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Originally Posted by FCobra94
Neat story and congrats on the Sub!
Curious...did you actually get a chance to handle the Air King in person? Would be interested in seeing how it stacks up against the Sub and Explorer side-by-side.
At the end of the day though, you're right...a no-date Sub seems to check way more boxes compared to most other models.
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I did, actually at an AD (trolling through AD's on layover's? Takes up more time than you'd think, but it *does* give you something to do.)
Don't get me wrong-- the Air King is a fine piece-- and it's certainly an "unusual" Rolex that you don't see that often; its just that I couldn't quite "fall in love" with it. My wife really wanted that one for me (due to the whole "professional pilot" thing), but it just didn't quite do it for me. It's technically a 40, but I thought it "felt" a lot like the Explorer (a 39) on my wrist. And, I'm not a fan of the polished bezel on either the Air King or the Explorer-- but that's a definite personal opinion.
Additionally, I just thought the face was very busy, like Rolex wasn't quite sure what they were trying to achieve. I like the addition of lume to the 3-6-9 (compared to the previous Air King), but the lack of a 12 would have driven the OCD part of me nuts from a symmetry perspective. And the 5-10-20-25 etc just was "meh" to me.
The other issue (for me) was that I'm not a big fan of bracelets, and wanted to run a nylon strap (I **REALLY** like the nylon strap on my Sub from Everest Horology-- it's got a lot of definition, so it's nothing like a NATO), and I couldn't find one for the Air King that I liked-- only rubber was available.
But it *is* a striking watch!
In comparing the three, I think the Air King is a lot closer to the Explorer in feel in comparison to the Sub-- the sub is just a "more solid" (?) watch to me-- it feels heavier and more "there" on your wrist-- which is something that appealed to me. And even though the Sub and the Air King are both 40's, I felt that the Sub fit my wrist a lot better. That's entirely personal preference, though.
As an aside, what turned me off of the Explorer (not the II, which does nothing for me) was that a) it "felt" small on my wrist, and b) it photographs like the face is a dark black, but when you see it in person, it's much more grey-- I thought it washed out the face and made the watch sort of bland-- and then there's that bezel.
I really liked (LOVE) the GMT-II, but I couldn't justify the price-- the Sub pricepoint was already giving me convulsions.
In the end, my wife and I kept coming back to the no-date Sub. She says that "it's just me"-- I LOVE the look on the nylon strap (I've never even taken the protective plastic off of the bracelet)-- it makes it a completely different watch, and doesn't scream "Hey! Look at my Rolex!" when you're wearing it-- which is something I like. It's very understated, but unless you're a "real" watch guy, people don't notice what it is.
Either way, I don't think you can go wrong though-- the Sub, Air King and Explorer (and of course, the GMT-II) are all simply outstanding watches with great wrist presence. But, I've got my stable and I can't justify more watches than I have currently.
R.