Rolex Air King is probably the plainest timepiece in the Rolex watch family. No complicated chronograph subdials, no fancy tachymeter bezel, and there is even no day and date window on the watch. Why would such an ordinary watch exist in the Rolex wath lines?
There is no standard answers to this question. But I guess because there is a few people in this world would be the Rolex Air King fans for its simplicity and heroic history so Rolex keep the Air King collection so far.
Rolex Air King watch is an really an old warrior in the watch world because it has witnessed the second world war.
By the beginning of World War II, Rolex watches had already acquired enough prestige that British Royal Air Force pilot officers bought them to replace their inferior standard-issue watches. Impressed by this phenomenon, Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex, decided to honor these flyers with a new line of highly precise and functional manual-wind Oysters that could be safely used in the sky.
The new range of watches were given the names of “Air Tiger”, “Air Lion”, “Air Giant” and “Air King”; they all used the legendary 10.5 hunter manual wind movement with 15 jewels and no shock protection on the balance staff. These new models were much larger than the previous manual wind watches, in order to fit in with the new look. Actually these watches were 32 to 33mm diameters, which is quite small from today’s point of view.
Unfortunately these watches were not popular so they were dropped from the catalogs in the early 1950s. Only the Air King remained and that gained an automatic movement. Since then the Air King has kept its place in the Rolex catalogue till now.
Back to the late 1960s, Rolex Air King was available in low carat gold, steel & gold and in a gold filled top steel back configuration. But now it is only available in stainless steel. It is this understated design that make the watch more like a battle-tested veteran, an old warrior. It is a watch that has inner beauty rather than flashy appearance, no wonder the former Republican president candidate John McCain would wear the Rolex Air King watch. It really fits his image.
Today, Rolex Air King is one of the longest continuously produced models in the whole Rolex watch line. Although Air-king is far from low priced but it is presently the lowest priced Rolex watch in the whole Rolex watch line. It lies inconspicuously in the Rolex catalog, waiting the visionary watch connoisseurs.
We have a comprehensive collection of old and modern Rolex Air King replica watches for both men and women, they are perfect gifts for those with low-keyed character.