Rolex 4925 Air-King

A checked version of this page, approved on 21 September 2026, was based on this revision.

Air-King › 4925

Rolex 4925 Air-King, eggshell dial with applied gold Arabic numerals, c.1945–1948

The 4925 is commonly treated as the first Air-King reference: a hand-wound 34mm Oyster that appears in sources from around 1945. It appears alongside the Air-Lion, Air-Tiger and Air-Giant names. The automatic 6552 follows in the early 1950s, with the 5500 continuing the Air-King line from 1957. The exact boundary between 4925 catalogue production and later case-stock assembly remains disputed.

The Battle of Britain explanation is repeated in modern Air-King histories, but this article has not found a period Rolex advertisement, Wilsdorf statement or other primary source that confirms it. It belongs in the article as attributed collector and editorial history, not as settled fact.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	4925
family	Air-King
common name	"the original Air-King," "the hand-wound Air-King"
production	commonly dated 1945–1953; a Sotheby's 2020 lot is catalogued c.1956, which may reflect late case-stock assembly
case	34mm stainless steel Oyster, Bubbleback-class three-piece, smooth bezel, screw-down brevet crown (manual — no Twinlock in the period), drilled lugs
crystal	acrylic plexiglass, domed
water resistance	not stated consistently in the cited period records
movement	Aegler 10½-ligne Hunter family; documented examples include 15- and 17-jewel manual-wind movements with central seconds
dial text	“OYSTER AIR-KING,” with some examples carrying “PRECISION”; cited examples use applied gold Arabic numerals on eggshell or silvered grounds
bracelet	19mm Oyster — period-correct rivet bracelet (the 7205 successor to the 6635 era arrives later in the production window)
caseback	screw-down threaded Oyster, smooth exterior; presentation engravings turn up but are not catalogued at major-house auction
sister names	Air-Lion, Air-Tiger, Air-Giant — ran on shared references (4365 sub-seconds, 4444 mid-size with gold bezel, 4647 Hunter Precision) rather than dedicated reference numbers
predecessor	direct period antecedent is the manual-wind Bubbleback line (2940 / 2764 / 3131 / 3135 era); the Air-King naming itself has no predecessor
successor	6552 (1953–57, first automatic Air-King, cal 1030)

Where it sits in the line

The 4925 is the earliest reference in the commonly published Air-King sequence. It appears alongside the 4365, 4444 and 4647 cases used with Air-Lion, Air-Tiger or Air-Giant dials, while the 4499 is read by some sources as a successor and by others as a parallel reference. Time-Wire treats the 4499 as a replacement; Siems and Rolex Magazine present the launch references as parallel.

The 6552 is generally placed after the 4925, with an automatic caliber 1030 and a later dial layout. The 5500 follows in 1957 with the 1530/1520 generation. Some reference guides skip the 6552 when describing the line, so the 4925-to-6552-to-5500 sequence should be read as the commonly used catalogue chronology rather than an unbroken case lineage.

The Air-King name continues after the early-1950s period in the cited histories, while Air-Lion, Air-Tiger and Air-Giant disappear from Rolex references. Tudor Air-Tiger examples are documented separately; that later use does not prove the original Rolex commemoration story.

Production outline

Modern histories commonly date the launch to 1945. That date does not by itself prove the Battle of Britain explanation, which remains an attributed story without a primary source in this review.

The end year is contested. 1953 is the consensus retirement date — Siems, Monochrome, Rescapement, Robb Report. Antiquorum lot 382 (25 September 2002) reads instead "the Air-King was first introduced in 1953 in honor of the Royal Air Force pilots who flew in the battle of Britain," treating the automatic 6552 as the "real" launch — a major-house catalogue text that contradicts the 1945-launch consensus. Time-Wire narrows the 4925 specifically to "approximately 1945–1946" and reads the 4499 as its 1946 replacement. Sotheby's lot 190 (4 September 2020) catalogues a 4925 by case number 354,085 to c.1956, and a dealer-documented eBay artifact carries a 1958 dial — both push the upper bound past the 1953 consensus.

The cautious reading is that 4925 enters the catalogue around 1945 and is replaced in the catalogue by the automatic 6552 around 1953. The Sotheby's c.1956 example may represent late case-stock assembly, but the source does not establish how common that practice was.

Rolex production totals are not published here. The cited record contains a Sotheby's 4925 lot and two Baer & Bosch examples, with other Air-King auction entries often referring to later references. That is a record of the sources reviewed, not a count of surviving watches.

Movement notes

The 4925 runs an Aegler 10½-ligne Hunter-family movement. Cited examples include 15- and 17-jewel manual-wind movements with central seconds; the exact caliber designation and jewel count need to be read from the movement in each watch. Sotheby's lot 190 records a 17-jewel movement stamped ROW. The cited Hunter movements are not presented as chronometer-certified.

The Hunter movement links the hand-wound Oyster references to the automatic 1030 generation that follows. Its smaller manual-wind package does not need the deep rotor clearance of a Perpetual Bubbleback, which helps explain the flatter case profile.

Colin A. White's The Vintage Rolex Field Manual treats early Hunter calibers as a transitional Aegler movement family. The 4925 examples cited here use that family; the 6552 is associated with the later automatic 1030 generation.

Cal. Hunter movement, 17 jewels stamped ROW; inner caseback marked "4925" with an RWC LTD service tag

Dial map

The cited 4925 record is narrower than the later 5500 record. Documented variants include:

Eggshell with applied gold Arabic numerals

Eggshell or cream ground, applied gold Arabic hour markers, leaf or pencil hands and a central seconds hand are documented on early examples. The crown is printed below twelve, with “OYSTER AIR-KING” beneath. Monochrome describes this layout, and the Baer & Bosch 2019 lot AN3907 records applied gold-tone Arabic and arrowhead markers.

"PRECISION" text vs no precision text

Time-Wire records examples with and without “PRECISION” below the Air-King line. The word belongs to period Rolex grading language; its presence or absence alone does not date a dial or prove a movement grade.

Early-1945 dials with no SWISS MADE text

Time-Wire records early examples without “SWISS MADE”. The reason for the omission is not established by the cited evidence.

Silvered ground with applied Arabic numerals (late production)

Sotheby's lot 190 (2020) catalogues a 4925 with a silvered dial and alpha hands, the case dated by serial number 354,085 to c.1956. The catalogue records only “Dial: silvered”; its photography appears to show applied Arabic numerals. The lot may represent late case-stock assembly around the transition to the 6552, but it does not prove how or when the dial and case were originally paired.

The Roman, sector, salmon, honeycomb, clous-de-Paris, tropical, RAF crest, and retailer-signed (Asprey, Tiffany, Beyer, Cartier, Gübelin) 4925 configurations are not documented in major-house lots. A 1958-dated eBay listing surfaces a "Military Dial" 4925 but the configuration is unverified.

The silvered-ground late-production 4925, case 354,085, c.1956

Case and construction

34mm stainless steel three-piece Oyster, with case middle, threaded caseback and threaded crown. The case profile is flatter than a rotor-driven Bubbleback because the Hunter movement is manual wind. Lugs are 19mm with drilled spring-bar holes. The bezel is fixed, steel and smooth. The crown is a manual-wind brevet, screw-down, and predates the later Twinlock system.

The case is steel in the documented 4925 examples. The 4444 carries a documented two-tone construction, but it is a different reference. Sotheby's lot 190 gives 33mm rather than 34mm; the difference may reflect measurement method.

The caseback exterior is smooth without a date stamp. The interior carries reference and case-number markings. Roman-quarter codes appear in some documented casebacks and can help date an individual watch when read with its serial and movement. Drilled spring-bar holes are documented on the cited examples.

Case profile: screw-down manual-wind crown, no Twinlock
Smooth caseback exterior, no date stamp

Bracelets, end-links, and clasps

The 4925 predates the later numbered bracelet system. A 19mm rivet Oyster is period-correct in principle, but the cited Baer & Bosch AN3907 example carries a 7205 with a 1967 clasp date, so that bracelet is a later refit. Bracelet originality needs case and clasp evidence; the bracelet reference alone is not proof of original delivery.

7205 rivet Oyster bracelet, a service-era refit, Baer & Bosch lot AN3907
Folded Oyster clasp, Rolex coronet stamp, Baer & Bosch lot AN3907

Special branches

The Battle of Britain commemoration

Modern histories often say that Hans Wilsdorf named the Air-King for RAF pilots and the Battle of Britain. This review found no Wilsdorf statement, period Rolex advertisement or other primary source confirming that explanation. It remains an attributed origin story.

Air-Lion, Air-Tiger and Air-Giant

The Air-Lion, Air-Tiger and Air-Giant names appear on several early Air references. Siems publishes a side-by-side photograph identifying all three on reference 4365, while 4444 and 4647 examples show other case and movement combinations. The names and references should therefore be recorded separately on each watch.

The cited 4444 Air-Lion example has a steel case with solid-gold bezel and crown and a 17-jewel manual movement. Foundwell catalogues a 4647 Air-Lion from around 1947 with a Hunter Precision movement. These are examples, not a complete census of the sister names.

The cited histories place Air-Lion, Air-Tiger and Air-Giant outside the continuing Rolex Air-King line by the early 1950s. Tudor Air-Tiger examples from around 1959 and 1964 are documented separately; they do not establish a direct corporate continuation of the original naming story.

Early-1945 dials without SWISS MADE

A small early-production sub-variant is reported without “SWISS MADE” at the bottom edge. Time-Wire records the variant, but the reason for the omission and its exact date range are not established here.

Historical market and auction record

Sale	Lot	Year	Reference details	Result
Sotheby's New York Watches	190	2020	4925 c.1956, case 354,085, silvered dial with applied Arabic numerals, alpha hands, mechanical 17-jewel ROW	Est. USD 5,000–7,000, did not sell
Antiquorum Geneva	382	2002	Generic Air-King Super Precision 1950s (5500-era cal 1530, mis-attributed to the early Air-King launch)	Catalogue text contests the 1945 launch consensus
Baer & Bosch	AN3907	2019	4925 with refreshed silvered dial, applied gold-tone Arabic and arrowhead hour markers; on later Oyster rivet 7205 (1967 clasp date — service-era refit)
Baer & Bosch	3189	2019	4925 with silvered dial, applied gold Arabic and arrowhead indexes

The cited auction record is small. Sotheby's lot 190 (2020) did not sell at its USD 5,000–7,000 estimate, while the Baer & Bosch lots provide additional photographed examples. Auction visibility cannot establish how many 4925 watches survive or how many were originally made.

Authentication

The 4925 is about 80 years old, and service or dial work is possible on any surviving example. A clean dial is not proof of replacement, and patina is not proof of originality. Check the printing, applied markers, hand set, case marks and movement together.

The case interior may carry the 4925 reference, a case number and a Roman-quarter code. Sotheby's lot 190 has case number 354,085 and is catalogued c.1956, but one case number cannot define a hard range. A later number should prompt a check of the case, movement, dial and service history rather than an automatic rejection.

The movement and case should be assessed together. A 4925 example with caliber 1030, 1530 or 1520 would need a service or re-case explanation because the cited 4925 examples use the 10½-ligne Hunter family; the movement must be inspected before making that call. The “stamped ROW” marking documented on Sotheby's lot 190 is evidence for that lot, not a universal requirement.

The bracelet usually doesn't help. Most surviving 4925s wear post-1960s bracelets — Baer & Bosch lot AN3907 is on a 1967-clasp 7205 — and a period-correct rivet Oyster from the 4925's own production window is rare in surviving inventory. Authenticate the head and movement first, then read the bracelet as supplementary evidence rather than as an originality anchor.

Related references

Gallery

Rolex 4925 Air-King
Hunter-family movement
Silvered late dial
Later bracelet refit