Rolex

Baron - Mr Red
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The modern Milgauss

Rolex have, over the years, manufactured watches for very specific uses. Diving watches. Explorers watches. In the mid-1950s, the name GMT-Master was registered, and with it came the Aviator’s watch. It was also at this time that Rolex took an unusual twist. The Milgauss. This watch was created for scientists and laboratory professionals who needed to measure time in an environment where there was, quite often, the presence of very strong magnetic fields. The Milgauss was manufactured in steel and was guaranteed to work in magnetic fields up to 1000 Gauss. It is from this that the name of the watch was derived…Mille Gauss. CERN were one of the very first to guarantee the watch’s ability to withstand the magnetic field.

I have read in a number of books that the Milgauss was first introduced in 1954. It is probable that the first reference (6543) was announced in the Basel Fair of 1954, but was most unlikely to have been available at that time. Further, this first reference, 6543, was manufactured in such small numbers (believed to be just 88), that it is hard to say this was the official launch. According to Rolex, the first Milgauss was launched in 1956. This almost certainly refers to the second series of Milgauss, the 6541. Both 6543 and 6541 housed the caliber 1080.

In 1964, Rolex released the reference 1019, using the calibre 1580. I plan a review of the 1019 for later in the year. It is certainly one of the watches that sit very high on my wish-list. The 1019 stayed in production until 1988. There was then a gap. A huge gap, in fact, until 2007 when Rolex decided to revive the Milgauss. And it is this revival that I want to look at now. In 2007, Rolex announced a new Milgauss model, reference 116400. The new reference came with a 40mm diameter (the 1019 being 38mm). It is equipped with a calibre 3131 and available in either black or white dial, with the second hand in orange and bearing the shape of a lightning bolt. The lightning bolt was a tribute to a feature on the 6541. To my mind, the 116400 is still my favourite modern Rolex in production. I think it is actually a superb watch from so many perspectives. I have owned my 116400 for over a year so feel comfortable giving it a review.

First of all, what do we really mean by anti-magnetic? According to the German Industry Norm, a watch is considered anti-magnetic if it can keep its accuracy +/- 30 secs when exposed to a magnetic field of around 60 Gauss. That puts into context the degree to which the Milgauss can cope with exposure to extreme magnetic variation.

The modern Milgauss houses a “Faraday Cage”. A Faraday Cage is an enclosure formed by a conducting material that causes the electric charges within the cage’s conducting material to be distributed away from the inner cage. A cage within a cage. 

When I am asked what modern Rolex do I think it is worth owning, I have to say that the Milgauss 116400 comes at the very top of my list.