Ankündigungen und News » 2022 Rolex Air-King Ref. 126900

The modern Rolex Air-King's design history is a tad hard to make sense of. How does a simple 34mm time-only watch intended for World War II pilots evolve into something that was inspired by an instrument gauge from a supersonic car trying to break the land speed record? It wouldn't seem too off if the watch was part of a totally new model line (Speed-King maybe? ), but to still designate it as an Air-King was an interesting choice, to say the least. Regardless of this watch's odd journey, I actually find the Air King ref. 126900 to be one of the best modern Rolexes on the market.
Unlike most models in the Rolex catalog, the Air-King isn't a result of incremental, evolutionary changes throughout many years. If you look at a Submariner from 50 years ago, it doesn't look too far off from the one that's out today, and you can say the same thing for a majority of the brand's models. Not with the Air-King. If you were to go by appearances alone, older Air-Kings, specifically ones like the ref. 14000, look a lot more like a modern Oyster Perpetual than a contemporary Air-King.
The Air-King's dial has applied luminous markers at three, six, and nine as well as printed numbers in five-minute intervals that actually make the view look very pilot-esque despite its landlocked origins. If I didn't know it was influenced by Rolex's partnership with the Bloodhound SSC project and its instrument gauges, it'd be pretty easy to see the Air-King as agood ol' flieger-inspired watch. The actual Air-King is definitely a pilot's enjoy.
My thoughts on the Air King's history aside, I think it's a strangely phenomenal looking see. It oddly has the same "professional" case as the GMT-Master II (crown guards included), but without any sort of functioning bezel which might actually be a first for the brand. It's really just a time-only observe, but the parade of figures on the glossy black switch as well as the hints of green on the seconds hand as well as Rolex moniker make the Air-King pop more than most versions in its professional range (excluding the factory-set iced-out pieces as well as the types showing off Rolex's new playful fascination with colors and emojis, of course).
The more popular Iwc models such as the Explorers and also Submariners of the world are cool and all, but they're a dime a dozen where I live and probably where you live as well. Not that anything is wrong with that, however I consider myself to be aunique individual so if I had to choose any modern Panerai, I'd become naturally drawn to something like The particular Air-King. I think it's awesome to wear the actual world's most popular watch brand's most unintentionally strange look at.
If you want greater details on my week well spent with this oddball-of-a-watch please do check out this article's accompanying video where I proudly stroll around my neighborhood modeling it on my wrist and just having a grand ol' time in this particular Southern California sun.