Airkings now are models like the 1960s 5504 with the honeycombed dial. Now the first Airking date arrived on the scene late 1960s Ref 5700 were only sold in the then Commonwealth countries like Canada and the UK. Now they made a 5700n Explorer Date but that was only sold in the USA.Later 1970s 5701 Airking dates had the cal.1525/35 movements,and they made a TT version of the 5701 quite rare, but again for the Canadian only market but the older Airking date faded out of production in the 1980s. IMO a shame the Airking has quite a lot of history, and IMHO now a very very underrated watch.With some modern Airkings have the retro look 1950s dials, myself prefer the Oyster bracelet over the Jubilee.PS great pictures to original poster.

Peter - Amazing post! I love to know the full history and story of every watch. Thanks so much for sharing. I gave an abridged version of this story to my wife last night, but I suspect she will enjoy your fuller history! And she generally cares little about watches.

[MJ EXPLORER]

Originally Posted by brandrea

The watch and the fire place both looks fantastic

Thanks Brian! Interestingly, in these pictures I prefer the warm glow of the white gold numberlas on the 116900, but it's hard to beat the legibility of the 126900.

[dannyp]

Originally Posted by padi56

The Airking today is a very underrated watch by many, but its a fantastic watch with a long past history. Some say the first Airkings were particularly designed for pilots as such but IMHO they were not, but world war 11 did have a part to play with the Airking. And many models now becoming collectible especially the Airking dates especially the red date roulette wheel ones.Now before WW11 Rolex was always popular with the armed forces in the UK, now old Hans being a good business man saw there was a market for a slightly bigger watch. Now watches at these times were quite small 30mm and under were the average size. Now Rolex started producing 33 mm models under the names of Air-Lion, Air-Tiger, Air-Giant and the Airking.They all used a 15 jewel manual wind movement then came in S.steel even a TT plus all gold but mainly then 9ct.And were in production from the mid 1940s to early 1950s when they were all dropped,except for the Airking. Now over the next few years the Air king gained a auto movement and now the same size as OP, and today some of the most sort after Airkings now are models like the 1960s 5504 with the honeycombed dial. Now the first Airking date arrived on the scene late 1960s Ref 5700 were only sold in the then Commonwealth countries like Canada and the UK. Now they made a 5700n Explorer Date but that was only sold in the USA.Later 1970s 5701 Airking dates had the cal.1525/35 movements,and they made a TT version of the 5701 quite rare, but again for the Canadian only market but the older Airking date faded out of production in the 1980s. IMO a shame the Airking has quite a lot of history, and IMHO now a very very underrated watch.With some modern Airkings have the retro look 1950s dials, myself prefer the Oyster bracelet over the Jubilee.PS great pictures to original poster.

This is why, name aside, in some ways I still think of a stainless OP34 as the "true" successor to the AK. AFAIK, at least in modern times, there was no OP34 until the 116900 came out and AK was renamed (yes, there was a TT OP34, and steel OPD34, but none in steel and dateless).