Rolex Milgauss Ref. 1019

Straight Facts

A Rolex for … nuclear scientists! Sounds crazy? Well, it’s the truth. First introduced in 1954 the Milgauss was named for its resistance to One Thousand Gauss. What is a Gauss? That is a measure of magnetic activity - and as anybody who has worn a mechanical watch in the modern era of cellphones can tell you - magnetism is the enemy of accurate timekeeping. So how do Nuclear Scientists a la Doc Brown factor into this equation? Well, during the post WWII years - there was a massive rise in nuclear studies for energy and arms and scientists who relied on their precision instrument watches needed a more anti-magnetic watch to resist the day-to-day exposure to these highly magnetic forces - and Rolex was happy to answer their call. While this initial 6541 Milgauss was not a commercial success, later iterations proved to be iconic and desirable both when they were new, and even more-so today. The present 1019 comes from the minimalist era of the 1016 Explorer. It sports a clean, but elegant, gradient dial and a flash of red with ‘MILGAUSS’ printed crisply at 12. This example is in overall stunning condition and represents an era when scientists were at the forefront of innovation.

*Some marks or spots on the dial are reflections or dust on the crystal and are due to high intensity strobe lighting used while photographing. They are not actually on the watch or visible in natural lighting.