neverbatteries

Thanks for all the responses. I'll pop the back this weekend and take some good shots. I was also told a big determiner is the type of hairspring being either flat (1520) or Breguet style (1570). Has anyone one else heard that a determiner between the two?

Thank you so much for all the info! I'll pop the back this weekend and check out the hairspring. It does though have a serial number, as seen in the picture. I'm sorry I only have this one on my phone. It could be a switched out autowind plate, but that seems odd if there's a serial number like automatico mentioned, right? Its the 26 jewel by the way. Regardless, it's still good to hear from all of you. I am hoping though that it is a proper 1570, since that's by far my favorite movement.

Sorry, I didn't see for some reason my earlier post getting up here. My bad.

So, like many this is my first post here on RWG and I'd really love some thoughts on the Rolex I just bought. It's an 5500 Air King, that based on the serial dates puts it's production between late 1978 and early 1988. When I opened it, I was surprised to find a 1570 movement, rather than the 1520 I've always associated with a 5500. The movement no. also dates it to the same time frame. The interesting part that I then noticed is that this 1570 is a non-hacking movement. From everything I've read on other posts on here, I thought that the non-hacking 15XX movement was done away with in the late 60's, but this watch is late 70's. I took it to my watch guy who's a licensed to service Rolex and in his opinion, he feel's it all factory, not a mod to non-hacking (the channel finish is exactly the same as the surrounding). My question is, has anyone else come across a 5500 Air King with a non-hacking 1570 movement? What's interesting is that it looks exactly as my late 60's Explorer 1016 1570 movement. I would love to hear from anyone who's seen anything like this. Cheers.

So this is my first post and I'm hoping someone out here might be able to shed some light on my new Air King purchase. It's a 5500 with a serial that dates its it to late 1977/early 1978. The interesting bit I realized when I bought it is that it has the 1570 movement versus the 1520/1530 I've seen in similar aged Air Kings. After examining it some more, it also doesn't have the hacking feature that I thought was always part of a 1570, like the one on my 1016 Explorer. Has anyone ever come across this movement? I've looked through some of the older post and it appears that a 5500 Air King might have featured a 1570 in that time range, but I've never seen a non-hacking one. I specifically asked my watch guy when I had it open to replace the crystal and gasket and he said that in his 35 years of servicing Rolexes he'd guarantee it is an authentic Rolex movement. If anyone has any info on this or has come across one themselves, please let me know. Also, as far as I have researched, this would make this Air King an Officially Certified Chronometer, not a Precision like the rest of the Air Kings I've seen, right?