Interesting WG Pepsi GMTIIC Perspective

[Steve260]

I stopped in my local Rolex AD yesterday, and had a chance to spend a few minutes with the owner. During our conversation, I expressed my disappointment that the new Pepsi GMTIIC will only be available in white gold, at a retail price expected to be around $40k, and that would put it out of reach for most. If they had released it in steel in the $8k - $10k range, it would likely be a best seller. There is certainly not $30k of white gold in the new model, to justify such a high premium over the existing GMTIIC lineup.

My AD's response was interesting - like any (profitable) manufacturer, Rolex needs to plan production, within their capacity to produce, to maximize profitability. Since Rolex makes so many different models, optimizing production planning across the entire product line is a complex undertaking.

Combine that complexity with a (reasonable) assumption that lighter-colored two-color ceramic bezels may currently be somewhat more challenging/time consuming/lower yield/etc. to produce than black or darker two-tone ceramic bezels, and Rolex could be faced with a production planning choice:

1) Produce a higher quantity of Pepsi ceramic bezels for a steel watch with anticipated high demand and a lower price point, which could also necessitate reducing production for other models, or, (since Rolex sells out it's entire production each year anyway),

2) Produce a smaller quantity of Pepsi ceramic bezels, put them only on WG watches at a high price point to "control demand", and continue to maximize profitability across the entire product line. Certainly looks like that is what they decided to do.

My AD also indicated that the BLNR GMTIIC was still in short supply most places, a year after its' introduction.

Disappointing, but certainly not surprising! Of course, this is all conjecture...

In the meantime, I am glad I was able to get a BLNR GMTIIC a few months ago, since a WG Pepsi is not likely in my future!

Steve