Passions Watch Exchange

About This Watch

Vintage. No box/papers but a Passions box will be given.

This 1970s Rolex Oyster Perpetual Air-King-Date Precision was polished & serviced some years ago and kept away in our vault unworn.

The lugs are thick & not over polished while the back cover is in excellent condition except for a few scratch marks due to someone who carelessly slipped the tool while unlocking the case but nothing major & won't affect the value. The original dial is in mint condition with just some oxide showing on the batons & hands for that vintage charm. Otherwise watch appears like a fresh production to the naked eyes.

This watch is in superb condition for it's age but has not been serviced in recent years. It will be sold with a one year warranty as usual and a free service within the period. Functions well and accuracy at 20 seconds+/- a day.

History has it that the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf released a series of Oyster watches bearing the Air name in tribute to the pilots of British Royal Air Force who wore his watches during WW2. Hence, there were Air-Lion, Air-Tiger, Air-Giant and Air-King.

The Air-King is one of the longest production model starting from 1945 as a manual winding model and exists today as Ref.116900. They were entry models offering clients a robust and reliable watch and the movements were non-chronometer rated except the current model. This rare Ref.5700 was offered with a date and sold in selected countries in those years with the rarest version being Explorer-Date. One of which we sold to the Rolex museum over a decade ago. In period, it was an alternative to the identical but more expensive Perpetual Date Ref.1500 chronometer version.

Hence, this model has a 1500 stamped on the inside of the back cover which is correct as they share parts.

Would you buy this or a Grand Seiko?