Open the Chrono24 app today, filter for a Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi, and the first thing you’ll see is a number that stops you cold. $126,898 US dollars. Plus $220 shipping. Located in Italy.
That’s for a stainless steel sports watch. Not a unique piece. Not a prototype. A regular production 126710BLRO that Rolex was selling for 9,500 USD when it launched in 2018.
Scroll down and it gets worse. $107,723 for a “Pepsi Oman” out of the US, plus another $144 shipping. $101,518 for a “NUOVO 2022 Maggio” in Italy, which wants another $2,707 to actually send it to you. $98,134 for an OMAN Ref. 126710 BLRO, also Italy, $592 shipping on top. All four were tagged “Popular” by the platform, like it’s a medium flat white at a busy cafe.
And every single one of these sellers knows exactly what they’re doing.
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Two weeks ago Rolex quietly pulled the plug. As we covered when the news broke, “Visit the 126710BLRO product page on rolex.com right now and you’ll be greeted with a platinum Day-Date and four words: ‘This page is not available.'” The steel Pepsi is dead. The grey market didn’t wait for a confirmation. They didn’t need one.
Chrono24 reported a 500 per cent surge in purchase requests for the 126710BLRO in the first week of March alone, and that was before Watches & Wonders even opened. Median prices in Australian dollars climbed from around $31,000 to over $35,600 in six months.
So that’s the legitimate part. Supply tightened, demand spiked, the market repriced. Textbook stuff. But $126,898 plus $220 shipping? C’mon mate.
Before the discontinuation rumours started, the 126710BLRO was commonly listed at around $22,000 to $29,000. That was already roughly double Rolex’s own retail of around $11,800. Double retail is what the Pepsi has always done. Painful, but a known quantity.
The four listings screenshotted above aren’t double retail. They’re eight to eleven times retail. Is the watch suddenly eleven times more desirable than it was in February? Did the movement get better? Did the ceramic bezel develop consciousness?
No. A manufacturer made an announcement. That’s it. Same watch. Same case. Same calibre 3285. The only thing that’s changed is the number of mugs willing to pay whatever they’re told to pay.
Here’s how it works, and it’s not subtle. Reseller lists at a stupid number. Buyer sees “Popular” tag and a glossy box shot and panics. Buyer transfers money. Reseller buys the next one at a marginally less stupid number and relists it higher. Rinse. Repeat. Fund the renovation.
If you want a rough floor, the pre-owned specialists who actually have to move stock are quoting around $22,000 to $29,000+ for a steel 126710BLRO right now. Call it thirty grand US for a clean 2023 or 2024 example with box and papers. That’s still nearly triple retail. But it’s the real number. Anything above forty is someone betting on the Rolex mystique doing the work for them.
Hand on heart, if you waited eight years on an AD waitlist for a Pepsi at retail and you’re now looking at $126K on Chrono24, wondering if you should just cut the queue, hard pass.
The discontinuation bump is real. But it will come back. It’s too popular to delete forever. The Pepsi has always been a watch that rewards patience. Nothing about the last fortnight has changed that. The resellers are hoping you’ve forgotten.
Don’t.
