On April 13, 2026, Rolex quietly pulled the steel Pepsi from its catalog at Watches & Wonders. The page on rolex.com now returns an error.
That single move rewrote this whole conversation. The best Pepsi bezel watches are no longer whatever sits in a boutique window. They are what you can still find, in the right condition, on the secondary market.
If you’re reading this, you already know what a Pepsi bezel is, and the cheapest red-and-blue quartz on Amazon was never the goal. This guide covers which ones are worth buying now, why the bezel material decides so much of the value, and where the market really sits after the discontinuation.
What Makes a Watch a “Pepsi” Bezel
A Pepsi is any watch with a red-and-blue bezel, not just the Rolex GMT-Master. The nickname points to a color scheme, and dozens of brands use it. Rolex is the one that made it famous, which is why the term and the crown are joined at the hip.
Rolex did not pick red and blue to nod at a soda. Those were Pan American World Airways’ corporate colors, chosen when Rolex built the first GMT-Master for Pan Am’s pilots in the mid-1950s. Collectors coined “Pepsi” afterward because the bezel looked like the logo. The name stuck harder than the airline did.
The bezel earns its keep, too. The blue half marks the night hours and the red half marks the day, so a pilot reading the 24-hour hand could tell 3pm from 3am at a glance in a second time zone. If you have never run a second time zone, how to read a GMT hand takes about a minute to pick up.
Best Pepsi Bezel Watches Worth Collecting Today
These are the Pepsi references we source and sell most, ranked by nothing except which buyer each one suits. They span vintage to modern and grail to daily wearer, so read for the one that fits your wrist and your intent.
If you are still mapping the wider family before committing, our GMT-Master II buying guide walks through every reference.
1. Rolex GMT-Master II
This is the watch most people mean when they say “Rolex Pepsi.” Introduced at Baselworld 2018 on a Jubilee bracelet, it was the first steel Pepsi in a decade, and it sold out on sight. Eight years later Rolex retired it, which turned an already hard-to-get watch into a closed chapter. It’s the most practical Pepsi for daily wear and the one our buyers ask for by name.
For most of its run you could not walk into a boutique and buy one. It lived on multi-year waitlists and traded at roughly double retail on the open market. The one real decision left for buyers is the bracelet. The Jubilee wears dressier and softer, the Oyster looks more like a tool. We sell more Jubilees, for what it’s worth. If you are torn, we go through Jubilee vs Oyster in detail in a separate guide.
- Reference no: 126710BLRO
- Case: 40mm Oystersteel
- Movement: Calibre 3285, Chronergy escapement, 70-hour power reserve
- Water resistance: 100m
- Bezel: Cerachrom bicolor ceramic
- Bracelet: Oyster or Jubilee
- Market range: around $22,500 to $35,000+ depending on condition, year, and set
2. Rolex GMT-Master 1675
The 1675 is the Pepsi that built the legend. It ran from 1959 into the early 1980s on the wrists of pilots, actors, and explorers, and it is one of the most liquid vintage Rolexes you can own.
Gilt-dial and pointed-crown-guard early examples are the ones collectors fight over. This is where bezel fade stops being a flaw and becomes the story, so condition and originality are everything. The wider checks that apply across the era are in our vintage Rolex buying guide.
Its most famous outing tells you how deep the reference runs in culture. Marlon Brando wore a 1675 as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, popped the Pepsi bezel off on set to make it less flashy, and engraved “M. Brando” on the caseback himself. That exact watch sold at Phillips in 2019 for $1.95 million. Yours will cost less, but it carries the same DNA.
- Case: 40mm steel, crown guards
- Movement: Calibre 1565, later 1575
- Bezel: Aluminum insert, prone to prized fading
- Dial: Gilt or matte depending on era
- Market range: averaging around $14,000, with early gilt and PCG examples well past $20,000
3. Rolex GMT-Master II 16710
If you want vintage characters without grail money, the 16710 is the smart entry. Produced from 1989 to 2007, it was the last GMT-Master II with a swappable aluminum bezel, so a single watch can wear a Pepsi, a Coke, or an all-black insert.
It pairs a slim five-digit case with a more modern movement, which is why owners rarely let them go. Prices hit records in early 2026 near $12,400 on average, up roughly 300% over fifteen years.
Collectors call it the neo-vintage sweet spot, and the label fits. You get the thin, wearable case of the old references with a movement that keeps good time and does not need coddling. The buyers we talk to who cross-shop it against the modern ceramic Pepsi tend to ask the same thing: why pay more for the new one? At these prices, that’s a fair question.
- Case: 40mm steel
- Movement: Calibre 3185, later 3186
- Bezel: User-swappable aluminum insert
- Bracelet: Oyster or Jubilee
- Market range: roughly $10,000 to $14,000
4. Rolex GMT-Master 6542
This is the one that started it all in 1954, and it is a collector-only proposition. The 6542 wore that fragile Bakelite bezel, and most cracked and got replaced with metal at service, so an intact original insert is close to a unicorn.
A yellow gold example set a world record at Phillips at roughly $350,000. Steel examples with honest original bezels routinely land in six figures. You buy this one with a specialist beside you or not at all.
The Bakelite itself is part of the romance and part of the risk. Rolex printed the 24-hour numerals on the underside and filled them with radium, which gave the bezel a glow but made the material brittle. Original inserts often show fine cracks or have gone missing entirely. Finding one that survived 70 years intact is what pushes these into record territory.
- Case: 38mm steel or yellow gold, no crown guards
- Movement: Calibre 1065
- Bezel: Original Bakelite, extremely rare intact
- Dial: Black lacquer or gilt
- Market range: six figures for original examples, up to $350,000+ at auction
5. Rolex GMT-Master II
For the collector who already has the steel Pepsi, the white gold version is the quiet flex. It came in a midnight blue dial or a meteorite dial cut from the core of an asteroid, so no two meteorite pieces are alike.
Rolex discontinued it in spring 2026 alongside the steel model, and it lives only on the secondary market now. It wears like a sleeper until someone who knows watches clocks the metal. If you are weighing the metals, how white gold compares to steel comes down to weight, price, and how loud you want the watch to be.
- Reference no: 126719BLRO
- Case: 40mm 18k white gold
- Movement: Calibre 3285, 70-hour power reserve
- Bezel: Cerachrom bicolor ceramic
- Dial: Midnight blue or meteorite
- Market range: well into the high five figures, higher for meteorite
6. Tudor Black Bay GMT
When a buyer wants a real Swiss GMT and does not want to spend Rolex money, this is the watch we point them to first. Tudor added the Black Bay GMT in 2018, and it carries an in-house COSC-certified movement that most watches at its price cannot match.
It’s not a small Rolex. It’s a larger, more tool-like watch with its own character, and the honesty of that pitch is exactly why it converts. Its resale is softer than a Rolex, so buy it to wear, not to flip.
The Tudor connection helps the story. Tudor is Rolex’s sister brand, founded by Hans Wilsdorf, and it shares a design language without the crown on the dial.
The Black Bay GMT wears bigger and thicker than a GMT-Master, with the brand’s snowflake hands and a domed crystal. Buyers who try it on next to the Rolex are often surprised how little they feel they are giving up. If you want the rest of the family before deciding, our Black Bay buying guide lays out the references.
- Case: 41mm steel
- Movement: Calibre MT5652, COSC, 70-hour power reserve, silicon hairspring
- Water resistance: 200m
- Bezel: Red-and-blue aluminum
- Market range: around $3,000 to $3,800 pre-owned, near $4,200 new
How Pepsi Bezel Materials Affect Value
The bezel is the whole point of a Pepsi, so the material it is made from moves the price more than almost anything else. Rolex used three over 70 years, and each one buys a different ownership experience.
Bakelite came first on the 6542. It glowed beautifully and cracked just as easily, which is why so few survive intact. Aluminum replaced it on the 1675 and 16710, and aluminum fades. A red section that has drifted toward soft pink or faded purple is not a damage on a vintage GMT. It is the thing collectors chase.
Ceramic, which Rolex calls Cerachrom, arrived last on the 126710BLRO. It holds its color and shrugs off scratches, which is why the modern Pepsi wears so well as a daily watch.
That fade behavior is where buyers get burned. We inspect a lot of vintage Pepsis, and a swapped or reprinted insert dressed up as original is the most common problem we catch. The bezel can make or break the value of the entire watch.
| Bezel Material | What It Means for the Buyer |
| Bakelite (6542) | Rare, fragile, grail territory. Intact original inserts command huge premiums. |
| Aluminum (1675, 16710) | Fades over time. Even, honest fade adds value; reprints and swaps destroy it. |
| Ceramic / Cerachrom (126710BLRO) | Scratch and fade resistant. The durable modern choice, now discontinued. |
How the 2026 Pepsi Discontinuation Changed Prices
Rolex discontinued both steel and white gold Pepsi GMT-Masters at Watches & Wonders 2026, and did not announce a Coke to replace them. The steel ref. 126710BLRO and the white gold ref. 126719BLRO are gone from the range. For the first time in the ceramic era, the current steel GMT-Master lineup has no red bezel at all.
Retail on the steel Pepsi was $11,800. Through early 2026, as discontinuation rumors built, WatchCharts logged a gain of roughly 12% in the first quarter.
Chrono24 reported a 500% jump in purchase requests during March alone as buyers scrambled. Active listings dropped by about a quarter as owners pulled watches off the market to wait for higher prices.
By April, the median pre-owned price sat near $25,000. As of mid-July 2026, the market value was around $22,500, with new and unworn 2026-dated examples still asking $30,000 and up on Chrono24. Prices cooled slightly after the initial spike once listings climbed back (source).
We think the 126710BLRO is a great watch. If you want a modern Pepsi, a clean pre-owned example with box and papers is a smarter buy than an unworn 2026 piece at a five-figure markup. The vintage references, which never depended on Rolex’s catalog, are the calmer play right now.
Where to Buy a Pepsi Bezel Watch
Sourcing matters more on Pepsis than on almost any other category, because the bezel is exactly where the fakes and the swaps live. A reprinted aluminum insert or a service-replaced bezel presented as original can cost you thousands, and on a vintage 1675 or 6542 the insert can be most of the watch’s value.
At Majestix, every watch is inspected in person, we shoot a full tour video so you see the actual piece and not a stock photo, and we write honest condition notes including how the bezel has aged.
If Rolex ever releases a ceramic Coke at a future Watches & Wonders, the scarcity story loses some of its air and the Pepsi premium compresses. We have a Coke vs Pepsi breakdown if that swap is on your mind. Anyone buying at the very top of the post-spike market is paying for that risk.
Pepsi Bezel Watch Questions Buyers Ask Most
Why are they called Pepsi watches?
The red-and-blue bezel resembles the old Pepsi logo, so enthusiasts nicknamed it “Pepsi.” Rolex chose those colors to match Pan Am’s corporate palette when it built the first GMT-Master for the airline’s pilots, not to reference the drink. The nickname came from collectors and stuck.
Is the Rolex Pepsi discontinued?
Rolex retired the steel ref. 126710BLRO and the white gold ref. 126719BLRO at Watches & Wonders 2026 in April, with no Coke announced to replace them. Both are now available only on the secondary market, where prices climbed sharply after the news.
Should I buy a vintage or a modern Pepsi?
It depends on how you plan to live with it. A modern 126710BLRO is the practical daily wearer with ceramic durability and a warranty history. A vintage 1675 or 16710 gives you patina, faded aluminum charm, and a lower entry point, but demands careful checks on originality.
How do I spot a replaced Pepsi bezel insert?
Look for color and fade that do not match the watch’s age, printing that looks too crisp on an old case, and lume on the bezel pip that does not match the dial. On aluminum references, an aged insert should tell a consistent story with the rest of the watch. Our checklist on spotting a fake GMT-Master II covers the rest. When in doubt, have a specialist check it.
Is the Tudor Black Bay GMT a real alternative to the Rolex?
For wearing, absolutely. It has an in-house COSC movement and 200m of water resistance at a fraction of the Rolex price. It is a bigger, more tool-focused watch with weaker resale, so treat it as a watch to enjoy rather than an investment play.
Are Pepsi bezel watches a good investment?
The Rolex references have held and grown their value well, and the 2026 discontinuation pushed the steel Pepsi higher. That said, values can compress if Rolex releases a rival GMT later, and buying at a post-spike peak carries real downside. Vintage 1675 and 16710 examples in honest condition tend to be the steadier long-term bets.
Final Thoughts on the Best Pepsi Bezel Watches
The best Pepsi bezel watches now live on the secondary market, and the right one depends entirely on you. The modern 126710BLRO is the daily wearer, the 16710 is the value vintage pick, the 1675 and 6542 are the collector grails, and the Tudor Black Bay GMT is the honest step down.
Always buy a full set with box and papers, because it protects your resale liquidity. And on any aluminum-bezel Pepsi, judge the insert before you fall for the dial. If you want a second set of eyes on a shortlist, we’re around.
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