In the 1950s, Rolex was still creating tool watches for various specialized professions. They came out with the Submariner, which was intended for diving, and the Explorer, which was built to be the perfect watch for spelunkers. They also released a watch geared toward the scientific community in 1956, with the Milgauss.
The Milgauss was a purpose-built watch created to offer improved resistance to magnetic fields. When a mechanical watch is exposed to a magnetism, it can throw off the accuracy of the movement, so if you're using your watch to time something in one of these environments, your watch needs to be able to resist it. The name "Milgauss" signifies the watch's ability: "Mil" means one thousand, and "gauss" is a unit of magnetic induction. The Rolex Milgauss can resist up to 1,000 gauss, thanks to a special Faraday cage that safeguards the movement.
Rolex came out with a few different variations of the Milgauss from 1956 to 1988. It was discontinued until 2007, when it was brought back into production. Rolex offered ref. 1019, like we have here, in the 1960s with either a black or silver dial. The ref. 1019 has a couple neat details like the pop of red in the "Milgauss" text and on the tip of the seconds hand, as well as a nice case diameter of 38mm, which was bigger at the time than a Datejust or Day-Date and just slightly smaller than a Submariner.
The crystal is in Plexiglass and the caliber is the self winding 1580.
The example we have here features the very rare black dial and is in perfect condition. The Milgauss is a great option for someone who appreciates understated elegance and a form-meets-function design.
Service has been done by Rolex in 2011.
