The “Pepsi” is the collector nickname for any Rolex GMT-Master wearing the red-and-blue 24-hour bezel — from the original ref. 6542 of 1955 through to the steel GMT-Master II ref. 126710BLRO of 2018. Red marks the daytime hours on the bezel’s 24-hour scale, blue the night. The steel Pepsi was discontinued at Watches & Wonders 2026, ending an eight-year production run.
Why is it called the Pepsi?
Rolex developed the GMT-Master in the mid-1950s in collaboration with Pan American World Airways, whose transatlantic crews needed to read home time and local time simultaneously. The two-colour bezel was a practical device: it split the 24-hour scale into day and night halves so a pilot could tell 08:00 from 20:00 at a glance. The colour choice happened to match the Pepsi-Cola livery, and American collectors turned the resemblance into a nickname that has outlived every reference it was attached to. Rolex has never printed the word in a catalogue, yet it has kept the red-and-blue bezel in near-continuous production for some seventy years, moving from Bakelite to aluminium and finally, in 2014, to two-colour Cerachrom ceramic.
References
| Reference | Years | Key spec | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6542 | 1955–1959 | First GMT-Master; fragile Bakelite bezel | Discontinued |
| 1675 | 1959–1980 | Crown guards, aluminium bezel insert | Discontinued |
| 16700 / 16710 | 1988–2007 | Last aluminium-bezel Pepsis | Discontinued |
| 116719BLRO | 2014–around 2019 | White gold; first Cerachrom Pepsi bezel | Discontinued |
| 126719BLRO | 2019–2026 | White gold, calibre 3285; blue, later meteorite dial | Discontinued 2026 |
| 126710BLRO | 2018–2026 | Steel, calibre 3285; Jubilee, later Oyster | Discontinued 2026 |
The white-gold 116719BLRO existed because red Cerachrom initially proved difficult to produce; the steel 126710BLRO followed four years later on a Jubilee bracelet, with an Oyster option arriving around 2021. When Rolex withdrew the reference — together with the white-gold 126719BLRO — at Watches & Wonders 2026, grey-market asking prices climbed by roughly 25 per cent within weeks — the usual fate of a discontinued professional Rolex, compressed into a month.
Super clone availability
We currently stock five Pepsi-bezel pieces priced between £299 and £904. The GMT-Master II 126710BLRO super clone is offered on both Jubilee and Oyster bracelets, in two tiers: Japanese-movement builds at the lower end of the range and Swiss-movement SuperClone versions at the top. A reduced Yacht-Master II Pepsi with white dial sits at the entry price. With the genuine reference now discontinued and rising on the secondary market, the 126710BLRO is a sensible place to start comparing tiers.
- Super Clone Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLRO “Pepsi” Jubilee — £434
- Super Clone Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLRO “Pepsi” Oyster — £434
- Reduced Rolex Yacht-Master II Pepsi White Dial Oyster Bracelet — Japanese movement — £299
- Super Clone Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLRO “Pepsi” Jubilee – Swiss SuperClone — Swiss movement — £904
- Super Clone Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLRO “Pepsi” Oyster – Swiss SuperClone — Swiss movement — £904