I was trying to figure out why CF would do such a thing as the missing tics. Aside from the obvious theory of "Make a V1 with some flaws so ppl will buy a V2", rep factories usually try to copy a gen or gen picture exactly.
If you've ever noticed all the little anomalies in the bottom 2 lines of text on Subs and GMTs like taller letters (C D E F and others), and uneven spacing, most reps dials have it copied exactly.
Actual gen
It's hard to imagine CF just taking it upon itself to make a new dial variation. Then I noticed something that makes me think there has to be a gen like this somewhere.
Balance side to side.
There are varying numbers of tics between the hour numerals: 0, 2, or 3 tics are used. By omitting the 4 and 6 minute tics, the number of tics between each set of left side numerals is exactly the same as the opposite right side. This strikes me as something Rolex would do for balance, more than something CF would do on a whim or as a sales strategy.
pic credit
@e1phantom
Balance is always a goal for dial designers. It's why Rolex uses IIII for 4 instead of IV - to balance the VIII at 8.
Here's an example where a dial design balance was improved. Day date dials used to have a "1" numeral at 11 o'clock because 2 digits wouldn't fit nicely next to the day window. This always bugged me and seemed wrong.
Then the design was changed to have many "1" digits (really sticks), so the overall result is better balance. The 5 and 7 now balance better and the 11 is not an "odd man out" looking like a 1.
The 2022 Air King dial was also changed to improve balance by adding a "0" before the "5".
So I'm not convinced yet that there was never a gen dial like CF's and will keep looking. Obviously at some point the gen racing dial design became what it is now, Rolex makes changes for improvement as they see fit. In this instance if a change was made, it was likely due to an overall better appearance outweighing an initial goal of balancing.