Air-King now a “featured” watch on Rolex site’s homepage

[037]

Originally Posted by offrdmania

I would have bought that watch a long time ago if it didnt have the 3,6,9 on the dial

Same here. I'd love to have seen a fully printed dial with 15 / 30 / 45 instead like a proper speedometer.

They must have had extra 3s and 6s left over from the original 214270 Explorer.

[horseShu]

I really try to like the Air-King. I really do. But it just doesn't sing to me.


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[Bob_Loblaw]

Originally Posted by APPRF

Has everything going for it...

Yes. The Air King was first issued in 1945 partially to honor the British RAF pilots of the Battle of Britain.

Originally Posted by APPRF

...different looking dial than what Rolex is used to doing...

Yes. It is important to note that the 116900 dial is different from what Rolex has done in the past. The dial on the 116900 is very similar to the Flieger B-uhr watches issued to German pilots in the late 1930s.

Rolex designers know the history of pilot's watches. Yes, it's been decades, but it just seems ironic, at best, to combine the history of these two designs into one watch.

[sdiver68]

Thd original Air series including Air King were homage to the fact that RAF Pilots wore Speed Kings and other Oysters into combat. Speed King draws its heritage from automobiles. Fitting the Bloodhound is basically a jet on wheels.

[shawn13ca]

Rolex is not associated with the Bloodhound LSR anymore and the gauges have been removed. It will get discontinued as it doesn't have any story to.back it up anymore.

[APPRF]

Originally Posted by 037

Same here. I'd love to have seen a fully printed dial with 15 / 30 / 45 instead like a proper speedometer.

They must have had extra 3s and 6s left over from the original 214270 Explorer.

Or they decided to use the White Gold 3,6,9 for the special Bloodhound Air King (the dial was based on the Bloodhound car dial, look at the dial on the right. They incorporated the main dial with the smaller dial), and gave the new Explorer a regular white lumed 3,6,9 design, (explorers need a good loom at night, while pilots don’t need it in their cockpit). Even using 5 instead of 05 was because they wanted to stick to the design of the Bloodhound car dial design). The new Explorer, and the Bloodhound Air King where released together in 2016.

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/modern-...-1000-mph-car/

[APPRF]

Originally Posted by shawn13ca

Rolex is not associated with the Bloodhound LSR anymore and the gauges have been removed. It will get discontinued as it doesn't have any story to.back it up anymore.

Yes this will probably happen, and Rolex will bring back the Air King after several years with a boring regular design like most of it’s references. The Bloodhound Air King will always be a special design if this scenario happens.

[APPRF]

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/modern-...-1000-mph-car/

[APPRF]

Originally Posted by Bob_Loblaw

Yes. The Air King was first issued in 1945 partially to honor the British RAF pilots of the Battle of Britain.



Yes. It is important to note that the 116900 dial is different from what Rolex has done in the past. The dial on the 116900 is very similar to the Flieger B-uhr watches issued to German pilots in the late 1930s.

Rolex designers know the history of pilot's watches. Yes, it's been decades, but it just seems ironic, at best, to combine the history of these two designs into one watch.

So they honored the British RAF pilots who saved London from German booming with a watch that had a dial similar to the Flieger B-uhr watches issued to German pilots. Nice .

[Dsmith1974]

Originally Posted by APPRF

So they honored the British RAF pilots who saved London from German booming with a watch that had a dial similar to the Flieger B-uhr watches issued to German pilots. Nice .

Well the Avro Vulcan was a Nazi design. Not to mention the Saturn V, so why not?

After a war it’s usual for the victors to take the spoils from the vanquished.


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[APPRF]

Originally Posted by sdiver68

Thd original Air series including Air King were homage to the fact that RAF Pilots wore Speed Kings and other Oysters into combat. Speed King draws its heritage from automobiles. Fitting the Bloodhound is basically a jet on wheels.

This ties everything together. The old design Air King, the Bloodhound dial on the car, and the new Bloodhound Air King.

[Aztro]

It’s been said, but again: Rolex is currently not associated at all with Bloodhound, their dials are no longer in the car, and weren’t even there for last year’s desert shake down. On top of this Bloodhound is once again bust, and it seems unlikely to get the funding they need this time round. I can’t see why having a dial that is *not* in a *failed* super sonic car makes for a good watch story. And I don’t suppose there’s a good reason for it to outperform the white dial MG, which is much less divisive than the AK but has still done nothing on the market.

[APPRF]

Originally Posted by Aztro

It’s been said, but again: Rolex is currently not associated at all with Bloodhound, their dials are no longer in the car, and weren’t even there for last year’s desert shake down. On top of this Bloodhound is once again bust, and it seems unlikely to get the funding they need this time round. I can’t see why having a dial that is *not* in a *failed* super sonic car makes for a good watch story. And I don’t suppose there’s a good reason for it to outperform the white dial MG, which is much less divisive than the AK but has still done nothing on the market.

Actually the discontinuation, failed project, etc of the Bloodhound Air King is in itself a good story, in addition to the history and story of the Air King. The discontinued white dial Milgauss doesn’t have history, or even a failed story, or an interesting dial. Not every watch or dial that gets discontinued by Rolex gets to be collectable or increase in price later. I agree with you about nothing may happen, but at least the Bloodhound Air King has a chance to be collectable for the points mentioned in this thread.

[Aztro]

To say a failed project, which Rolex bailed out from, gives something the right kind of providence for some market action seems to be a big stretch. I guess we can come back in 2030 and find out...

[RKTINC1]

It is a great watch. They need to discontinue it and reintroduce the air king in a smaller 38mm package. That way my 116900 would jump in value and be even more cool.

[Harry-57]

Originally Posted by 365DAS

there’s been talk about the Air-King either being updated or dropped altogether

True, but who has been talking about it?

Rolex, or maybe people at ADs with some inside knowledge? Don't think so.

People speculating in forums and on Youtube going for clickbait? Ah right. Well, it must be true then.

[Scrap_Life]

I love mine.


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[VegasMilgauss]

I remember the Milgauss got featured a lot this time last year leading many (myself included) to believe Basel would mean update/dropped .... who knows.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Bob_Loblaw

Yes. The Air King was first issued in 1945 partially to honor the British RAF pilots of the Battle of Britain.



Yes. It is important to note that the 116900 dial is different from what Rolex has done in the past. The dial on the 116900 is very similar to the Flieger B-uhr watches issued to German pilots in the late 1930s.

Rolex designers know the history of pilot's watches. Yes, it's been decades, but it just seems ironic, at best, to combine the history of these two designs into one watch.

Well the first Airkings were made many decades ago some say the first Airkings were particularly designed for pilots as such but IMHO they were definitely not, but world war 11 did have a part to play with the Airkings development.Today many models are now becoming collectable especially the Airking dates and especially the red date roulette ones.Now before World War 11 Rolex was always popular with many in the armed forces in the UK and commonwealth.Now old Hans being a good business man saw there was a market for a slightly larger watch.Now watches at these times were quite small 30m was the average size.Now Rolex started producing 33m models under the names of Air Lion,Air Tiger,Air Giant and the Airking.They all used then a 15 jewel manual wind movement,then came in steel even a TT plus all gold but mainly in those days 9ct gold.And they were in production from the mid 1940s to early 1950s when they were all suddenly 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 are models like the 1960s 5504 with the honeycombed dial this was a Rolex first.Now the very first Airking date arrived on the scene late 1960s Ref 5700 and then were only sold in 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 today, but again for the Canadian only market but the Airking date faded out of production in the 1980s. IMO a shame the Airking has quite a lot of real Rolex watch history, and IMHO is now the modern day Airkings are a very very underrated watch.

[Scott Cali]

Originally Posted by horseShu

I really try to like the Air-King. I really do. But it just doesn't sing to me.


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Well said and same...my Dad has an older 14000 which I like better then the newer versions.

[WatchLurv]

AK isn't hard to get. It's on display. As recent as in Hong Kong airport for at least a week (unless they replaced it again with another from the safe).

[MSchu]

I love everything about the piece... the case size, the proportion of the bezel to the face, the spacing of the indices, the coloration.



it looks similar to other 'simple' pieces from rolex, but when you see them next to each other the Airking attractively stands out. The Ex1 cound't be more different from the Airking proportionally... I can see having both in the same collection.

[bazin]

Originally Posted by MSchu

I love everything about the piece... the case size, the proportion of the bezel to the face, the spacing of the indices, the coloration.



it looks similar to other 'simple' pieces from rolex, but when you see them next to each other the Airking attractively stands out. The Ex1 cound't be more different from the Airking proportionally... I can see having both in the same collection.

*****

The AK II is an underrated gem at the moment .......it is rather "non-Rolex" for many ........but therefore the ultimate Rolex imo.....
It stands out of the usual Rolex-crowd and I am pretty sure that once it will be a much sought after classic...

[Roddypeepa]

Originally Posted by Dsmith1974

“If you were setting a land speed record at Bonneville tomorrow, you’d be wearing an AirKing.”

That ad will have a very positive effect.


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that sounds like a British sense of humor coming from someone who’d know. (PS I dropped the ‘u’ on purpose.)


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[Weasel_Sniffer]

They should fill the numerals with lume like they did with the mark 2 explorer 1.

[THC]

Originally Posted by 640ibimmerguy

Stopped by my AD today and they had one in the case along with a few other SS sport models but no SUbs or GMT's.

Have seen an AK at both ADs near me, in the last 30 days, so please forgive my attempt at humor above. Was speaking, locally, to me only.

[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by Weasel_Sniffer

They should fill the numerals with lume like they did with the mark 2 explorer 1.

This.


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[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by MSchu

I love everything about the piece... the case size, the proportion of the bezel to the face, the spacing of the indices, the coloration.



it looks similar to other 'simple' pieces from rolex, but when you see them next to each other the Airking attractively stands out. The Ex1 cound't be more different from the Airking proportionally... I can see having both in the same collection.

This is an interesting perspective, and this Aair king piece is beginning to have some appeal to me after initially repelling me because it looks like a ridiculous carnival of inconsistency, a smorgasbord of sights, sounds, and smells, a laser and light show with no design or thought, A kitchen sink with everything thrown in. But now: I’m thinking very hard about getting one of these, because it is so unusual and, therefore, I think history will like it, as will I.


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