It has been a rough two years in the pre-owned Rolex market.
Fueled by a heady brew of low-interest rates, a booming stock market, and roaring crypto wealth, the resale market for Swiss watches topped out in March 2022 and began a seemingly interminable slide.
As the market shows signs of leveling out, some of the highest-flying variants, including several iterations of the perfect Rolex Daytona replica watches, are worth thousands of dollars less than they were at their peak. Still, some models are starting to bounce back in value.
In a year that has mostly seen prices limp along, one model is bucking the trend with an unambiguously strong performance for the brand: Rolex’s iconic red and blue bezeled UK AAA fake Rolex GMT-Master II watches (Ref. 126710BLRO), known fondly as “Pepsi.”
“If it has a Pepsi insert on it, I’m gonna sell it for $1,000 premium over Coke insert,” said Bob’s Watches COO Carol Altieri, referring to the red and black bezel. “Everybody wants that Pepsi insert.”
It’s somewhat fitting that this luxury replica Rolex watches is leading the pack.
Designed as a utilitarian pilot’s watch, Rolex introduced the GMT in 1955 with a dedicated hand to track the 24 hours of the day. The original two-color bezel was red for daylight hours and blue for night, and other color combos were introduced later.
Switching to a ceramic bezel initially limited the color options, but 10 years ago, top Rolex copy watches managed to produce a red ceramic to match the original hue.
According to multiple tracking services, the price of the Pepsi GMT has gone up more than any other cheap Rolex replica watches in the past 12 months. It’s also currently the top performer in the Bloomberg-Subdial Index of the 50 most traded Swiss watches.
Unlike many of the best-performing watches, this particular UK 1:1 super clone Rolex Pepsi GMT watches is still in production and can technically still be bought at retail — but good luck finding a dealer who will sell it to you.
What’s more, this replica Rolex watches for sale is selling on the pre-owned market for around $21,000, or nearly twice its $10,700 retail price.
“Sellers are a little bit more aggressive. They know that they have something that’s worth a little bit more, so they’re a little bit harder to buy,” Altieri said.
Still, people are buying. Altieri said it typically takes about two weeks to turn over her Rolex inventory, but the Swiss movements fake Rolex Pepsi GMT watches turn every two days. “They go a lot faster,” she said.
Altieri also said that the price could be a feature of relatively constrained supply compared with other colors.
“For every Pepsi that comes into the queue, I probably see at least six or seven of the blue and black,” she said.
Coke or Pepsi? It’s a matter of taste, some say, and individual tastes always differ. But there’s only one right answer if you’re talking about the Rolex GMT-Master. Although the manufacturer made a version that had a GMT bezel in red and black, called “Coke,” the first GMT-Master from 1955 bore the red-and-blue scale for the 24-hour display and was nicknamed “Pepsi.” The top replica Rolex Pepsi GMT-Master II watches represents the reincarnation of the classic in its original form.
At first, the colors were used to distinguish between the day and night times of the second time zone. This and other specs for the watch came from Pan American Airways, at whose request this model was created. At the time, new jet airliners made intercontinental flights shorter and more popular. And the increased number of flights also increased the demand for high quality Rolex fake watches with a second time zone. In addition to having the aura of a pilots’ watch, the high level of recognition of the colored bezel contributed to the GMT-Master’s popularity.
Rolex modified the Pepsi very cautiously until 2007. But then, when it introduced a ceramic bezel on steel versions of the GMT-Master II, it became necessary to shelve the Pepsi. At that time, a two-color bezel made of ceramic appeared to be technically impossible, and the color red could not be created satisfactorily in this high-tech material. In 2013, Rolex solved one of these problems and the first two-tone ceramic scale appeared – in blue and black. This very popular GMT-Master II in steel became known as “Batman.” In 2014, Rolex was able to create the desired red color, and the company reintroduced the beloved red-and-blue Pepsi bezel – on a white-gold watch. The price of over $40,000 was too high for many fans of steel Swiss movements replica Rolex sports watches. In 2018, Rolex responded to its customers’ desires and again issued the Pepsi in steel.
So as not to be confused with the more expensive white-gold Pepsi, the steel Pepsi is the first UK 1:1 copy Rolex sports watches that has a five-piece-link Jubilee bracelet, previously reserved for Datejust models. But whether this is a consolation to owners of the white-gold version is debatable, since the multi-linked Jubilee bracelet has a more elegant appearance than the three-row Oyster one.
Rolex developed the Jubilee bracelet in 1945 for the Datejust, and the GMT-Master has been available with this bracelet option since 1959. Like the Oyster bracelet on the earlier AAA Rolex GMT-Master II replica watches, the center links are polished while the outer links have a brushed finish.
We found the Jubilee bracelet to be very comfortable to wear. The small links fit snugly against the wrist and did not pull fine hairs. Thanks to its curved links, the Oyster bracelet felt just as supple and comfortable. The bracelet and case are both made of saltwater-resistant stainless steel 904L, which Rolex calls “Oystersteel.”
Closing, Locking, Extending
Unlike the Datejust, the Jubilee bracelet for the Rolex GMT-Master II fake watches for sale does not have the Oysterclasp folding clasp but instead uses the Oysterlock folding clasp (which is usual for sports models, with an additional safety bar). The clasps look very similar. Both offer the Easylink extension piece that can lengthen the bracelet by 5 mm – practical when the wrist expands due to warmer temperatures or increased activity. Half a link can be folded out from the clasp to make the bracelet longer without making a visible difference to the bracelet.
The high-quality clasp on the Jubilee bracelet comes very close to optimum, in terms of workmanship and operation. The safety folding bar is barely noticeable when closed. Opening it by lifting the Rolex crown reveals a lever that is easy to raise to open the bracelet.
The winding crown is also simple to use. It must be unscrewed to wind the watch. In the first pulled-out position, the primary hour hand can be moved forward or back in hour increments to set a second time zone. The date will advance accordingly in either direction. In the second position, the minutes hand can be adjusted (and with it, the 24-hour and primary hour hand). The 24-hour hand is best used for home time or, for pilots, the all-important GMT, with the hour hand showing local time. The GMT-Master II is known for this function for travelers. Many other manufacturers only offer a quick-adjustment function for their second-time-zone Rolex super clone watches for men, which is less useful when traveling.
With the GMT-Master II, it is also possible to adjust the bezel (which ratchets in hour increments) temporarily to show another time zone – for example, if you are in the U.S. and are working with a German company. Turning the bezel so that the GMT hand shows the time in the desired time zone allows you to see immediately whether your business partners might be available or not. All in all, the GMT-Master II provides very practical time-zone functions.
Research, Color, Patents
Upon its launch in 1955, the Pepsi’s bezel was made of Plexiglas and the red-and-blue color and the white track were printed on the underside. From 1959 to 2007, Rolex replica watches shop produced the bezel in aluminum with colors created using an anodizing process. This was followed by a zirconium-oxide ceramic track (and the related problems with the color). Mineral pigments can be added to color the material, but there is no mineral pigment that can produce a saturated red color. After years of research, Rolex returned to ceramic with an aluminum-oxide basis and added chromium oxide, magnesium oxide, and a rare earth oxide. This resulted in the red ceramic bezel we have today. For the blue color, half of the bezel is impregnated with a metallic salt solution prior to the sintering process. You can see the blue layer on top of the red background using a loupe. Sintering at 1,600 degrees Celsius for more than 24 hours results in the final colors. However, because the scale shrinks slightly during this process, it must be milled into the proper shape.
In order to make the numerals permanently easy to read, the entire ring is coated with platinum in a PVD process and then polished so that the precious metal remains only in the recessed numerals and dots. Rolex has patented both processes. The faded colors often seen on older GMT-Master models will not occur with the new UV-resistant bezel.
And in contrast to the white-gold Pepsi and all previous GMT-Master II models, this version is the first to use the new Caliber 3285. With the exception of the chronographs, all wholesale fake Rolex self-winding watches are powered by the 31xx caliber (the old version) or the new 32xx caliber with a 70-hour power reserve instead of 48 hours. Although Caliber 3186 continues to be used in the other GMT-Master II models (except for the two new models in red Everose gold and in steel and Everose gold), the new movement now has a ball bearing instead of a plain bearing for the oscillating weight. The in-house Paraflex shock absorber is designed to slide back into its original position more smoothly in the event of an impact.
The greatest advantage for the wearer of the new Pepsi is the increased power reserve. Instead of two days, the watch provides almost three full days of uninterrupted power. The main contributor to the enhanced power reserve is the more efficient Chronergy escapement. The geometry of the pallet fork and escape wheel has been optimized, and the LIGA process, in which these parts are formed with a galvanic molding process, has allowed best quality Rolex replica watches to produce perforated and thus lighter components. And thanks to the nickel-phosphorous alloy used, the escapement is no longer affected by magnetic fields.
What has remained are the well-known advantages of Rolex movements: an extremely stable balance bridge instead of a single-sided balance cock, the free-sprung hairspring with Breguet overcoil and the adjustable fine regulator with Microstella weights on the balance.
Rolex has improved the caliber consistently in the core virtues of accuracy, longevity, and sturdiness. Decorations are present, like a sunburst finish, but there is no hand-applied engraving. The new movement can also be identified by a detail on the dial: a tiny Rolex crown is placed between the two words “Swiss Made” at the dial’s edge.
As always with Rolex, the official Swiss chronometer certification institute COSC confirms the movement’s high rate accuracy at various temperatures and positions. And online Rolex fake watches‘ own specifications require an even greater degree of regulation, with an average deviation of between -2 and +2 seconds per day. Our test watch met these high expectations on the timing machine and showed an average deviation of only +1 seconds. The rate remained in the range between 0 and +3 seconds in all six positions; accordingly, the greatest positional error was measured at only +3 seconds with a manageable amplitude drop between the horizontal and vertical positions.
Beloved, Desired, Unattainable
At $9,250, the steel GMT-Master II Pepsi is placed in the mid-level price range. There are more economical manufacture alternatives with a second time zone, as well as more expensive ones, but with regard to value retention, hardly anyone can compete with Rolex. Since June 2018, this new timepiece has been delivered in very limited numbers, and the few pieces that are resold through online auctions cost at least two times more than new. Demand exceeds supply to a huge degree. As the number of delivered Swiss perfect replica Rolex watches rises, the prices for pre-owned watches are expected to fall somewhat, and we expect that the prices will more or less follow the trends of the GMT-Master II Batman, which is being sold at about 10 percent more than the new price, even with signs of wear. However, in the next few years, it will be difficult to buy a Pepsi from a licensed dealer since the waiting lists are already full.
Rolex has hit the bullseye with its new reissue of the blue-and-red GMT-Master II in steel. While the design has changed very little over the last 60 years, the watch has become a classic with a timeless look rather than merely vintage. The Jubilee bracelet is a good fit with the watch. Rolex has improved the technology within and provides even greater value with a longer power reserve. Functionally, Rolex offers more than most other manufacturers – from the bracelet extension to the time-zone-adjustment function, plus the highest levels of accuracy, legibility and wearing comfort. A transparent caseback would be a welcome addition. And it would be great if Rolex could deliver orders to everyone who says, “I’ll have a Pepsi, please!”
