THE ESSENTIALS

MAKE: ROLEX
MODEL: 5500
YEAR: 1968
BOX/PAPERS: YES/YES
CASE DIAMETER: 34MM
CASE MATERIAL: STAINLESS STEEL
BRACELET MATERIAL: LEATHER
MOVEMENT: AUTOMATIC

After hearing stories of British pilots discarding their standard-issue field watches in favour of personally purchased Oyster Perpetuals, Rolex co-founder Hans Wilsdorf decided to release a series of aviation-themed watches honouring the RAF pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain.

Among them was the Air-King, which made its first official appearance in 1945 with reference 4925. Several references followed as Rolex refined the design, before introducing the reference 5500 in 1957, officially sold to the public from 1958.

By modern standards, the 5500 may seem small and understated for a steel Rolex, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in stamina. It holds the distinction of being the longest-running model in Rolex history, remaining in continuous production from 1957 to 1989.

Over those 32 years, remarkably little changed. Apart from a movement upgrade in 1963 and the edition of the Explorer dials, much of it stayed the same. 

The example from 68 has survived well, the soleil grey dial is in beautiful condition with all of its lume plots intact, the same goes for the hands. The case has been subject to very little polishing, the watch did have its original bracelet but it had sadly perished. The previous owner had the Rolex buckle and strap fitted at St James's last year.

The watch has just been serviced and is running beautifully at +6 s/d, 265 amps and has a beat error of 0.1ms