New one is a wannabe sub… the baby sun. Older sticks to the true design purpose of the watch. I prefer the older one. Plus last version of that generation has a higher collection value. Btw I own both… still love the old model. Cheers
Funny how so many said the airking is such a piece of shit,yet it almost doubled in resale price and rolex made them.again with just the crown guards, the other specs don't even make a difference. Try it on haters if you can find one. Bad ass piece
Great review, Tim. I own both and can say that I prefer the new one by a mile. It wears so much better, is no longer top heavy and looks so much more thin, sleek and coherent in design. Add up all of the other technical advancements that you mentioned and it's a total win. As you said, this is a completely different watch than the previous version. Some may still not like the dial asthetics but I would suggest trying this one on before writing it off since it looks so much better in person. PS. Another big change to note is the addition of anti reflective treatment to the crystal. This has made a big difference - the dial now has an inky black appearance from almost every angle....very different from the old version.
@@feedthefatrabbit1073 lol....wasn't planned that way. Need to sell the old one now. Hopefully, prices will go up a bit in Sept so I don't lose my shirt.
Thanks for mentioning this. The difference AR makes is very noticeable in the clip. It's a vast improvement. One question: Is there a difference in the crown marking to indicate the application of AR?
Agree. What is this nonsense that the numerals on a watch face need to be symmetrical, you never see 01, 02 etc. to balance 10, 11, 12? Can’t believe Rolex conceded on this.
Fantastic work. Best review of old vs new I’ve seen yet. I owned the previous model, which I loved, and it had a certain charm…. But I also now own the new model and I absolutely love the upgraded features.
Tim, this is a great review/comparison of old v. new Air King. Leave it to Rolex to make so many changes (more than I was aware of) and end up with a new Air King that, to the non-enthusiast/casual observer, looks very similar to the old one. While the new one is much improved, I am still not a fan of the Bloodhound-inspired Air Kings. Rolex missed an opportunity here to make the new Air King look very different than the old one.
Tim the new piece is "amagnetic", whereas the old one leans more towards "antimagnetic". The former is from using parts that can't be magnetised (amagnetic parts), whereas the latter resists magnetism (soft iron cage is antimagnetic). An important distinction.
I feel the new dial is better balanced. I believe the clasp in all sport models should feature the micro-adjustment. I love that on my Seamaster. Nice review as always, thanks Tim!
I didn't realise they'd updated to white lume for the hour numerals. That almost matches the minutes and cleans up the design for me. Previously I couldn't tolerate the 3,6,12 markers being contrasted to a merely insipid and light dependent level (shiny metal vs white) yet at some angles unavoidably not matching either. It was a mess.
The clockwise setting of the hands/crown was a beautiful thing about the older Rolex movements. I noticed the switch immediately when seeing the new 70hr movements. Maybe it's just me, but the dial on the older one looks a bit greyer/matte here, and the new one looks more black/gloss (?).
New model got much better glass - with antireflex better coating, It is pretty visible on the movie, less milky reflection of new model than older one.
If you hold an antique long enough you’ll be dead as an antique is generally regarded as 100 years old. 😂 A vintage piece is generally as 30 years too.
The 126900 was my first piece offered at my AD and it's very nice. I wasn't a big fan of the 36mm Explorer as it fits a bit too small for me, this one satiates my Submariner hunger as well.
The old one is thicker due to better magnetic resistance the rest is just ugly crown guard and only substantial difference is the newer 70 hour power reserve movement
The soft iron core actually doesn't do much at all. The anti-magnetism is due to the specialised hairspring material and other amagnetic materials used in other key components of the drivetrain. By comparison my Omega Planet Ocean 600m has resistance to magnetic fields up to 15,000 gauss (1.5 teslas) which is massive and it has no soft iron core, and actually has an exhibition caseback. The soft iron core is an anachronism and I am sure glad they got rid of it for this model. The crown guards are practical and look great. No one complains about them on the GMT-MasterII but people just freak out when anything is changed, even for the better.
@@thegorn but the older air king still has better magnetic properties than the newest one and that's a fact add to that with welcome changes as far as newest movement I still prefer the 5 instead of 05 which really is dumb just to make dial balanced adding a zero before 5, crown guard won't also add water resistance it's just aesthetic change but I think older and newer are unique and neglected among Rolex sports models
Meravigliosi emtrambi ma forse in un futuro chissà quanto lontano 116900 sarà ricordato come la prima versione dell'orologio del futuro. Richiamano molto gli anni 80 90 come stile ed eleganza. Belli!
It's traditional for pilots watches to have lum at 3, 6 and 9 (plus triangle at 12), and this is the "Air-King" after all. Take that away and you have basically taken away any link to the air whatsoever.
Amazing that Tim made zero comments about the fact that the new one has anti-reflective coating (not sure if just underside, or both top and bottom), whereas the old one doesn't have any AR coating. Tim - you're slipping.
The new model is awesome, will fit closer to the wrist, and doesn't have that goofy "3, 6 and 9". Someone came into my business today with the new model. It looked outstanding, and very beefy and masculine while also being very elegant. I want one!
A shame, it now looks like a Hamilton Field King. Heh, just realized the name resemblance. I do like the new gloss dial instead of the matte dial, although that goes against the now sportier image.
Would love to see every one of the arabic indices lumed. Then it would be a "pilot's" watch. I have the 116000 concentric dial OP. It is from 2008. It has the 05 at 5 like the new airking and lumed 3/6/9.. So while the old airking version started in 2016 and is a riff of the bloodhound speedo, clearly Rolex was made (better balanced) speedo like dials at least 8 years before.
I got Rolex to swap the dial from the old to the new on my AK. I'm going to email them now about the possibility of laser welding the crown guards so I get essentially the same watch for a fraction of the price.
The new model beats the old in every way. Newer movement, larger dial, much better lume, better bracelet and crown guards. So glad I didn’t get the call for the older model. I do love both but the newer one is definitely a better watch.
@@ron74555 the Yachty II is in a league of its own; you're right. Also, anything two tone that isn't a Bluesy sucks ass, and even they look dated unless you're 57+ yrs old
….see it in the flesh and you would NOT describe it as a dog. Wears beautifully on the wrist and with the colour accents really does work surprisingly well.
@@gjonno it's a nice watch objectively don't get it twisted. However, compared to literally every other steel sports model IMO, it's barking at me a bit. Much like Auggie, mah doggo.
Most polluted dial of any Rolex watch. New model has a zero-five. Next year will be zero-three, zero-six and zero-nine. Just because there is not enough numbers on this dial…
Of all the dumb and annoying things Rolex has done over the years, reversing the time setting winding direction is now at the top of my list. There is absolutely no technical reason to do this. It's just a case of "wouldn't it be fun...?" What's next? Wouldn't it be fun to swap the minute and hour hands? Wouldn't it be fun to show the time in the reverse direction? Literally counter-clockwise? Jeeezz... It's a bit of a shame, the overall improvements really do look nice. Esp. the clasp, crown guards, and dial font / lume.
