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Introduction to Wind Vintage and Entry-Level Watches
Hey everyone, welcome! I’m Chris and I’m joined here today with the one and only Eric Wind. Eric Wind is the primary owner-operator of windvintage.com. If you haven’t heard of it, go check it out, especially if you’re wondering how to shop for a vintage Rolex.
What’s coming up next is one of the fanciest discussions I’ve ever had. Enjoy!
Vintage Rolex Comparison Guide
| Model | Era | Features | Special Editions | Price Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolex Air King (Ref. 14000) | 1990s | 34mm case, sapphire crystal, long lug-to-lug fit | Domino’s Pizza, Winn-Dixie corporate dials | Under $5,000 |
| Rolex Air King (Ref. 5500) | 1970s–1980s | Acrylic domed crystal, shorter lug-to-lug fit | Tiffany & Co. signed dials | Under $5,000 |
| Rolex Datejust (Ref. 1601) | 1960s–1970s | Pie-pan dials, non-quickset date, fluted white gold bezel | Khanjar dagger dials (Sultanate of Oman) | Under $7,000 |
| Rolex Datejust (Ref. 16014) | 1980s | Quickset date, thicker bracelet, beefier case | Engine-turned bezels | Under $7,000 |
| Rolex Oyster Perpetual (Ref. 1002) | 1960s–1980s | Blue mosaic (shantung) dials, chronometer-rated | Various dial textures | Under $5,000 |
| Rolex Air King (Ref. 4499) | 1940s | Numerals inspired by WWII aviation | Air Tiger, Air Lion branding variants | Unavailable |
The Rolex Air King: A Perfect Starting Point
Eric: “For a lot of people, a Rolex is a great watch that fits their lifestyle. They can be made water resistant, they don’t really need to baby it, it’s automatic. You know, some people forget to wind their watch every day if it’s a manual wind watch, and you know, it’s really a watch that’s an heirloom immediately.
People understand it’s a good place to start, and it’s a watch you can enjoy the rest of your life without much issue.”
Chris: “Perfect, yeah, so let’s just discuss what you have here.”
Eric: “Yes, yes. For the purposes of the article, we’re looking at three great options or entry points into the field of vintage Rolex, which I kind of define as 1990s and older.
I think one of the best starting points in the kind of under 5K range would be the Rolex Air King.
So we’ve got two examples of the Rolex Air King reference 14,000, which I think is one of the best places to start in the world of vintage Rolex or your first Rolex.
It’s 34 mm in diameter. However, it has an extremely long lug-to-lug. I have one here that is actually my son Charlie’s Rolex, and he picked it because of the blue dial, which he liked a lot. There’s an example with a black dial. There are also examples, of course, with silver dials that are very common, very sleek, excellent watches.”
Eric: “It wears extremely well on the wrist, it is just a very durable, sleek watch. Sapphire crystal, you don’t really have to worry about scratching it. Excellent all-around watch you could wear every day for the rest of your life and be happy.”
Chris: “I mean, you can consider this like it’s not really a vintage piece, right?”
Eric: “This is neo-vintage 1990s. It’s very wearable. It’s 34, but because of the longer lug to lug, it really wears more like 35 on the wrist. And I prefer these honestly to the newer Air Kings, which are, of course, pretty garish and large and have the green and yellow logo and text, but I think this is really a classic watch.”
Chris: “No, I agree, and I think this is a great starting point for people just getting into vintage watches because it doesn’t really look vintage, right? It’s very much modern”
Eric: “This reference also was interesting because it was used for several corporate dials.
We’ve got a Domino’s Pizza Rolex that was given to typically franchise owners who hit their sales targets, with engravings on the back of the initials.
So this is also the reference 14,000, and then there was a Winn-Dixie for safe maintenance.
Someone who worked at Winn-Dixie—they also had them for safe driving for the truck drivers—and again, for 10 years of safe driving or safe maintenance in this case, you would get a Rolex.
So these are fun, these have gotten extremely popular the last few years, so they’re kind of out typically outside of that $7,000 price range we kind of set as the bar top bar for the article, but you know, it’s the same reference literally just a logo on the dial. It gives you a little feel for the watch.”
Chris: “Well, actually, my Rolex OP is that but with—but not with the Domino’s style—it’s on the bracelet.”
Eric: “Oh, that’s awesome, yeah, yeah.”
Evolution of the Air King: From WWII to Modern-Day
Eric: “You know, the honorable mention we’ll give the specific reference of the 14,000, but are the predecessor Air Kings like the reference 5500, which they made from really a lot of the ’70s and ’80s. Air Kings are this model, and it’s a beautiful watch as well.
The lug-to-lug is shorter, so it wears a little bit smaller, but you’ve got the beautiful domed crystal.
The reference 14,000 is a flat sapphire crystal. This is an acrylic crystal, but it’s domed, which is beautiful.
This particular example is a Tiffany and Co. retail signature above 6:00, so it’s worth outside of our range—that adds to the value—but it is just an awesome watch, just very, very clean and easy to wear.
I have one of the original Air Kings which is from the 1940s. It’s a reference 4499, and these were really marketed to people, potentially pilots in World War II, which is why they came up with that.
Rolex was playing up with a lot of different names like Air Tiger and Air Lion and different things during that time, and the numerals are extremely cool in that model. So that’s kind of cool to see the origin of the Air King and then go through to see it through the 1990s and early 2000s.
The next reference I recommend is very similar to the reference 5500. They made them from the 1960s through the 1980s. Again, it’s a little bit shorter lug-to-lug measurement but has extremely beautiful dials.
This one has a blue mosaic dial, also known as a shantung dial.
It looks like silk, almost glossy, with a very interesting blue texture, and all the 1002s are chronometer-rated, whereas the Air Kings from that era through the ’90s and early 2000s were not chronometer-rated—not that we really care that much, but the movement is a little bit better and went through more regulation than the reference 5500s.”
Chris: “I was looking at this bracelet too. You have the rivets on there.”
Eric: “I love these bracelets. They’re very very light, they’re extremely cool, and very thin on the wrist. It’s part of the charm of vintage watches for sure.”
Chris: “Yeah, I agree, I agree.”
Eric: “And then kind of honorable mention in this Oyster Perpetual category, we’ve got a ladies 6718, these are, you know, under $4,000, sometimes under $3,000.
This has a blue dial, really a beautiful watch, and this is an older Oyster Perpetual reference 6332. There’s a whole series of many many different Oyster Perpetual references, and again we’re talking under $5,000. This has a super unusual patinated dial from the 1950s.”
The Datejust: A Classic Collection Piece
Chris: “Where do we start with this?”
Eric: “This is kind of the most expensive of what we’re looking at—a vintage Datejust. In this case, the reference 1601 has a fluted white gold bezel for the steel models. For the gold model, of course, it’s an 18K yellow gold bezel.
1601 is just a classic kind of quintessential Datejust made from the 1960s through the 1970s. These do not have a quick set date.
The successor references do. You can get really interesting—they typically have a pie-pan dial where the outer track is sunken.
They just have really, really beautiful dials. This example is kind of a blue sunburst finish. There is also a black confetti finish where, if you look at the dial closely under a loupe, it’s got flecks of red and different colors, blue and things, but looks kind of like a matte black from a distance.
There’s just a whole variety of dials. I mean, of course, the most common is silver, but there’s not really a big premium to get a special, you know, dial—linen dials as well that are very interesting.
And we’re talking again about an unpolished example, which collectors prefer—unpolished examples with full lugs, with a full crisp definition on the bezel—for under $7,000 typically.
This example in two-tone happens to have a Khanjar dagger on the dial, so it’s a bit more expensive. This was from the Sultanate of Oman, but this example without that, again, would be under $7,000 without that dial.”
Understanding Watch Polishing and Case Integrity
Eric: “You want a really good case, you want a dial free of marks, you want a bracelet that’s not super stretched. Sometimes these things, there’s such a huge gap between each link; it’s not a very enjoyable experience on the wrist, and you kind of worry about it disintegrating or falling apart when you’re wearing it.
When learning how to shop for a vintage Rolex, condition, condition, condition is the mantra to go by.”
Chris: “Yeah, I mean, you basically wrote the book on what to look out for in vintage watches, right? And you always emphasize the condition, whether on the case, bracelet, especially—that’s where the majority of the value is held within the dial.
In terms of things being polished, what’s your take on that? Like, would you rather have things not polished at all or touched?”
Eric: “Yeah, in general, vintage watches don’t tend to have super thick lugs, you know, so as soon as they hit a polishing wheel during a service, the lugs get much, much thinner.
You can lose 30% or more of the essential width of that lug, and then it starts to look like toothpick lugs, as we call them, were just too thin—it doesn’t look as nice on the wrist.
You almost worry about the integrity of the watch. That was part of the reason Rolex switched to the Maxi cases for the Subs, for the GMTs and things, and part of their kind of private marketing around that was that the watch could be polished 10 times without issue.
So it’s something they think about. These older cases are much more delicate and petite, perfectly fine for everyday intense wear, but they do not look as good when they’ve been polished three times for sure. At that point, it’s going to not look great.”
Engine-Turned vs Fluted Bezels: Making the Choice
Eric: “And kind of the honorable mention of these are the quick set models, which again are not really different in terms of value. I have a 16014, which is the immediate successor reference and this has a little bit thicker bracelet where the profile looks like a D, and the case is overall a little beefier to accommodate the quick set movement.
This is a 16030, which is the version with a steel engine-turned bezel versus the white gold fluted bezel. I also like the 1603s, which are like the 1601s but with the style of engine-turned bezel. They’re just all fantastic watches.
I tell people all the time if you’re looking for that kind of $7,000 and under price point and looking for something that someone’s going to like and respect if they don’t already have a Datejust, it’s a great watch for any collection.”
Chris: “Why would someone go over engine-turned over traditional fluted?”
Eric: “The only reason I like it as well—it’s a little bit stealthier, it doesn’t catch the light the same way. It just depends on how you want to kind of impress people because they’ll see the gold bezel probably a bit more, and some people like that classic look.
If you’re in my mind’s eye when I think of a Datejust, I think of that bezel, or when I think of a Day-Date, I also think of that bezel. But they don’t make the steel engine-turn bezels anymore, that’s also cool. When you see that, you know it’s an older watch.”
Chris: “I know a lot of people that want to collect things outside of the box. I think something like this would be perfect.”
Eric: “Yeah, yeah, exactly. Another kind of honorable mention for the Air Kings is the Date models, and some of the Air Kings actually have this style of bezel as well, the 14010, where it’s got this overhanging engine-turned-bezel.
But some people like that Air King profile but want a date, and there is the reference 15200, that’s essentially the exact same as the Air King but with a date. And then you’ve got other versions that have a date with this engine-turn bezel as well.
So again, we’re talking under $5,000 for these models. It’s a 15010, and this is a 15210. So, one has a sapphire crystal, and the other has an acrylic crystal.”
Care and Maintenance of Vintage Watches
Chris: “So I have a question for you because I just acquired this very pristine Citizen Bullhead. I don’t know what the guy did. Maybe he didn’t wear it, or he was very careful about wearing it over his cuff and all that.
For people just getting into vintage watches and they just acquired a very clean example of whatever they wanted, should they wear it and just go on about their day as if it was like a normal sport watch, especially on, you know, the bracelet and all that, or should they be careful with it?”
Eric: “The beautiful thing about all of these watches is if they’re sold by a competent dealer, you want to ask if they’re water resistant. We try to make everything we sell in the world of vintage Rolex water resistant as well as modern Rolex so you can kind of wear it.
These are very durable bracelets. As we tell people, you know, don’t just throw the watch around and treat it badly, but if you treat it well, it should last for hundreds of years, which is not like a lot of other things in our lives these days.
I think if you just treat it well, you know, set it on a soft cloth or soft pad when you go to bed at night, but just be careful with the watch.”
Watch This Review
Closing Thoughts
Well, it looks like it’s time to end the info session on how to shop for a vintage Rolex. Thanks again to Eric Wind, definitely check him out!
All right, well, I’m Chris from Clicky Bezel, and I hope to see you on the next one.
From a young age, I was hooked on watches. My dad and uncle were both collectors, and I couldn’t resist the allure of their timepieces. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon a Casio digital calculator watch in college that I truly fell in love. (I originally bought the watch to complete my Back to the Future costume for an 80’s-themed party)
It wasn’t until the release of the Swatch Moonswatch watches that Clicky Bezel came to fruition. My wife (bless her heart) had been bugging me for years to start a YouTube channel, and I finally caved in with my first video covering my experience camping over 16 hours for the hyped-up Moonswatches.
In a relatively short time, I’ve been lucky enough to connect and collaborate with some big players in the industry, including Nomos Glashütte, Jomashop, Minase, and now Fashionbeans. To learn more about my passion, find my content here on fashionbeans.com, follow my Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/ClickyBezel or visit my website at: https://clickybezel.com/
