Rolex Air-King 6552

The Rolex Air‑King ref. 6552 was produced from 1956 to 1959 and is recognized as a transitional reference that carried forward the automatic movement advancements of the earlier 6500. It retained the 34 mm stainless steel Oyster case with a domed acrylic crystal and smooth bezel, while housing the Rolex Caliber 1030, a reliable automatic movement with bi-directional winding. The case measured approximately 11–12 mm thick, had a lug-to-lug span of around 42 mm, and featured a 19 mm lug width. Dial options were relatively minimalist, typically in silver or cream with baton or Arabic numeral hour markers and luminous accents using radium or tritium, depending on the year. Some variants were marked ‘Super Precision,’ reflecting the watch’s strong timekeeping performance. Although not produced for long, the 6552 is appreciated for its classic styling and represents the final iteration before the introduction of the long-lived 5500 reference.