So prefer the old

The new one is way too perfect … I love the quirky nature of the old, and that is what gives it charm.

So glad everyone prefers the new one. I prefer the old one.

@kobateman

Жыл бұрын

💯

@papatriot9882

Жыл бұрын

Agree

@rogerbk08

Жыл бұрын

Me too...

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

You do you. I'll take the style of the new one any day of the week

@TheSuccessEngineer

Жыл бұрын

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

Old one for me

I bought the old model of the Rolex air king 2016 from New York and I’m very pleased

Old one has a better looking case

I actually prefer older one. Case looks much more masculine and I like the fact it doesn’t have crown guards.

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

Old one doesn't look masculine - it looks like a pregnant fat lady

@TheSuccessEngineer

Жыл бұрын

I agree 💯

@douglaskrueger357

11 ай бұрын

Agree agree!

The comparison we’ve all been waiting for

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.

Best Rolex NEw Air King comparison & review I've seen. Thanks!

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

New movement is nice. Old watch has more presence and uniqueness. I’ll stick to the 116900.

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 (?).

Fantastic watch reviews, by far the most in depth reviews and beautiful pristine images. Perfect thank you!

The older one has more wrist presence bc it's thicker.

Excellent Video. Thanks

Very nice-old and new.

Prefer the old version, much more me.

MUCH prefer the new one, but honestly don't really prefer either.

@Sams911

Жыл бұрын

never liked the AirKing... it used to be the Rolex nobody wanted..

Best reviewer in the watch game!

Old one is better by far. Gimme a little heft and presence rather than the longer flatter Omega speed feel… blehhh

Wait did Tim just Troll Us by setting the watches? LOL

I Love the 2016 Airking a litle more

Fantastic

gone is the sexier curvier case, and in its place a machine made slab reminiscent of the sub and Tudor. Sad.

Old is a Gold

Probably the best review on YT ever.

Excellent review!

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.

Excellent, very interesting

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.

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 prefer the asymmetry of the dial 5, the solid gold markers and the rounded case of the old one

@Anonymouslyme1

Жыл бұрын

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.

@douglaskrueger357

11 ай бұрын

Couldn’t agree more!

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.

I’m sold on the new one wow

Not sure why the air king in general isn’t more popular. On some days, I’d even prefer it to an explorer

Wooo!

I got mine last week and i love it. My explorer 2 and SD43 got no more wristtime lol

I think I prefer the old one (the Milgauss vibe is cool)

The font Rolex uses is called Eurostile, designed in the 60s by Aldo Novarese.

Is it me or the new air king when u turn the crown, the second hand jerks as if it wants to move and is moving a bit?

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

Жыл бұрын

Owning both of these puts you in a category of Fanboi seldom seen. Respecktos.

@ron74555

Жыл бұрын

@@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.

@bobsaffron8284

Жыл бұрын

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?

@ron74555

Жыл бұрын

@@bobsaffron8284 no indication on the watch but i believe Rolex mentions it on the website.

@bobsaffron8284

Жыл бұрын

@@ron74555 Thanks for the clarification.

New one is superior in every way, IMO.

So the new 216900 is still antimagnetic but doesn't have the inner case like the old one does?

I believe the crown on the new one is much, much larger as well…

I like the old one

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!

@Ross-fo2vw

Жыл бұрын

the 116900 in fact does have a micro adjustment

I can’t tell if I like the AK, it’s such an enigma

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.

Prefer the new one

Everything about the new AK is better EXCEPT the crown guard which broke the perfect streamline profile! I personally hate the guard!

Here come the “get off my yard” crew, lol

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!

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.

Oh no! Missing the silver 9,3,6 on the new one!

@melvinhernandez1051

Жыл бұрын

White gold not silver

@conrow1157

Жыл бұрын

@@melvinhernandez1051 so true Sir!

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.

Like the 🆕 Air-King..!

Groundbreaking, completely night and day between these two…

@feedthefatrabbit1073

Жыл бұрын

Another revolutionary rollout by Slowlex

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!

The new air king appears to be replacing the 214270 for people who don’t want the 36mm explorers

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

I thought that too. There's good differentiation between those two models now.

AK should've been discontinued.Not be rehashed to be more like a Explorer 39.

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.

I was very close to pull the trigger on the old one. Not anymore...

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

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

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.

@entroheat

Жыл бұрын

@@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

The King is alive and the original is perfection in imperfection! If you hold a classic long enough it becomes an antique!

@Anonymouslyme1

Жыл бұрын

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.

All this talk about shafts and roundels

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

Disappointed the older one has the thicker shaft

Thanks Tim. I own seven of the old model but 12 of the new model. Goes to show. I love the new one.

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

Dude you only have two wrists you know.

@fredtafel

6 ай бұрын

More money than sense

I'm really not sure if I like this or not 🤔

The usual “get off my yard” prune crew are here, lol.

Id have left the 3, 6, 9 in unlumed white gold and put lume on every other number.

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

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.

I miss the 34mm air kings, there was plenty dial colors to chose from.

@williamstalvey6920

Жыл бұрын

It's a great watch if you are 140 pounds

@williamstalvey6920

Жыл бұрын

@@stanwilson7040 42 or higher...

@williamstalvey6920

Жыл бұрын

@Archie Baldwin go get some cheese with your whine

Tim: Points out some miniscule changes.... "those are some major changes" :O

New one is so good

the dial is too busy, but i prefer the new one

The old 39mm Explorer beats both of em! 😃

@gjonno

Жыл бұрын

...not on my 7.5 inch wrist it doesn't. Way too small....

Смешно)

I would prefer a nice Aqua Terra....

@Anonymouslyme1

Жыл бұрын

Aqua Terra is a Datejust equivalent, don’t see any comparison. Railmaster is closest Omega in comparison

Never was a fan of the old, the new one is much better in my opinion

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.

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.

Older version is way better

@thegorn

Жыл бұрын

yeah love that 40 hour power reserve or whatever it is versus the newer one's 70. Should have made the newer one 20 hours and you'd buy ten lol.

@gjonno

Жыл бұрын

@mt89......really? so I take it that you own the old version, and have compared it directly to a new one in the flesh? I suspect not 🤔

I don’t know why they made such an ugly quadrant and still not doing anything to improve it

Why are your hands shaking so much. Need to look into that.

This is truly the DOG of the current lineup.

@ron74555

Жыл бұрын

Nah.....the 2 tone 36mm explorer holds that title followed by the yachtmaster 2.

@feedthefatrabbit1073

Жыл бұрын

@@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

@gjonno

Жыл бұрын

….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.

@feedthefatrabbit1073

Жыл бұрын

@@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.

@gjonno

Жыл бұрын

@@feedthefatrabbit1073 lol I do see where you are coming from, but I rather think that’s the appeal of it. It is an oddball Rolex

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.

@watchdogpodcast239

Жыл бұрын

It is a surefire way to tell a fake from a real one though

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…

New version is on fire.

New one is moved a way from Air King identity. Looks like a dog with cat legs , chicken feet and pig tail

Over priced brand of watch. No thanks.

i can't tell the difference between those 2. They have equally ugly dials, that all i can notice