History of the Rolex Milgauss

[harb]

http://www.newturfers.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=2072&d=1273057504

Introduced by Rolex in 1954 with the model number 6451, the Rolex Milgauss was designed as an anti-magnetic watch specifically for those who worked in areas where electromagnetic fields can wreck havoc on the timing of a watch, like power plants and research labs.


http://newturfers.com/mwf/attach/14/323914/6541m.jpg


The original Milgauss was very similar to the appearance of the Rolex Submariner, with an over-sized case and bezel, with the Twinlock crown, and a riveted Oyster bracelet. Although the Milgauss only went through two more versions, it was the slowest mover in the Rolex line-up was discontinued in 1988.

Ref. 1019

http://www.newturfers.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=2073&d=1273057667


http://www.newturfers.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=2074&d=1273057667

[harb]

The Rolex Milgauss' main feature is its resistance to magnetism. The word Milgauss is derived from the French word mille, which means one-thousand, and gauss, the unit of the magnetic field. If you expose a mechanical watch to a strong magnetic field, some of the parts in the movement become magnetized. This will cause the mechanism to run quite fast and require demagnetization. The Rolex Milgauss is able to resist a magnetic field of 1,000 Gauss.

Gauss is the cgs unit of magnetic flux density in a magnetic field, named after the German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. One gauss is defined as one maxwell per square centimeter. A more practical definition is that a small iron magnet produces about 100 gauss. A watch is normally considered "anti-magnetic" if it can ignore 60 gauss, or 1/17th of what the Rolex Milgauss is rated for. Rolex was able to achieve the 1000 Gauss rating by encasing the movement in soft iron, which is known as a Faraday cage and using Parachrom-Blu for the hairspring material.

At Basel 2007, Rolex announced the return of the Milgauss in three different versions all featuring the historic lightning bolt shaped second hand which represents the electromagnetic environment this watch was designed to work in. The new Rolex Milgauss comes in a 40mm case, with a COSC certified 3131 automatic winding movement. It is water resistant up to 100 meters.

http://www.newturfers.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=2075&d=1273058023

http://www.newturfers.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=2076&d=1273058023

http://www.newturfers.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=2077&d=1273058057

[Paracentesis]

These look stunning. Love the black face and orange lightning bolt seconds hand. They must be pretty rare?

[harb]

The green glass model is certainly the hardest to get hold of.

Saying that, Laings of Glasgow had all three models in their window last week (http://newturfers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3180) - you might see them if you're in town this weekend...;)

[kenhiraihnl]

I've been following this thread, which reinforces my attraction to the Milgauss GV. Here's a picture of mine, which was delivered to me only 2 days ago...:p

[Puffy]

Lusting for this now.. thanks for the pics guys.. very nice