FLOAT 100 · Watches · No. 17
Rolex 'Pepsi' GMT-Master II Ref. 16710
For 18 years this was the everyday steel Pepsi, and then Rolex went to ceramic and could not make the red half of the bezel, so the 16710 became the last of the aluminum-bezel Pepsis.
- Year
- 1989-2007
- Maker
- Rolex
- By price in watches
- 73 of 100
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Create a free account- Maker
- Rolex, Geneva
- Reference
- 16710, GMT-Master II in stainless steel; the Pepsi bezel is recorded on papers as 16710BLRO
- Produced
- 1989 to 2007 in most sources (one says 2008)
- Movement
- Caliber 3185; the final examples got caliber 3186
- Case
- 40 mm steel Oyster, 100 m water resistance, sapphire crystal with Cyclops
- Key feature
- Local hour hand that jumps in one-hour steps without stopping the watch, so it can show three time zones
- Bezel options
- Pepsi (blue and red), Coke (black and red) or all-black aluminum inserts
- Rare variants
- 'Stick' or 'error' dial, and late examples with caliber 3186
- Successor
- 116710LN with a black ceramic bezel (2007); no ceramic Pepsi in steel until 2018
From GMT-Master to GMT-Master II
The red-and-blue bezel goes back to the first GMT-Master, reference 6542, made with Pan Am in the mid-1950s for pilots who needed to read two time zones at once. On the original watch, and on the long-running 1675 that followed, the 24-hour hand and the hour hand were geared together. To follow a second zone, the owner turned the bezel.
The GMT-Master II changed that. Its first reference, the 16760, used caliber 3085, whose local hour hand could be set on its own in one-hour steps while the movement kept running. The 24-hour hand stays on home time and the bezel can track a third zone. The sources disagree on the launch year, giving both 1982 and 1983. The 16760 needed a thicker case, which earned it the nicknames 'Fat Lady' and 'Sophia Loren.'
In 1989 Rolex replaced the 16760 with the 16710. A new movement, caliber 3185, did the same job in a slimmer case. For about ten years Rolex sold it next to a simpler GMT-Master, reference 16700, which kept the older linked hands. The 16700 was dropped in 1999, leaving the 16710 as the only steel GMT in the catalog.
One reference, three bezels
The 16710 is a 40 mm steel Oyster rated to 100 meters, with a sapphire crystal and a Cyclops lens over the date. Caliber 3185 is a certified chronometer beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour, with hacking seconds and a quick-set 24-hour function. The case has thin lugs and sharp bevels, and on the wrist it wears smaller and flatter than the ceramic models that followed.
Rolex sold the same watch with three aluminum bezel inserts: blue and red (Pepsi), black and red (Coke) and all-black. The insert is recorded on the papers as a suffix to the reference; one late Pepsi example's plastic warranty card reads 16710BLRO, for 'bleu/rouge.' Bracelets were the Oyster 78360, the later 78790 with a flip-lock clasp, or a Jubilee 62510.
Like the vintage bezels before it, the aluminum insert scratches and fades with sun and salt water. A Pepsi can go from navy and red to pale blue and pink over twenty years. Collectors pay extra for a softly faded original insert, which also makes the insert an easy target for swaps and fakes.
Eighteen years of small changes
Rolex changed the 16710 gradually, so dating one means reading the parts. From 1989 the dials used tritium and are marked 'SWISS - T < 25' below six o'clock. In the late 1990s Rolex moved to LumiNova, marked 'SWISS,' and then to Super-LumiNova, marked 'SWISS MADE.' The sources give slightly different years for each switch: one puts tritium to 1997 and LumiNova to 1999, another puts LumiNova at about 1998 and Super-LumiNova at 2000.
Solid end links replaced hollow ones on the bracelet around 2000. Around 2003 Rolex dropped the drilled holes through the lugs and began laser-etching a tiny crown into the crystal at six o'clock. The final examples carry an engraved inner bezel ring. Rolex moved from paper warranties to plastic cards around 2006-2007. A late watch on an early bracelet, or an early watch with a crisp late dial, has had parts swapped.
Two late variants draw the most attention. On the 'stick' dial, also called the 'error' dial, the 'II' in 'GMT-MASTER II' is printed as two plain parallel lines instead of a Roman numeral with serifs. One source dates it from as early as 2004, becoming more common later. The other is the caliber 3186: Rolex first used it in 2005 in the gold 50th-anniversary GMT-Master II, reference 116718LN, and fitted it to the last 16710s, which sources place in late 2007 and in the final year or so of production. The 3186 adds a blue Parachrom hairspring that resists shocks, temperature and magnetism better. A small fraction of watches have both the stick dial and the 3186.
Why it was the last of its kind
In 2007 Rolex replaced the 16710 with the 116710LN, with a broader case, a Triplock crown, polished center links and, above all, a Cerachrom ceramic bezel. Ceramic resists scratches and does not fade, but Rolex could not at first make the red in a two-color ceramic insert. The steel GMT-Master II came only in black, and the Pepsi and the Coke left the catalog.
The two-color ceramic bezel arrived in 2013 in blue and black. The Pepsi returned in ceramic in 2014, but only in white gold, and did not return in steel until reference 126710BLRO in 2018. For eleven years, then, the 16710 was the newest steel Pepsi a buyer could find, and it remains the last Pepsi with an aluminum insert.
Collector demand has moved toward it. One buyer's guide reported in September 2026 that the 16710 averaged about $13,300 on the secondary market, above the ceramic 116710LN at about $12,200, reversing the old order. A price history from the same year said the 16710 had risen to an average of $12,000 to $15,000 over the past two decades. Late examples with the no-holes case, solid end links, a stick dial or caliber 3186 are the most sought after.
The numbers
- Reference
- 16710 (Pepsi insert recorded as 16710BLRO)
- Caliber
- 3185, then 3186 in the final examples; automatic, 28,800 vph, hacking, independently set hour hand
- Case
- 40 mm stainless steel Oyster, sapphire crystal with Cyclops, Twinlock crown
- Water resistance
- 100 meters
- Bezel
- Bidirectional 24-hour, aluminum insert: Pepsi, Coke or black
- Bracelets
- Oyster 78360 or 78790, or Jubilee 62510
- Production years
- 1989 to 2007 (one source: 2008)
- Production numbers
- No total given in the sources consulted
Timeline
The first GMT-Master, reference 6542, launches with a red-and-blue bezel for Pan Am crews (some sources say 1954).
The first GMT-Master II, reference 16760, introduces an independently set hour hand (some sources say 1982).
GMT-Master reference 16700 begins its run alongside the GMT-Master II.
Reference 16710 replaces the 16760, with caliber 3185 in a slimmer case.
Tritium dials end around 1997-1998 as Rolex moves to LumiNova.
The GMT-Master 16700 is discontinued, leaving the 16710 alone.
Solid end links arrive on the bracelet; Super-LumiNova dials follow around this time.
Lug holes disappear and a laser-etched crown appears on the crystal.
The earliest 'stick' dials, with the II printed as two plain lines, appear.
Caliber 3186 debuts in the gold 50th-anniversary GMT-Master II, reference 116718LN.
Rolex begins moving from paper warranties to plastic cards (some sources say 2007).
The final 16710s receive caliber 3186; the ceramic-bezel 116710LN replaces the 16710.
Rolex makes its first two-color ceramic GMT bezel, in blue and black.
A ceramic Pepsi returns, in white gold only.
The steel Pepsi returns as reference 126710BLRO.
A buyer's guide reports the 16710 averaging about $13,300, above the ceramic 116710LN.
The world in 1989
George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as president of the United States.
Tim Berners-Lee writes the proposal that becomes the blueprint for the World Wide Web.
The Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound and spills 240,000 barrels of oil.
The Berlin Wall opens after an East German official announces new travel rules on live television.
The United States invades Panama to overthrow Manuel Noriega.
Pan Am, the airline behind the original GMT-Master, is dissolved.
Price record
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Rolex 'Pepsi' GMT-Master II Ref. 16710 is number 73 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (17 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- On the 'stick' or 'error' dial the only difference is the 'II' in 'GMT-MASTER II,' printed as two plain lines.
- Because the local hour hand jumps independently and the bezel turns, a 16710 can show three time zones at once.
- When Rolex moved the steel GMT-Master II to ceramic in 2007, it could not make the red half of a two-color insert, and the Pepsi disappeared from steel for eleven years.
- The dial text tells you the lume: 'T < 25' means tritium, 'SWISS' alone means LumiNova, and 'SWISS MADE' means Super-LumiNova.
- By September 2026 the older aluminum-bezel 16710 was reported to trade above its ceramic successor, the 116710LN.
- The caliber 3186 inside the last 16710s first appeared in a solid yellow gold anniversary model in 2005.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026