Despite Market Slump, Rolex Pepsi Defies Trend, Maintains Value in Resale Market

Recently, the prices of many Rolex watches went down by a lot, like tens of thousands of dollars, because the market is not doing well. But, surprisingly, the Rolex Pepsi is still worth a good amount of money when people try to sell it again.

People are talking a lot about fancy watches becoming cheaper because the economy is not doing well. The prices of used expensive watches have dropped a lot in the last year and a half. Among all the brands, Rolex is the one that’s been affected the most.

According to a thing called the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tells us about how much people sell watches for again, Rolex watches are losing their worth faster than any other brand. Last month, the worst Rolex was the Submariner Kermit ref. 16610LV, with a black dial and green aluminum bezel.

Its price went down by 4.6% in November, and now it sells for less than $15,000 on average. But some Rolex watches are keeping their value better than others. One of them is the really wanted Rolex GMT-Master II ‘Pepsi’ 126710BLRO, which is still considered very valuable.

According to the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which looks at data for the 50 most-traded watches, the average resale price for the Rolex Pepsi has stayed the same for the last year. It’s close to $20,000, which is almost twice its original price of $10,900.

It’s important to note that the resale prices for Rolex Pepsi were the highest in April 2022, reaching almost $29,000 on average, according to the Subdial index. After going down a lot over the next six months and losing almost one-third of its value, it hasn’t dropped below $18,000. This tells us that people still really want the Rolex Pepsi, and collectors are willing to pay a high price for it.

The Rolex Pepsi has been around since the mid-1950s when Rolex first made the GMT-Master. It got its nickname “Pepsi” because of its famous two-color bezel in red and white, which is the most well-known color combination in the GMT-Master collection. In 2007, Rolex stopped making the GMT-Master II 16710, which was the last one with a Pepsi bezel made from anodized aluminum. For the next 11 years, the lineup didn’t have a steel version of its famous pilot watch with a red and blue “Pepsi” bezel.

In 2018, big changes were announced for the entire GMT-Master II lineup. The steel Pepsi GMT made a comeback as the ref. 126710BLRO, but this time, it had a blue and red Cerachrom bezel instead of an aluminum one. It also came with a new-generation Caliber 3285 movement and slightly changed lugs. In 2021, Rolex said that the watch would also be available with a three-link Oyster bracelet. The colors of the bezel were also slightly changed to bring them closer to the original.