Rolex Certified Pre-Owned: An Air King Ref. 116900-0001, In Steel

The Air-King is a name which has been in the Rolex catalog since 1945 and for much of that time, the Air-King was perhaps the most discreet Rolex watch. In 2016, however, a new version of the Air-King was released in which almost the entire design was updated to something much more visibly connected to the world of aviation, with a black dial, Explorer-style 3-6-9 numerals, a prominent inverted triangle marker at 12:00, and a very striking green seconds hand which matched the green color of the Rolex logo.

The 2016 Air-King was also, in keeping with a long-standing practice in producing pilot’s swatches, designed for a high degree of resistance to magnetic fields, and used the Rolex caliber 3131 – chronometer certified by the COSC, and controlled internally by Rolex to the Superlative Chronometer standard of +2/-2 seconds per day. Caliber 3131 (which has been replaced in the current production Air-King by the caliber 3230) has a Parachrom balance spring and nickel-phosphorus lever and escape wheel, all of which are unaffected by magnetism, and the watch was released with the antimagnetic inner case also found in the Rolex Milgauss.

This version of the Air-King is in Rolex 916L stainless steel, and as we’ve said, the general design more directly parallels the world of aviation than the historical Air-King production (aircraft cockpit instrumentation having evolved considerably since the first Air-King took flight in the mid-1940s). There are, of course, common goals in both aircraft instrumentation and in technical watchmaking at Rolex and the three cardinal virtues of any watch designed for an aviation environment are legibility, accuracy, and durability. The 2016 (and current) versions of the Air-King have all of those elements, with the high contrast dial offering a sense of connection to aircraft instrument panel gauges, and to cockpit clocks in particular.

The bracelet is the classic, sturdy Rolex Oyster bracelet, with the Oysterlock safety clasp; the extra security the clasp provides against accidental opening makes it a suitable choice for an aviation timepiece. Rolex is well known for the quality of its bracelets and with good reason; as is always the case, the Oyster bracelet has a feeling of supple strength that sums up Rolex’s manufacturing integrity at least as much as the watch itself.

Although the 2016 version of the Air-King was a major change in the design language, the core ethos of a time-only wristwatch connected to the world of aviation – albeit updated to the modern world – still remains. As a sign of that continuity, one thing hasn’t changed in the new models: the logo, which is the same as the one seen on the dial of the original from 1945 – still a chronometer, still an homage to flight, and still an Air-King.

See the Rolex Air-King ref. 116900-0001 here, and view our Rolex Certified Pre-Owned Collection.