Reviews
Rolex Milgauss: One in a Thousand
Reviews
Rolex Milgauss: One in a Thousand
Partners in Time
Rolex always has, even up until current times, worked with the highest caliber partners in their research and development. The Tektite project for the early Sea-Dwellers, Pan-Am with the GMT-Master and Comex on the Deep Sea Sea-Dweller; all these relationships were key to the development and testing of professional model watches. The Geneva-based Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire or CERN is the world’s pre-eminent particle physics research facility. In the mid to late 1950s, the Milgauss was put through its paces by scientists at CERN who confirmed that the watch could be exposed to magnetic fields of up to 1,000 gauss without any impediment to timekeeping.
Not Just a Pretty Face
The first Milgauss reference was the 6543 with a steel case measuring 38mm across and an unusual lug width of approximately 19.5mm. The rotating bezel was marked with either unique font Submariner-esque divisions of tens (10, 20, 30, etc.) or single units of one to five. The 6543 was equipped with a unique caliber reference 1080, which was modified from the base caliber 1030.
Due to the fact that this was a time of experimentation and prototyping, the references of the very first sports watches change quickly and in some cases co-exist. The second reference for the Milgauss was the 6541. Visually very similar to the 6543, the biggest addition cosmetically to the 6543 was the so-called lightning-bolt seconds hand. The 6541 debuted in 1957 and was again produced in very small quantities, estimated to be around 200 pieces in total. Rolex utilized the 1080 caliber still and the honeycomb dials remained. The case size was again 38mm, but the lug width increased to the sports watch standard of 20mm. Internally, there was a small change. The iron ring around the movement remained, but instead of a thick caseback as seen on some examples of its predecessor, the 6541 had an additional inner caseback as well as a standard steel outer caseback. The Faraday cage was therefore constructed by the inner ring and inner caseback.
The Second Generation Milgauss
In approximately 1960 Rolex unveiled the reference 1019. The 1019 had an incredible uninterrupted lifespan of nearly three decades, until it was finally discontinued in 1989. Again, like its forefathers it was a large watch for the era measuring 38mm, compared with the Explorer or Datejust. The case size was to accommodate the Faraday cage that encircled the Calibre 1580 movement. Like the 6541, the 1019 had an additional amagnetic inner shield that completed the Faraday cage construction.
It would be possible to write an entire article on the dial variations and chronology of the different iterations, but that isn’t the purpose of this piece. Suffice to say, that there are at least six different dial versions with changes to font, dial finish, hour markers and the outer seconds tracks. The silver dials were available without any lume application on the dial and a black non-luminous in-fill in the hands. This was the configuration requested by CERN, as it was vital that the watches contained no radioactive materials that could interfere with the very precise work that went on at the research center.
The 1019 was not a popular watch at the time and sold very slowly. Interestingly, it is still a very ‘soft’ watch on the vintage market compared with its contemporaries in the ever financially ascending world of vintage Rolex. It is not unusual to see cull set collector examples where the warranty is dated much later than the manufacture date, due to the fact that it sat for many, many years in the window at the authorized dealer. The CERN dial examples are highly sought after and a good condition regular 1019 is perhaps a good and accessible entry into the vintage Rolex professional watch world.
A Triumphant Return
18 years following its withdrawal, Rolex resurrected the line at Baselworld in 2007 with the new Milgauss reference 116400. A hybrid of both the first and second generation Milgauss, it was a reimagined watch for a new era of horology. In keeping with the then state-of-play, the case got a 2mm boost to make it up to the 40mm mark and was waterproof to a depth of 100m. The watches housed the Caliber 3131 which features the Parachrom hairspring and anchor escapement, which in themselves hugely improve the anti-magnetic properties of the watch; another good example of Rolex over-engineering its watches. The modern Milgauss could withstand significantly more than 1,000 gauss! The 3131 movements are housed in a two-piece shield—one half of which screws to the dial side of the movement and the other into the Oyster case beneath the outer caseback. This ‘inner case back’ has the letter ‘B’ beneath and arrow engraved on it; the symbol for magnetic flux density.
Gauss Glass Verte
To celebrate 50 years of the ‘official’ launch of the Milgauss (we can assume that Rolex viewed the 6543 as a test model) in 1957, Rolex unveiled the 116400GV in 2007. The same watch as the regular black dial version, the GV had a special green sapphire crystal fitted – the ‘glace vert.’ Green was the colour that Rolex had used with the 50th Anniversary Submariner, the so-called ‘Kermit,’ and here it was again for the Milgauss. Rolex have stated that they decided not to patent the green glass and its manufacturing process as it was far too complicated for any other brand to ever consider copying!