Historia del Rolex Air-King -en inglés-
Fuente: Timeandgems
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The Rolex Air King is a perennial favorite in the Rolex line, and has always been a handsome watch at an even more handsome price. What is not so well known is its history and how it first came about. It’s an interesting story and bears repeating here at the Time and Gems Blog.
Rolex was a popular watch among pilots in England in the 1930s and was the watch among British RAF pilots, the heroic “Few” that Churchill immortalized during the Battle of Britain in 1940. They appreciated the tough, accurate watches with the burgeoning Rolex reputation for durability and water resistance. After World War II, the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, recalled the favor Rolex had been shown by the British pilots. According to eminent Rolex historian James Dowling, it was then that Wilsdorf introduced the first Rolex watches with high-flying names: names like the Air Tiger, Air Lion, Air Giant and the Air King. These were all initially hand-wound watches featuring the classic 10.5 ligne hunter movement. In later years after the other models were dropped from the line, the Air King was upgraded to an Oyster Perpetual or automatic movement.
So when you’re wearing a Rolex Air King, you’re carrying on a proud tradition. It’s a tradition that recalls the dark days of 1940 when England stood alone against the forces of darkness in Hitler’s Nazi Germany. On August 16, 1940 Winston Churchill visited RAF 11 Group’s operations room during the height of the battle. Listening to the sounds of the bitter battle on the radio and viewing it overhead in the skies above, he could only say: “Don’t speak to me. I have never been so moved.” A few minutes later he looked up and spoke the immortal words, “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” That’s what the Air King recalls, in a very special way. It’s history on your wrist.
Historia del Rolex Air King en castellano
Un poco de historia del Air-King
El año 1957 vio el nacimiento del primer AIR-KING con la referencia 5500, comercializado hasta 1990. Esta referencia
fue introducida en el mercado con diferentes nombres: “AIR-KING”, “METROPOLITAN”, “EXPLORER”, “EVEREST”. Fueron muy difundidos los modelos con esfera personalizada.
Referencia 5500
Para ver más sobre la historia del modelo "pequeñín" de la casa, aquí tenéis más información:
