For many luxury watch fans, some may tell you collecting vintage Rolex watches is an interesting thing. While today's Rolex collections are very clearly separated, every model has its own unique selling points and a large of marketing materials to explain the ins and outs, it wasn't very clear and certain of models more than fifty years ago. For example, the Rolex ref. 5500, though it is technically an Air-King, Rolex also simultaneously offered the ref. 5500 with an Explorer dial for about ten years. Now here are some points for this marvelous classical Rolex watch Explorer ref. 5500.
Rolex announced the stainless steel Air-King ref. 5500 with a 34mm case and time-only functionality in 1957. Their clean and straightforward dials were clearly marked with the "Air-King" name under the Rolex logo at 12 o'clock. On the bottom part of the dial, the Air-King ref. 5500 also included either a "PRECISION" or a "SUPER PRECISION" label depending on the caliber it ran on. The "PRECISION" text signifies Caliber 1520 within the case while "SUPER PRECISION" represents the model Caliber 1530.
In the late 1950s, Rolex replica released a version of the Air-King ref. 5500 with an Explorer dial. However, this special model is often referred to as the Explorer ref. 5500 despite the Air-King case. Thus, the Explorer ref. 5500 is also 34mm in size. This is obviously smaller than the traditional 36mm size of the Explorer ref. 6610 and the Explorer ref. 1016 watches of the same era.
The Explorer ref. 5500 owns the typical black gilt dial, the 3, 6, and 9 Arabic numerals, including the stick indexes and the inverted triangle. For this time, under the fake Rolex logo, the "EXPLORER" name is clearly on display. There are also the Mercedes-style hands—characteristic of the Explorer collection, not the Air-King model—as well as the "lollipop" seconds hand. The T<25 markings below six o'clock show that the dial uses tritium for luminescence.
Similar to the Air-King, there are both Precision and Super Precision editions of the Explorer ref. 5500. There are also some ultra-rare examples with a line under the "SUPER PRECISION" text. Moreover, sometimes the dial includes a double T<25 markings flanking the "SWISS" label.
In brief, to appeal to more younger customers, Rolex ran a little experiment by outfitting the body of the Air-King ref. 5500 with the dial of the Explorer. Because this is a special classical Rolex watch with various dials available, it's surely an interesting piece to research, source, and for any watch collection. In fact, in 2016, Philips sold an Explorer ref. 5500 watch with the underlined "SUPER PRECISION" and double "T<25" for a whopping CHF 28,750 which owns about triple pre-sale for its price.
If you are hunting for the vintage Rolex replica watches with some different, maybe the Explorer ref. 5500 will taste you.