Rolex Discontinues the GMT-Master II Pepsi at W&W 2026 — and the Coke Never Came

By Zach Charles, Editor, Time on the Move

Published April 14, 2026 • Time on the Move

Geneva, April 14. Watches & Wonders 2026 opened this morning and Rolex confirmed what rumours had been circulating for weeks: the GMT-Master II Pepsi is discontinued. Both steel and white gold references are gone. No replacement red bezel appeared. The secondary market moved within hours.

What Was Discontinued

Rolex removed two references from its active catalogue at Watches & Wonders 2026:

• 126710BLRO — GMT-Master II "Pepsi" in Oystersteel, Oyster bracelet. " The ceramic bi-colour blue/red bezel version introduced in 2018. Retail price at discontinuation: approximately $10,700.
• 126719BLRO — GMT-Master II "Pepsi" in 18k white gold, Oyster bracelet. " The premium precious metal variant. Retail price at discontinuation: approximately $38,400.

Both carried the BLRO suffix — Rolex's code denoting a blue-red bezel. With their removal, the code disappears from the active GMT-Master II catalogue entirely.

The Coke That Never Was

The discontinuation might have been unremarkable had Rolex announced a replacement. The industry had been speculating for two years about a potential GMT-Master II "Coke" — a red/black ceramic bezel that would revive the colourway last seen in the Aluminium era. No Coke appeared at W&W 2026.

This is significant. For the first time since Rolex introduced the two-colour ceramic bezel in 2013, the brand's steel GMT-Master II catalogue contains no red bezel at all. The four remaining references — Batman, Batgirl, Bruce Wayne, and Sprite — cover black/blue and green/black colourways only.

Why Discontinue the Pepsi?

Rolex does not explain discontinuation decisions. But the patterns that typically precede one are visible in retrospect. The 126710BLRO had been in continuous production since 2018 — eight years for a reference is a long run in the modern Rolex production cycle. The white gold 126719BLRO was a more marginal volume reference. Both had secondary market premiums that, while positive, had compressed significantly from the 2021–2022 peak.

The more interesting question is why no red-bezel replacement appeared. Rolex has historically maintained colourway diversity in the GMT line. The most plausible explanations are: (1) a replacement is in development and will appear at a future release; (2) Rolex is deliberately consolidating the GMT lineup into fewer, simpler colourways; or (3) the ceramic production constraint for bi-colour bezels makes the red/blue combination no longer commercially optimal.

Secondary Market: Immediate and Sustained Reaction

The secondary market reacted within hours of the announcement. Platforms showed listing prices climbing above their pre-W&W levels as holders pulled stock and relisted at higher numbers. The pattern is consistent with every significant Rolex discontinuation of the ceramic era — the No-Date Submariner in 2020, various Datejust dial configurations, the discontinued Sky-Dweller configurations — an immediate spike, followed by normalization over weeks or months as the initial excitement dissipates.

What's different about the Pepsi discontinuation is the absence of a replacement. When Rolex discontinues a reference but introduces a new variant in the same family, the secondary market premium on the discontinued piece tends to fade as attention shifts to the new model. Without a successor, the Pepsi retains the full emotional weight of true retirement.

Historical Context: The Pepsi GMT

The GMT-Master was developed in collaboration with Pan American World Airways in 1954 to allow pilots and crew to track two time zones simultaneously. The original 6542 wore an aluminium bezel insert — blue for day, red for night — giving the watch its Pepsi nickname from the Pepsi-Cola brand colours of the era.

The colourway persisted through multiple generations: the 1675, the 16750, the 16710, and finally the 126710BLRO with its two-colour ceramic bezel. Each iteration refined the case, bracelet, and movement while preserving the blue/red identity that had defined the model for seven decades. The 2026 discontinuation ends that lineage.

Whether the Pepsi colourway returns — in a new reference, with updated specifications, at a different price point — is the question the collector market will now spend months debating. History suggests it will. The Pepsi is too valuable a commercial and cultural asset for Rolex to retire permanently. But "eventually" and "soon" are different things.

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