Lot 272

Rolex

Milgauss

A rare antimagnetic vintage wristwatch

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The Rolex Milgauss reference 1019 is impressive with its perfect dial and hands. The tritium luminous material is of excellent quality. The watch shows some signs of wear, particularly on the glass, this is however uncritical. All in all the watch seems unpolished. The movement starts immediately, we do, however, recommend a service. The folding "Oyster" steel bracelet reference 7836 shows some signs of age and wear, but is well preserved and very long. The watch comes with punched original certificate and shows September 17, 1977 as date of sale.

Telecommunications, aviation and aerospace industries, medical imaging, research facilities – to name but a few of the many sectors where scientists, engineers and technicians are exposed to strong magnetic fields on a regular basis. The Oyster Perpetual Milgauss has been purpose-built for these environments. Its name is a combination of "mil" (a thousand), and "gauss", (the unit of magnetic flux density, named after the German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss), and the wristwatch is resistant to a magnetic flux density of 1,000 gauss or tesla. Rolex uses its own parachrome spring and an escapement wheel made of a new paramagnetic material in the Milgauss. Ferromagnetic alloys provide the magnetic shielding protecting the movement.
The Milgauss was mostly sold for its unusual design – not many people needed a watch with all those functions the Milgauss provided. Thus the watch was never a big seller and Rolex discontinued the production in 1986. However, in 2007 Rolex relaunched the Milgauss in three different styles.