Rolex Pepsi Production Issues: Rumor or Reality?

Rumors in the Rolex world often don’t mean much. Misinformation and nonsense can get repeated ad nauseum on watch forums, and I personally have been responsible for some of that. I once wrote about how shantung and mosaic dials are the same thing, and although I now know they’re not, you can still find people saying “mosaic a.k.a. shantung dial” online regularly. My bad. But the murmurs of internet watch nerds aren’t always wrong, and one Rolex rumor has been particularly persistent recently: Rolex is supposedly having production issues with the ceramic blue-and-red “Pepsi” bezel insert for its popular stainless steel GMT-Master II ref. 126710 BLRO (and the white gold version, 126719 BLRO). Some people insist on throwing up their hands and saying “Rolex hasn’t confirmed anything so it’s just a myth!” but, well, Rolex rarely confirms anything. And there is supporting circumstantial evidence that makes the “Pepsi bezel production issues” idea worth a deeper look. Let’s discuss.

Two-Color Ceramic Inserts Are Hard to Make

From a manufacturing standpoint, two-color ceramic bezel inserts (when neither color is black or white) are in fact far more difficult to make. That’s because first, one color needs to be applied to the whole thing, then the other color added on top. It’s not difficult to get a color correct when you’re simply putting it on top of white or black, but when you’re trying to add blue on top of red (which is what happens with ceramic Pepsi inserts), it’s a lot harder to have both colors end up how you want.

Some say manufacturing difficulties are why the early ceramic Pepsis (before about 2020) have a red/blue bezel insert that is arguably “too pink/purple.” Some people like the brightness of these “Mark 1” bezels but others prefer later ones. “Mark 2” ceramic Pepsis from about 2020-2022 are notably darker, and the current “Mark 3” ones are darker still. Honestly, in real life I’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a Mark 2 and a Mark 3. The purplish-pink of the Mark 1 is noticeably different in bright light though. The batch-to-batch variation in the coloration of these Rolex bezels could be seen as evidence of production issues.

Why Don’t Other Brands Have This Problem?

They do. As far as I know, literally nobody else makes a two-color ceramic bezel insert that’s two distinct, bright colors. Other “bicolor” ceramic inserts are either half-white, half-black, or slightly different shades of the same color. Well, Squale managed to make one where one half is sort of a weird light grey. Congratulations, Squale. Interestingly, the blue coloration of the ceramic Rolex Pepsi bezel insert doesn’t show up under UV light, so with a blacklight you can see the red base color on the entire insert.

And if you look at cheap homage watch brands like Pagani Design, it’s not hard to find an homage of a Batman GMT with a ceramic insert–but if you’ll notice, their Pepsi homages still have aluminum inserts. So, there’s plenty of merit behind the idea that the Rolex supply chain is having logistical issues mass-producing ceramic bezel inserts made of two distinct colors.

Why Are the Rolex Pepsi Production Issues Only Happening Now?

Actually, it’s fairly likely that Rolex has always had issues with ceramic Pepsis. There are rumors that the “rejection rate” at Rolex headquarters is quite high for Pepsi inserts. But since we can’t prove that rumor, let’s look at the facts that we do know: The ceramic Pepsi was available in solid white gold only for its first four years! Naturally, the sales demand for solid gold models is far lower than that of stainless steel ones, so there was no significant “shortage” of Pepsi inserts at first. But when the steel ceramic Pepsi (ref. 126710 BLRO) was released in 2018, supply was immediately outpaced by demand, and it has never caught up.

Also, look at the other four colorways of the Rolex GMT-Master II: black/green, black/brown, black/blue and black/grey. They’re all half-black. Sure, that could be a coincidence, but it’s probably not. Note that there are no “production issue” rumors for any of the half-black GMT’s.

Are AD’s Getting Less Pepsis Than They Used To?

Anecdotally, yes, it sure seems like authorized Rolex dealers are getting an increasingly meager supply of Pepsi GMT’s. There’s an “AD Wait Time Megathread” on reddit, in which you’ll see very few recent posts about receiving a new 126710 BLRO. Comments from employees of authorized retailers tend to confirm the same trend. Rolex waitlist times might be decreasing for most models, but not for the Pepsi.

Will the Pepsi Be Discontinued?

Personally I think it’s unlikely that the Rolex Pepsi will be totally discontinued, but if it does, it will probably be revived in a few years. After all, that’s what happened when the last aluminum Pepsi (ref. 16710 BLRO) was discontinued in 2007. Some have also posited that Rolex will go back to a white-gold-only paradigm for the Pepsi, but that’s pure speculation at this point.

All I can confidently say is that ceramic Pepsi bezel inserts are in fact difficult to manufacture, and the rumors of Rolex Pepsi production issues are not unfounded. But regardless of what happens to the supply of Pepsi GMT’s, the demand is likely to remain red-hot for the foreseeable future.

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