This year, a new generation of Replica Rolex Oyster Perpetual Air Master 126900 was launched, and Air Master entered people’s field of vision again after a lapse of six years. One year after the launch of the previous generation 116900, I got started with a familiar dealer and wanted to buy it. Because the famous watch has an owner, the boss promised to leave it to me next time it arrives. In the market at that time, it was not difficult to get an Airbus at full price based on my relationship with the boss, and it would be fine to wait. But every time I went there, I couldn’t see him again. Then there was no more. Then, Rolex gradually became today’s Rolex.
Oyster Perpetual Air King 126900 (2022)
Oyster Perpetual Air King 116900 (2016)
The first time the new Airmaster was launched this year, I took a look at the picture after receiving the information. Except for the shoulder pads added to the crown, I didn’t see any difference between it and the previous generation. During the watch exhibition at that time, a large amount of new information was entered every day, so there was no time to look carefully. But the Airba is a good one after all. Looking back, we had no physical reference during the epidemic. Just based on the comparison of the data and pictures, I suddenly found out that this Airba compared with the previous generation 116900, almost from the inside. Outside components are new. Before reading the following, you can use your own eyesight to play a different game based on the above two pictures (click to enlarge). Of course, if some changes are not supported by data, it is difficult for our naked eyes to distinguish them.
shell
Compared with the previous generation of Air Ba, the shell shape of the new generation of Air Ba is somewhat visible in contrast. Such as the width and shape of the lugs. The new generation Airmaster has wider lugs, while the lugs are also slimmer and smoother. Not as pearly as the previous generation. This design language also extends to the strap and bezel. Such changes make the new generation of Airbus look lighter.
At the same time, as mentioned before, the new crown guard makes it “look” more sporty and instrumental. Of course it’s just looks. That is to say, its existence has little practical significance, and it all depends on personal preference. Personally, I still prefer to have shoulder pads. There are two reasons. One is that the size ratio of this shoulder pad is just right, and the increase does not affect the overall harmony. Second, the addition of crown shoulder pads to the non-functional bezel style is a bold attempt and change for Rolex. This means that the Airmaster has overdone as a near-sport model. If things go on like this, one day the new Milgauss may also have this shoulder pad, and then we will not be surprised.
dial
The change of the digital time scale of the Airmaster dial is from the previous generation. Two years before that (2014), Rolex was exploring a partnership with a supersonic car agency to make instrumentation timings for it. Therefore, in 2016, the Airmaster 116900 adopted this inspiration and gave birth to the new dial of Airmaster at that time. This cooperative project has now been dismantled. Many die-hard Rolex fans also feel that with the termination of the cooperation, the original Kongba disk may also return, but it did not.
The dial of the new Airmaster still continues this inspiration, but compared with the previous generation, the details have changed a lot. First of all, it is very obvious that the time scale of 1 o’clock and 5 minutes has become 05. I think this sense of balance must be a lot more comfortable for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
At the same time, the original digital time scale at 3/6/9 o’clock has been replaced from the platinum material of the previous generation with a platinum base coated with Chromalight luminous material. In the case of night vision, the effect is completely different. The texture of the black background of the dial has been changed from the black matte of the previous generation to black lacquer. In addition to these obvious changes, there are also some hard-to-find changes in some details. Let’s compare the following two pictures to see the pictures and talk.
I took the old and new models in the same position and the same proportion for comparison (please ignore the color difference in the pictures). It can be seen that the length of the Mercedes-Benz hour hand is slightly longer than the old one. The luminous dots of the green lollipop second hand are also slightly larger than the old ones. I don’t know if you have noticed that the distance between the minute track of the new dial and the edge of the dial is also slightly different. It is said that the new dial is less than 0.8 mm apart from the old dial when the case diameter is the same, and the new dial is slightly larger. Of course, I have not verified this statement with the official, but I have only seen it mentioned by a colleague. In this day when rumors are flying all over the sky, everyone should treat it as a rumor. After all, I am not Wang Meng, and my eyes are not rulers.
Movement
The Air King is one of the few series that does not carry the 32-generation movement. With the release of a new generation of products, the 3230 movement is also loaded into the Air King this time. The characteristics of the 32-generation movement, including the power reserve increased to 70 hours, stronger shock resistance, the Chronergy escapement with anti-magnetic properties, etc., make the new generation of Airmaster compared to the previous generation Airmaster equipped with 3131 movement, The internal performance has also been greatly improved.
It is worth noting that this time the Air Overlord has cancelled the soft iron case in the bottom cover to prevent the movement from being disturbed by magnetic fields. This makes the new Airmaster 1.5mm thinner than the previous generation. Some watch friends said that the original anti-magnetic can be comparable to Milgauss Airmaster, without the anti-magnetic soft iron shell, there is no soul. This is actually a big misunderstanding. According to the current technological development of new materials, if there is a new Milgauss one day, there may not be such a thing.
At present, the antimagnetic ability of the Replica Rolex movement mainly depends on the special material of the escapement and the pallet fork, as well as its own unique paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring, rather than the layer of soft iron. Yes, this soft iron material made Milgauss resistant to 1000 Gaussian magnetic fields, hence the name. But that was 70 years ago. I once saw an experimental video of a foreigner. The Milgauss equipped with the 31st-generation movement was not affected at all when it walked under a strong magnetic field of 5000 gauss, and it could be higher. The 32-generation movement is stronger than the 31-generation movement in terms of anti-magnetic ability, so the anti-magnetic ability of the soft iron shell is no longer important, and it should enter the museum.
