The last “real” fake Rolex Air-King debuted in 2007. The reference 1142XX series received some serious upgrades and reworkings, but it still remained true to the original model. The series was axed in 2014, but just two years later, a completely new cheap replica Rolex Air-King debuted. The watch was inspired by a pair of dash clocks Rolex made for the Bloodhound SSC, a rocket on wheels that was set to break the land-speed record. But it never did.
Project Bloodhound went into administration in late 2018, someone bought the car, renamed the project, then COVID-19 happened. The project got delayed, and in 2021, the rocket vehicle was put up for sale. Does this reflect on the Swiss made replica watch, made to look like the instruments in the Bloodhound? Apparently not, because perfect fake Rolex continued producing the Air-King.
Still, I feel that 2022 will be the end of the best quality replica Rolex that looks like the instruments on a doomed rocket car. The 40mm Air King just doesn’t fit in. It’s too much of a mashup — a bulky and extravagant brother of the 36mm Explorer.
But will there be a new AAA fake Rolex Air-King in 2022? Maybe a reinterpretation of the legendary reference 5500? I don’t think so. The colorful Oyster Perpetual lineup looks too much like a vintage Air-King. As you may know, I wouldn’t mind a new Turn-O-Graph, and I do see room in the collection for that. But a reworked Swiss movement replica Air-King would sit too close to the OP, I fear. Not to mention the fact that Rolex has no capacity for pumping out a complete Air-King collection… But that’s another story.