Rolex

Echi
[Photo Forum Moderator]
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I totally understand, Jay..

It kept me on the fence up until recently when I saw a wristshot at just the right angle from one of those watch sites. I would think it’s not one of the easiest modern sports watch to design. For most, it was just a matter of material change (ceramic) or a change in proportion (do we go 40, 41, 42?) or perhaps a movement upgrade. But with this piece, it just came out of nowhere. If Rolex announced they would come out with a new AirKing with zero teaser, nobody would have ever thought that this would come out.

And that is probably what drew me to it.. well, that and Nico’s post. I sort of use several guys here in the forum as sort of barometers for what is interesting and what is not. What made me notice in Nico’s case were two things that he mentioned on several posts not to mention the series of pics that he would post about the AK on his many travels.

Firstly, he said that it was his most worn watch for the year. The man has a lot of pieces. Really nice ones. A good number of them are candidates for daily wear. The 1858. The cronometro. GMTs. Subs. A bunch of JLCs. And yet this one made it out on top.. when previously it was probably the 1858. I’m a big fan of the daily wear criteria. So I took notice when that little line was mentioned in his post.

Secondly, that it was the only piece that he bought for the year thus far. Now we know our Nico. Apart from being a man of discerning taste, he has this long list of obtainable and unobtainable pieces. You never really know what’s going to float his boat enough to make him pull out his wallet. But then here we are with the 116900.

But while all that made me sit up and take notice, it still wasn’t enough because it didn’t sing to me. Yet. Up until that wrist shot which made me stare, slapping me in the face silly, telling me, “I am beautiful.”

That is the nice thing about pieces that polarize. It sort of picks you. In this instance, it probably auditioned for me. Hahaha!

Best, Echi