The Real Reason Rolex Discontinued the Pepsi GMT-Master II

On April 14th, 2026, Rolex discontinued one of the most iconic watches it has ever made. Both the steel and white gold GMT-Master II Pepsi — ref. 126710BLRO and 126719BLRO — were pulled from the catalog at Watches & Wonders 2026 with no replacement announced. If you've been following the Everest Journal, this wasn't a surprise. We've been writing about the likelihood of this discontinuation for years, and the production challenges behind the Pepsi bezel were well documented long before Rolex made it official.

What those challenges don't fully explain is the decision itself. Knowing a watch is "hard to make" is different from understanding why Rolex chose this moment to pull it. The prevailing theories — production difficulty, or clearing the way for a red-and-black Coke — are both credible. But to understand why, it helps to revisit what Rolex has said about how the bezel is made.

The information is in their own press documents and patent filings, and it tells a more layered story than most people are telling.

A Bezel With a History of Getting Discontinued

Rolex GMT-Master ref. 6542 with bakelite bezel. Image source: Wind Vintage

The GMT-Master launched in 1955 with a red and blue bezel designed to help Pan American pilots distinguish day from night across multiple time zones. That first bezel was made from Bakelite — an early synthetic material that proved brittle, prone to cracking, and ultimately replaced with aluminum. The first Pepsi bezel was discontinued because of a materials problem.

Rolex GMT-Master ref. 16710 with aluminum 'Pepsi' bezel . . . on an Everest strap of course.

The aluminum version that followed served the watch well through decades of references until Rolex transitioned to ceramic bezels beginning in 2005. Ceramic is virtually scratchproof and immune to UV fading — a tradeoff with aluminum's durability that Rolex decided was worth it. But in ceramic, certain color combinations proved extraordinarily difficult to produce. The first ceramic GMT bezel was all-black, on the ref. 116710LN. The first two-color ceramic bezel — blue and black, the Batman — didn't arrive until 2013. Red and blue, the Pepsi, took until 2014, and even then only on an 18ct white gold model. The steel Pepsi ref. 126710BLRO came in 2018.

The ceramic steel Pepsi spent eight years in production as one of the most wanted and least available watches Rolex has ever made. Then, at Watches & Wonders 2026, both references were pulled simultaneously with no replacement announced. Secondary market prices have climbed sharply since, well above $20,000 (retail before discontinuation was $11,800).

What Rolex Actually Says About How It's Made

Rolex's Watches and Wonders 2024 exhibit showcased the 'Pepsi' bezel production process.

Rolex's Cerachrom Components document (Rolex SA, 2025 — you can download it from the Rolex Newsroom) explains the core problem plainly: "no stable mineral pigments exist that can be used with zirconia to create a uniform red." Zirconia is the ceramic base Rolex uses for every other Cerachrom bezel — extremely hard, dense, and durable. For the Pepsi, the brand had to develop an alternative using alumina instead — a softer and less wear-resistant ceramic base that accepts red coloring but is harder to work with at scale.

The bare alumina-based ceramic GMT-Master II 'Pepsi' bezel.

That alumina base, combined with chromium oxide and other oxides, produces a bezel that is entirely red. To turn half of it blue, Rolex applies what the document describes as "an aqueous solution containing various chemical compounds" to the half destined to become blue — a chemical soak — before the final firing at up to 1,600°C for more than 24 hours. The Rolex patent the document references, EP2746243B1 (searchable on Google Patents), lists cobalt, zinc, and iron as the candidate compounds for this step, each producing a different shade of blue. Rolex hasn't disclosed which specific compound or combination they use — the formulation is proprietary.

The alumina-based 'Pepsi' bezel after the chromium oxide process and chemical soak.

The Pepsi bezel therefore involves a non-preferred base material, a red coloration process (chromium oxide), and a chemical soak whose candidate compounds include cobalt. Rolex's own 2013 patent acknowledged that "due to the many variables in the pigmentation process, the results may not always be consistent." We know this is true: collectors literally track the Mk1, Mk2, and Mk3 color variations. This is evidence of a process that was never fully stable.

A More Complicated Picture

Since the discontinuation, there's been chatter online — including a video from watch dealer and content creator Mike Nouveau — suggesting that something in the Pepsi's production chemistry may be misaligned with Rolex's updated sustainability standards. Nouveau mentions a potential "red dye" used in production. This could be a breakdown in phrasing — the most likely candidate is the aforementioned chemical soak that turns half of the bezel blue.

At Watches & Wonders 2026, Rolex strengthened its Superlative Chronometer certification with three new criteria: resistance to magnetism, reliability, and sustainability — applied during design and manufacturing stages, not just to the finished watch. “Strengthened” sustainability is pretty vague, but we know Rolex is detail-oriented when it comes to materials and environmental concerns. The brand said this in its 2023 sustainability report:

“A joint initiative launched by Rolex and the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the ‘Precision Sustainable Manufacturing’ Grand Challenge encompasses several projects with the same goal: to imagine the factory of the future by integrating sustainability into all the processes and materials used to manufacture Rolex products. The brand’s new production site in Bulle will incorporate the results obtained through this initiative.“

The Pepsi's production process involves a chemical soak using at least one of several candidate compounds — cobalt, zinc, or iron, per Rolex's own patent EP2746243B1 — each of which produces a different shade of blue. Cobalt in particular is currently under active regulatory review by the European Chemicals Agency, which has flagged it as a substance of concern for human health and aquatic life — not to mention the environmental ramifications of being tied to a cobalt supply chain.

For a brand whose Perpetual Planet Initiative has ocean conservation as one of its three central pillars, that's at least worth noting.

Figure Source: Patent EP4311820A1 (espacenet.com)

The complication is that cobalt also appears in the impregnation step of Rolex's 2022 Coke patent, EP4311820A1. So if cobalt were the specific problem, it's hard to explain why the ostensible replacement process would retain it. That doesn't rule out sustainability as a contributing factor — there may be other compounds in the Pepsi's proprietary chemical soak that we simply don't have visibility into.

That red-and-black ceramic ‘Coke’ patent (EP4311820A1) is worth zooming in on. Where the Pepsi requires the unstable alumina base to achieve red, this patent describes a technique that achieves red on zirconia through a process using cerium oxide (a sustainable, abundant metal oxide) and a carefully controlled firing atmosphere. The result is a more predictable process on Rolex's preferred material, zirconia. It's possible that the same breakthrough that makes a ceramic Coke viable also points toward an eventual ceramic Pepsi built on zirconia rather than alumina — a red and blue bezel produced through an entirely different, cleaner process than the one being retired.

So, Why Did Rolex Discontinue the Pepsi?

Rolex probably didn't discontinue the Pepsi GMT-Master II for one reason. The manufacturing difficulty is real. The Coke patent exists for exactly one purpose, and Rolex would not file such a detailed manufacturing patent for colorways and processes it has no intention of utilizing. And layered on top of all of that is a production process, namely the use of cobalt, that sits uncomfortably alongside where Rolex's own manufacturing standards are heading.

There's also something to be said for the move itself. The Pepsi was already the most culturally significant steel sports watch Rolex made. Its secondary market premiums persisted even through the broader correction from mid 2022. Retiring it near the height of its cultural moment, with no replacement announced, fans the flame of that hype. If and when a new red and blue GMT-Master II returns — built on an updated process, with a new reference number — it will be a huge moment.