Rolex made it official at Watches & Wonders 2026: the GMT-Master II "Pepsi" is now discontinued. Both the steel Ref. 126710BLRO and the white gold Ref. 126719BLRO are out, ending a run that began in 2014 when Rolex finally solved the technical challenge of producing a two-color Cerachrom bezel insert.

For most of that run, the watch traded at more than double its retail price, with pre-owned examples regularly clearing $24,000 to $26,000 against a roughly $12,000 retail price. A watch that sustains that kind of spread for that long stops being a conventional retail product. It becomes a cultural object, and Rolex tends to remove those from circulation. Naturally, both references are still available on Bezel.

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The Pepsi bezel has been part of the GMT-Master's identity since 1955 with the introduction of the Ref. 6542, developed at Pan Am's request for transatlantic pilots reading two time zones at a glance. Featuring red detailing to denote daytime hours and blue for the night, this combination of colors offered a functional distinction that developed into an iconic aesthetic over time.

This signature colorway ran through the Ref. 1675 and the Ref. 16710 before disappearing from steel references in 2007, when Rolex transitioned to ceramic and couldn't yet stabilize a two-color Cerachrom insert. Eventually the colorway would reemerge in white gold, with the Ref. 116719BLRO arriving in 2014 as the only way to get a new Pepsi GMT-Master II. That was until the Ref. 126710BLRO arrived at Baselworld 2018, initially offered solely on a Jubilee bracelet, with an Oyster bracelet-equipped option following in 2021.

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By late 2025, as discontinuation rumors began circulating with more consistency, and secondary market prices responded accordingly. The market had already priced in the possibility of an exit, but confirmation is different from rumor. The Pepsi is the most sought-after GMT Rolex has made in the modern era, and discontinued references with that kind of history tend to attract serious collector attention once the retail window closes.

There's a recent precedent for exactly this kind of removal. The Submariner Date Ref. 116610LV, better known as the "Hulk," was discontinued in 2020 under similar conditions: sustained premiums, outsized attention, and a growing sense that the conversation around the watch had drifted away from the object itself and toward what it cost. That last part is key. Once a watch becomes more interesting as a financial instrument than as something to wear, Rolex tends to clear it. The left-handed Sprite gave GMT collectors something new to want without the Pepsi's trophy baggage, though it briefly developed some of its own before the market settled, and the Land-Dweller arrived in 2025 outside the steel sports orbit entirely. The Pepsi was the last major reference still caught in that dynamic.

With the slate now clear, the question of what comes next is circulating through every collector's group chat. The Coke is the most discussed candidate, and it's not hard to see why. The red-and-black bezel hasn't been in steel since 2007 and has never been executed in ceramic, and a red-and-black Cerachrom insert has long been rumored. The Batman arrived in in 2013, and the Pepsi in 2018. The cadence is suggestive.

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Also discontinued this year: the Submariner Date Ref. 126619LB, often referred to as the "Cookie Monster." The 41mm white gold Submariner Date with a black dial and blue bezel replaced the "Smurf" in 2020 and held that slot for six years. Unlike the Pepsi, it spent much of its run trading at or below retail, at times dipping into the mid-$30,000 range against a retail price just over $50,000. That's a different kind of exit entirely. The Cookie Monster never consolidated attention the way the Pepsi did, and its removal reads more like catalog rotation than a cultural moment.

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