{"id":537291,"date":"2026-03-01T10:34:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/?p=537291"},"modified":"2026-03-01T13:02:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:02:05","slug":"the-rolex-pepsi-gmt-is-dead-secondary-market-chaos-has-already-begun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/watches\/the-rolex-pepsi-gmt-is-dead-secondary-market-chaos-has-already-begun","title":{"rendered":"The Rolex Pepsi GMT Is Dead. Secondary Market Chaos Has Already Begun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WatchPro<\/a> has confirmed that Rolex has officially pulled the pin on the steel GMT Master II with the iconic red and blue \u201cPepsi\u201d bezel, being notified by authorised dealers that no more deliveries are coming. <\/p><p>Customers still on waiting lists are being told, politely but firmly, to start looking at other models.<\/p><p>And just like that, one of the most hyped steel sports watches of the last decade is done. Or is it?<\/p><p>Now, before anyone starts panic-buying on <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chrono24.com.au\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chrono24<\/a>, let\u2019s take a breath. <\/p>                <div class=\"row row-center collapse\">\n                    <div class=\"column\">\n                        <div class=\"dmg-ad\"><div id=\"incontent-1769330949\" class=\"ad-container\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var load_2093622933 = function () {googletag.cmd.push(function () {var slot_2093622933 = googletag.defineSlot(\"\/1017963\/DMarge\/incontent\",[[300,250],[320,100],[320,180],[336,280],[640,360]],\"incontent-1769330949\").addService(googletag.pubads()).setTargeting('refresh', 'true');if (gamData && gamData.sizeMap && gamData.sizeMap.hasOwnProperty('incontent')) {slot_2093622933.defineSizeMapping(gamData.sizeMap['incontent']);}googletag.display(\"incontent-1769330949\");});};adsQueue.push(load_2093622933);<\/script><\/div><\/div>                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"content-subscribe\">\n        <div class=\"subscribe-box\">\n            <p class=\"subscribe-title\">Curated news for men, <br\/>delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n            <form class=\"subscribe-form\" method=\"POST\">\n                <div class=\"subscribe-input\">\n                    <label class=\"screen-reader-text\" for=\"subscribe-email\">Email:<\/label>\n                    <input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" id=\"subscribe-email\" placeholder=\"Enter your email\" required class=\"form-control\" autocomplete=\"on\" \/>\n                    <button type=\"submit\" class=\"button button-primary subscribe-button\">Sign Up<\/button>\n                    <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"source\" value=\"article\" \/>\n                    <input type=\"hidden\" id=\"_wpnonce\" name=\"_wpnonce\" value=\"e2df992756\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wp_http_referer\" value=\"\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537291\" \/>                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"form-result\"><\/div>\n            <\/form>\n            <p class=\"subscribe-copy\">Join the DMARGE newsletter \u2014 Be the first to receive the latest news and exclusive stories on style, travel, luxury, cars, and watches. Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <p>This happens every single year. The weeks leading into Watches and Wonders are peak season for discontinuation rumours, dealer whispers, and references quietly vanishing from websites. <\/p><p>It\u2019s the watch world\u2019s version of silly season, and the Pepsi has been the subject of \u201cit\u2019s being killed off\u201d speculation since at least 2023. Every year the rumours swirl. Every year people lose their minds. And most of the time, what actually happens is Rolex retires a reference only to replace it with something updated at the Geneva show weeks later.<\/p><p>RELATED: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/watches\/rolexs-gmt-master-ii-pepsi\" type=\"post\" id=\"191846\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rolex GMT-Master II In Pepsi Colours &amp; Stainless Steel Is The Modern Traveller\u2019s Watch<\/a><\/p>                <div class=\"row row-center collapse\">\n                    <div class=\"column\">\n                        <div class=\"dmg-ad\"><div id=\"incontent-1520402551\" class=\"ad-container\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var load_2065205096 = function () {googletag.cmd.push(function () {var slot_2065205096 = googletag.defineSlot(\"\/1017963\/DMarge\/incontent\",[[250,250],[300,100],[300,250],[320,100],[336,280]],\"incontent-1520402551\").addService(googletag.pubads()).setTargeting('refresh', 'true');if (gamData && gamData.sizeMap && gamData.sizeMap.hasOwnProperty('incontent')) {slot_2065205096.defineSizeMapping(gamData.sizeMap['incontent']);}googletag.display(\"incontent-1520402551\");});};adsQueue.push(load_2065205096);<\/script><\/div><\/div>                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <p>Which raises the obvious question: why would Rolex kill one of its most popular models? The Pepsi GMT is arguably the single most desired steel sports watch in the entire Rolex catalogue. It\u2019s the one that built AD relationships, the one that launched a thousand waitlists, the one that turned casual watch buyers into full-blown collectors. You don\u2019t just bin that kind of cultural cachet. You evolve it.<\/p><p>Then there\u2019s the production issue narrative, which has been floating around for a couple of years now. The story goes that Rolex was struggling with high failure rates on the red and blue ceramic bezels, that firing two colours into a single ceramic insert at scale was proving too difficult to maintain consistently. And look, it\u2019s plausible on the surface. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rolex-GMT-Master-II-Pepsi.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-519934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rolex-GMT-Master-II-Pepsi.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rolex-GMT-Master-II-Pepsi-960x960.jpg 960w, https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rolex-GMT-Master-II-Pepsi-640x640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rolex-GMT-Master-II-Pepsi-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rolex-GMT-Master-II-Pepsi-255x255.jpg 255w, https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rolex-GMT-Master-II-Pepsi-480x480.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 400px, (max-width: 640px) 600px, (max-width: 768px) 700px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (min-width: 1025px) 1000px, 2048px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The might Pepsi GMT<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Two-tone ceramic is genuinely tricky to produce. But Rolex has been making this bezel since 2018. That\u2019s seven years of production. The idea that they\u2019ve suddenly hit an insurmountable manufacturing wall after nearly a decade feels like a stretch, and it\u2019s worth noting that nobody has ever actually confirmed these production problems on the record.<\/p><p>What\u2019s far more likely is that Rolex is doing what Rolex always does: clearing the decks ahead of Watches and Wonders 2026. Kill the current reference, let the secondary market lose its collective mind for a few weeks, then unveil a new generation Pepsi with a tweaked case, a new movement, or some other incremental update that justifies a fresh reference number and, inevitably, a higher retail price.<\/p><p>RELATED: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/watches\/rolex-gmt-master-buying-guide\" type=\"post\" id=\"490097\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rolex GMT-Master Buyers Guide: Everything You Need To Know<\/a><\/p>                <div class=\"row row-center collapse\">\n                    <div class=\"column\">\n                        <div class=\"dmg-ad\"><div id=\"incontent-1916875281\" class=\"ad-container\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var load_1449914564 = function () {googletag.cmd.push(function () {var slot_1449914564 = googletag.defineSlot(\"\/1017963\/DMarge\/incontent\",[[250,250],[300,100],[300,250],[320,100],[336,280]],\"incontent-1916875281\").addService(googletag.pubads()).setTargeting('refresh', 'true');if (gamData && gamData.sizeMap && gamData.sizeMap.hasOwnProperty('incontent')) {slot_1449914564.defineSizeMapping(gamData.sizeMap['incontent']);}googletag.display(\"incontent-1916875281\");});};adsQueue.push(load_1449914564);<\/script><\/div><\/div>                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <p>In the meantime, the secondary market is doing exactly what you\u2019d expect. EveryWatch data shows median dealer prices for the Pepsi have spiked from around $48,500 AUD at the start of the year to roughly $50,700 AUD now. <\/p><p>The retail price, for anyone keeping score at home, is about $19,900 AUD. So you\u2019re looking at a watch trading at roughly two and a half times retail, and that gap is only going to widen now that supply has officially been cut off. The ripple effect is already hitting the rest of the GMT lineup too. The \u201cBatgirl\u201d (black and blue bezel on a Jubilee bracelet) has surged to just under $40,400 AUD on the secondary market, more than double its retail price. When one reference dies, the others absorb the demand. It\u2019s Rolex economics 101.<\/p><p>So if you own a Pepsi, hold it. If you were on a waitlist, commiserations. And if you think this is truly the end of the red and blue bezel, well, I\u2019d bet good money we\u2019ll be looking at a brand new one come April.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve been sitting on a Rolex GMT Master II Pepsi, today&#8217;s a good day. If you&#8217;ve been sitting on a waitlist for one, not so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":533284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[249],"tags":[],"coauthors":[146525],"class_list":{"0":"post-537291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-watches"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537291"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":537298,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537291\/revisions\/537298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537291"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmarge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=537291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}