Hey everybody! I have a question concerning a Rolex air king that my girlfriend received a few years ago. We are concerned because we can’t find a Rolex air king that hasn’t got « T Swiss made T » on the bottom of the watch. So would this mean the dial doesn’t have tritium and is a later replacement? Sorry if this appears as a stupid question but to be honest I know nothing about Rolex..

Here are the pics :


Thanks in advance for your precious opinions!

 

Let's wait for the opinion of people with actually knowledge about the topic. In addition to your concern, itt seems to me that the lume both on the dial and in the hands is too white for a watch of that age.

 

It is a luminova service dial and hands. Yours may actually have oyster perpetual hands though. Here is mine

 

Well , depending what year is your watch from..

imho,

from mid 60ies till around 1980 -TSWISST-

after early 80ies T SWISS MADE T to 1999/2000

after 2000 SWISS MADE (luminova)

Also to note that there are dials with T Swiss made T with luminova

so yours look luminova , but to be sure is to use the UV light to see if it is glowing super strong . Tritium lume with your dial configuration should be inert to light source

best

Ara M

 

Actually, is it a reference 14000? If so they are most likely original, does it have a sapphire crystal?

 

What year is the watch? Or do you have the first digits of the serial? So we can tell you, if the dial is original or a service dial!

 

I do not have a UV light but for sure the lume is still active so it’s luminova.

Here’s a pic :

Unfortunately I do not know the reference because I don’t have the tools to open the watch, but it has a sapphire crystal for sure.

The only thing that I know is that the bracelet reference is 78350, but I don’t think this will help


Thank you so much for your help, you guys are awesome

 

@Green_P0ison

The reference number can also be found between the lugs, at 12 o'clock.

Looks like a reference 14000. Do you have another numbers on the clasp of the bracelet? Normally there's a date code...

 

If you take the bracelet off the serial should be inscribed between the lugs

 

These are the only references that I can see on the bracelet :



I’m a bit afraid of taking off the bracelet by myself because I'm a bit clumsy and I might end up scratching it.. I’ll go to my watchmaker soon and I’ll ask him to take off the bracelet and I will take a picture of the reference at 12’ and post it here.

Thank you so much for all your help! I'll keep you informed

 

So the bracelet is from August 2002... If the watch comes originally with this bracelet, the dial should carry luminova

 

Take off the bracelet and show the numbers between the lugs at 12 and 6 and then you can get some useful information.

 

If it has a sapphire crystal it’s a 14000 isn’t it - Didn’t the 5500 that preceded it have an acrylic crystal?

Between one set of lugs is the reference no (almost certainly 14000) and at the other side is the serial number which you can use to age it. This will confirm whether it falls into the tritium or luminova period.

 

It looks like your girlfriend received a nice looking 14000 series Air-King! If the bracelet is original to the watch then it's from 2002, which suggests a luminova dial (as Servius said). The sapphire crystal also suggests the 14000 series (Davidt). The serial number will tell you for sure (hopefully it starts with a "Y"). There are a few of these 14000s for sale with "Swiss Made" dials (same color too) at a couple of reputable online dealers to take a closer look at for comparison. Here's a pick of one that was sold recently from one of them. This was a 1999 model 14000: