MK Personal Collection Rare Rolex Steel Milgauss Anti-Magnetic Wristwatch Ref 1019, CERN Dial Circa 1970.

MK Personal Collection The present lot is part of a larger privately held collection and is intended for exhibition purposes only. Super Rare Rolex Steel Milgauss Anti-Magnetic Wristwatch Ref 1019 CERN Dial, Circa 1970. The watch features a three-body case with a screwed-down case back and crown, inclined bezel, soft iron gilt metal anti-magnetic protecting cap forming a Faraday cage. It is stamped on the inside back cover "1019 11.70" Serial # 2.429.293. Topped with an original brushed silver over soft iron dial with luminous steel baton indexes with outer minute/seconds divisions, “Milgauss” in strong RED!. Luminous tapered steel baton hands and red-tipped center seconds hand VERY VERY cool Cal. 1580, rhodium-plated Rolex movement with 26 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to 5 positions and temperature, shock absorber, self-compensating free-sprung white metal Breguet balance spring, Microstella regulating screws. As you can see from the photos, the watch is in overall excellent condition. We purchased this watch from its original owner. Ref. 1019 was introduced in 1966 and was available up to 1990. During the early 1950's Rolex was approached by CERN, the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, and asked to develop a wristwatch that would maintain accurate timekeeping while being exposed to powerful magnetic fields. Worn by the scientists and engineers which could withstand unusually strong magnetic fields. At the time, most wristwatches were designed to withstand up to about 50 to 100 gauss before they stopped working. The name "Milgauss" indicates a greater ability to resist the effects of magnetism: "Mil" means one thousand, and "gauss" is a unit of magnetic induction. The Milgauss was designed to resist up to 1,000 gauss.