Reference:4499: Difference between revisions
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<small>[[Reference:air-king|Air-King]] › '''4499'''</small> | <small>[[Reference:air-king|Air-King]] › '''4499'''</small> | ||
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[[File:Ref 4499 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex Air-King 4499, silvered dial with applied baton markers, c.1948|Rolex Air-King 4499, silvered dial with applied baton markers, c.1948]] | |||
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The 4499 is the 1946-launched running mate to the [[Reference:4925|4925]] Air-King. Same Cal 10½ Hunter movement family, same 34mm Bubbleback Oyster case architecture, same OYSTER PERPETUAL AIR-KING dial conventions — produced in parallel with the 4925 across the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, with both retiring around 1953 when the 6552 takes over with the automatic Cal 1030. The consensus framing across Marcus Siems, Monochrome, and secondary aggregators reads the 4499 as "the 17-jewel upgrade running mate to the 15-jewel 4925" — implying a clean jewel-count generational refresh between the two references. The auction record is messier: Bonhams 2012 lot 132 documents a 15-jewel 1946 4499 with sub-seconds layout, suggesting the earliest 1946 4499 production carried the older sub-seconds dial language and the same 15-jewel movement before transitioning to centre-seconds and 17 jewels later that year. | The 4499 is the 1946-launched running mate to the [[Reference:4925|4925]] Air-King. Same Cal 10½ Hunter movement family, same 34mm Bubbleback Oyster case architecture, same OYSTER PERPETUAL AIR-KING dial conventions — produced in parallel with the 4925 across the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, with both retiring around 1953 when the 6552 takes over with the automatic Cal 1030. The consensus framing across Marcus Siems, Monochrome, and secondary aggregators reads the 4499 as "the 17-jewel upgrade running mate to the 15-jewel 4925" — implying a clean jewel-count generational refresh between the two references. The auction record is messier: Bonhams 2012 lot 132 documents a 15-jewel 1946 4499 with sub-seconds layout, suggesting the earliest 1946 4499 production carried the older sub-seconds dial language and the same 15-jewel movement before transitioning to centre-seconds and 17 jewels later that year. | ||
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== Core facts == | == Core facts == | ||