The Rolex Air-King is one of the oldest series in Rolex history and has been in production almost continuously since its inception in World War II. The story of this watch is full of ups and downs. Rolex had a reputation for producing high-quality pilot replica watches even before the war. In 1933, it won an early victory by supplying clocks to the Houston Expedition. Six years later, at the outbreak of the second world war, the Royal Air Force distributed the company’s 30mm high-speed Overlord to its aircrews, but the pilots replaced it with a larger Bubbleback recently introduced and paid for it out of their own pockets. 
When replica Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf heard the news, he specially made a series of ‘Air’ fake watches to honor these pilots and to commemorate the RAF’s impracticable triumph against the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Huge (back then) and straightforward, the range consisted of the Air-Lion, Air-Tiger, Air-Giant, and Air-King. By the end of the war, only the Air-King remained in production, a 34mm piece with the reference 4925. Since then, the cheap watch has gone through many different iterations, even though not much would think of a fake watch now in its eighth decade.
Even though it is now an absolute element of the Professional Collection of Rolex watches, the Air-King has for all time remained on the edge, more a cult choice than one of the typical big hitters. Nevertheless, during its time, it has given us numerous classics, including some truly great models assuming stylishness and fashionable complexity.
Ref. 5500, launched in 1957, is the fourth generation of Rolex Air-King, the reason is that the watch version is not satisfactory. It was not replaced until the late 1980s, the reference 5500 has been stagnant in production for an amazing 37 years. Because of its long service life, refer to it. The 5500 is the model most people associate with the appearance of the prototype Air-King; the 34mm dial, with an uncomplicated dial design, is hard and not as distracting as the date display.
All through its run, the fake Rolex Air-King 5500 was fitted with two special movements – the Cal. 1520 and the Cal. 1530 – neither one chronometer-rated. On various examples, you can easily tell which caliber a model has by the script on the dial. Many Cal. 1520 pieces have the word ‘Precision’ above the six o’clock index, or else no title in any way, while cheap watches with Cal. 1530 movements frequently be given the ‘Super Precision’ making in the equal position. Amusingly, it was the Cal. 1530 which was used first, with the Cal. 1520 not making an appearance until approximately 1963 and remaining in use until the retirement of the reference 5500.