On April 14, 2026, at Watches & Wonders Geneva, Rolex closed a 12-year run. The GMT-Master II Pepsi is gone.
Both references were pulled from the catalog with no announcement and no replacement. The product page for the steel ref. 126710BLRO now returns a dead end on rolex.com. The white gold ref. 126719BLRO is out too. The red and blue Cerachrom bezel that defined the modern Pepsi, and which generated relentless speculation for years, is no longer part of Rolex's steel GMT-Master II lineup.
The Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi (ref. 126710BLRO) on the Jubilee bracelet, the configuration the modern Pepsi launched with in 2018.
For the first time in the Cerachrom era, the steel GMT-Master II catalog contains no red bezel at all.
The short answer
The Pepsi GMT-Master II is officially discontinued. Steel and white gold versions are both out. No Coke arrived to replace it. Secondary market prices moved immediately, and this one has a clear precedent in how the Hulk Submariner played out after its 2020 exit.
What Rolex pulled, and what is left
The discontinuation is sweeping. It takes out every Pepsi variant in current production.
| Reference | Configuration | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 126710BLRO | Oystersteel, Oyster bracelet | Discontinued |
| 126710BLRO | Oystersteel, Jubilee bracelet | Discontinued |
| 126719BLRO | 18k white gold, meteorite dial | Discontinued |
| 126719BLRO | 18k white gold, midnight blue dial | Discontinued |
The white gold Pepsi (ref. 126719BLRO), shown here with the midnight blue lacquer dial. The meteorite dial variant was even harder to source through authorized dealers, and both exit with the reference.
Killing the white gold reference also retires the coveted meteorite and midnight blue lacquer dials, both of which were already difficult to source through authorized dealers.
What is still in the steel GMT-Master II lineup
Rolex left three bezel variants standing in steel:
- Batman (blue and black Cerachrom, Oyster bracelet)
- Batgirl (blue and black Cerachrom, Jubilee bracelet)
- Bruce Wayne (grey and black Cerachrom)
- Sprite (left-handed, green and black Cerachrom)
Red is gone from the steel catalog entirely. That has not been true since Rolex transitioned the GMT line to ceramic in the mid-2000s.
Why the Pepsi exit was inevitable
The watch had stopped behaving like a normal retail product years ago.
Retail was roughly $11,700 in the United States. Pre-owned examples regularly cleared $24,000 to $26,000 for a clean watch-only specimen, and unworn full-sets pushed higher. A reference that trades at more than double its retail price for years in a row is not really a retail watch. It is a cultural object with a waitlist attached.
Rolex has a pattern with watches in that position. The Submariner Hulk (ref. 116610LV) was pulled in 2020 under the same conditions, per Bob's Watches coverage. The Hulk had outsized attention, a sustained secondary market premium, and a conversation that had drifted from the watch to its price. Rolex cleared it.
The Submariner Hulk (ref. 116610LV), discontinued in 2020. Its post-exit market behavior is the clearest precedent for what the Pepsi is likely to do over the next two years.
The Pepsi fit the same profile and had been generating discontinuation speculation since late 2025, when authorized dealer websites began quietly removing it from inventory listings.
The confirmation dealers got privately
By February 2026, industry publication WatchPro confirmed what authorized dealers had been told directly. No further deliveries of the 126710BLRO would arrive. The watch was effectively already gone before Watches & Wonders formalized it.
Rolex does not issue discontinuation statements. The catalog changes, the product page disappears, and that is the communication.
The secondary market moved within hours
Pre-owned prices had already priced in the rumor. Confirmation moved them again.
As of mid-April 2026, secondary market listings for the steel ref. 126710BLRO sit in a range of $28,000 to $45,000+ depending on condition, bracelet, and completeness, per LeWatchBuyers market reporting. Unworn full-set examples list at the high end of that range. Lightly worn watch-only pieces sit lower.
Two things are pushing that number.
First, the Pepsi is now the only modern steel GMT-Master II that ever carried a red and blue Cerachrom bezel. That slot does not exist in the current lineup and there is no technical roadmap confirmed for its return in steel.
Second, no Coke replacement arrived to absorb demand from buyers who were expecting one.
The Coke that never arrived
The watch world had been bracing for a Coke. A red and black bezel GMT-Master II in ceramic was the widely expected replacement, and the reasoning was not speculation.
The last time red and black lived in the GMT-Master II catalog: the vintage Coke colorway on the aluminum bezel ref. 16710, discontinued in 2007. The colorway has never returned in Cerachrom.
In 2022, Rolex filed US patent 12,428,335 B2, which describes a manufacturing process for producing a stable red and black ceramic bezel insert. The Coke colorway appeared on GMT references from 1982 through 2007 on the ref. 16710 and has never been produced in Cerachrom. Combined with the Pepsi's slow exit, the patent looked like a roadmap.
Watches & Wonders 2026 suggested otherwise. Rolex announced a Yacht-Master II return, a centenary Oyster Perpetual, a new Datejust, and a reimagined Daytona with a new alloy. The GMT line was untouched.
Two theories on why
Most industry coverage has landed on one of two explanations.
The first is technical. The bleeding and color stability issues that held back the Coke for years may still not be fully solved. Ceramic transitions are hard. The Pepsi took Rolex until 2014 to produce in Cerachrom, and even then white gold came first.
The second is strategic. Rolex held the Coke back to preserve a guaranteed headline release for a quieter future year. By not introducing it at the same moment the Pepsi exits, Rolex keeps a cultural event in reserve.
Either way, the result is the same. The current steel catalog has no red.
What this means if you own a Pepsi
If you bought your 126710BLRO at retail, your watch just moved. Market prices reset quickly when a reference like this exits, and the immediate move in the secondary market is typically not the ceiling.
The Hulk precedent is useful to look at. After its 2020 discontinuation, pre-owned values climbed steadily for several years as the collector community began treating it as a grail. The Hulk was eventually replaced by the Starbucks ref. 126610LV, which redirected some attention. The Pepsi has no replacement yet.
That is a genuinely different market condition.
A discontinued reference with a strong existing premium and no current replacement is as tight as the modern pre-owned market gets.
What this means if you wanted one
If you were on an authorized dealer waitlist for the Pepsi, that waitlist is effectively closed. Your best path to ownership is now the pre-owned market, which means authentication matters more than ever.
The Batman (ref. 126710BLNR) on Oyster bracelet. With the Pepsi gone, this is the closest current-production steel GMT-Master II option for buyers who want a two-tone ceramic bezel and do not want to pay the pre-owned discontinuation premium.
Full-set condition, original bracelet configuration, service history, and genuine components are all going to drive the spread in listings. Watch-only pieces are substantially cheaper but come with provenance questions. A properly authenticated full-set example from a reputable dealer is going to trade at a clear premium to a watch-only listing on an open marketplace.
If you want our detailed breakdown of what a dealer actually checks before quoting a pre-owned Rolex sports watch, see our Submariner 126610LN buying guide. The authentication process is nearly identical for a GMT-Master II.
The bottom line
Rolex did what Rolex does. A watch that had become too big for its retail role got cleared, no statement was issued, and the catalog moved on. The Coke that everyone expected did not arrive, which turned a predictable discontinuation into an open question.
The Pepsi is now in the same market position the Hulk held in 2020. A fresh discontinuation, an existing premium, and no replacement to absorb demand.
Whether the Coke arrives at a future show, and whether it lands in white gold first the way the original Cerachrom Pepsi did, is the open question. For now, if you want a steel GMT-Master II with red on the bezel, you are buying one pre-owned.
Browse authenticated pre-owned Rolex GMT-Master II watches at 5dwatches.com. Every piece we list is hand-inspected for authenticity, condition, and service history before it goes up.