Speculative reports that the Rolex GMT-Master II “Pepsi” is on its way out are having a very real effect on the aftermarket luxury watch market. The iconic collector-grade watch—featuring a duo-tone bezel in blue and red, mirroring the hues of the popular soda can—has registered a jump of about $3,000 in price since the start of 2026, climbing from the just above $20,000 at its lowest to well above $23,000 as of late March.
Bloomberg first reported the spike using data accumulated by the outlet’s Subdial Watch Index, which tracks prices based on multiple listings for the 50 most-traded watch models. As the GMT-Master II Pepsi’s price has climbed, the number of active listings tracked by Subdial has dropped by about 25 percent. Industry journal WatchPro previously reported that Rolex Authorized Dealers were informed that they’d receive no further deliveries of the Pepsi colorway,
Subsequent speculation has emerged from Reddit watch forums and insiders like Paul Altieri, CEO of luxury resale site Bob’s Watches. “The GMT-Master II ‘Pepsi’ has been one of the defining modern Rolex sports watches,” he told Maxim. “Rolex has discontinued it before and brought it back, so nothing is ever final, but when a steel Pepsi comes off the catalog, buyers notice.”
The original Rolex GMT-Master Pepsi was born of a 1954 partnership with Pan American World Airways to help pilots track multiple time zones—red indicated daytime, blue nighttime. That bezel was first fabricated from fragile Bakelite, but the Swiss brand switched to anodized aluminum in 1959. The “Pepsi” designation officially moved into the GMT-Master II era in 1982, introducing an independent hour hand that allowed travelers to monitor a third time zone by rotating the bezel. After a hiatus during the early ceramic years, the iconic colorway returned in 2014 in 18-karat white gold before the 2018 release of the Reference 126710BLRO brought the stainless steel Pepsi back to the permanent collection on a Jubilee bracelet.
According to Bloomberg, the Pepsi speculation is also boosting demand for previous models including the “Coke” GMT-Master II, which Rolex officially stopped producing in 2007. The model with a red-and-black bezel was replaced by the ceramic bezel GMT-Master II line. Other discontinued variants include the all-black “Lunette Noir” (discontinued in 2019), and the “Clint Eastwood,” the first of brown-and-gold “root beer” colorways, which debuted in the 1970s and was worn by the famed actor in a few movies throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
As for the Pepsi, the best approach is obvious: Buy it while you still can.
