Another Pepsi Production Rumor Thread

[ShamRockNRoll]

Hi all, I almost feel guilty for starting one of these discussions, but it is a discussion forum after all...

I recently visited a Bucherer location I had never been to and struck up a friendly conversation with their Rolex ambassador about how I've been trying to get a Pepsi for years from a couple other ADs. Sharing his feedback here:

- He said there are only two people responsible for making all of the Pepsi bezels in the world, which is why supply issues have been so bad.

- He said that Rolex "just announced a few weeks ago" that they would soon begin automating that process now, and opined that this would quite possibly make them a little easier to come by soon.

- It was his opinion that the rumors of the Pepsi being discontinued were highly unlikely ("why would they stop making a watch that everybody wants that they know they can sell?")

Do these first two points strike anyone as new information? I did some googling to try and find any kind of backup on this without success. Most of what I found were the common discussions I see here about the additional factories coming online soon that would speed up production. I'd never heard anything about only a couple of individuals being responsible for the entire line's ceramic bezels, and I didn't see anything anywhere else about an announcement regarding automated production.

SO, my questions for the group:
1) Has anyone else heard this before (either 2 individuals finishing all the pepsi ceramic bezels, or the note an a new announcement about automating that process?)
2) Does the fact that this came from a Bucherer hold more weight since they are owned by Rolex?

I'm still not expecting one anytime soon, but I will continue to hope nonetheless... (and also stash away a few extra bucks because I'll probably go grey at the end of this year if nothing happens sooner)

Cheers

[4reRlxGuy]

Yes - my AD told me last year that the "break line" where the blue and red meet was hand painted. Found it hard to believe a component on a mass produced watch would have anything done by hand.

[ShamRockNRoll]

Originally Posted by 4reRlxGuy

Yes - my AD told me last year that the "break line" where the blue and red meet was hand painted. Found it hard to believe a component on a mass produced watch would have anything done by hand.

I don't find the hand painting itself that hard to believe, but I was kind of shocked when he said they only have 2 people who can do it.

[fly4food84]

I’m fairly confident your AD, especially a salesman would not know that level of inner workings.

It could be discontinued simply because it hypes and boosts the brand.

People forget the Pepsi has been discontinued before and brought back in 2014 in WG and again in 2018 in SS.

Will be be discontinued this year? Who knows, but ADs have not been receiving many of these.


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[Mystro]

Absolutely absurd.

[Infusion1]

What part is absurd?

[omar-rye]

Yeah I heard that Ball, Orient, Steinhart, Baltic, and Tag all hand paint a portion of their Pepsi bezels as well. Only difference is they produce a nicer red and blue color than Rolex

[espanol]

Strange, I was told the two people that produce the bezels were actually little Rolex elves, and the reason for the slow production is that those two elves are currently on strike, demanding fair elvish wages. Also heard they’re about to quit and head back to the North Pole.

[KatGirl]

The only thing that sounded true is that the Pepsi wouldn’t be discontinued, because it’s so popular. The rest sounded unbelievable, to say the least, in my opinion.

Kat


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[padi56]

Originally Posted by espanol

Strange, I was told the two people that produce the bezels were actually little Rolex elves, and the reason for the slow production is that those two elves are currently on strike, demanding fair elvish wages. Also heard they’re about to quit and head back to the North Pole.

Have to agree but the main problem is they dont know what MK to call it as so many MKs around is it now MK3 or was it MK4or 5 and very doubtful if the GMT bezel like the 126710BLRO will be discontinued .

[brandrea]

This is a decent article that explains the manufacturing process.


https://senatus.net/article/cerachrom-rolex/

[Henrimontgomery]

A billion dollar company, worldwide presence with virtually unlimited R&D.

-> two people responsible for a key process.

I don’t believe it.

[thesharkfactor]

Not the 1st time I have heard the 2 people rumour. Not saying I believe it, just saying heard it.

[garyk]

Originally Posted by espanol

Strange, I was told the two people that produce the bezels were actually little Rolex elves, and the reason for the slow production is that those two elves are currently on strike, demanding fair elvish wages. Also heard they’re about to quit and head back to the North Pole.

This sounds completely logical especially on TRF

[illiguy]

Originally Posted by ShamRockNRoll

Hi all, I almost feel guilty for starting one of these discussions, but it is a discussion forum after all...

I recently visited a Bucherer location I had never been to and struck up a friendly conversation with their Rolex ambassador about how I've been trying to get a Pepsi for years from a couple other ADs. Sharing his feedback here:

- He said there are only two people responsible for making all of the Pepsi bezels in the world, which is why supply issues have been so bad.

- He said that Rolex "just announced a few weeks ago" that they would soon begin automating that process now, and opined that this would quite possibly make them a little easier to come by soon.

- It was his opinion that the rumors of the Pepsi being discontinued were highly unlikely ("why would they stop making a watch that everybody wants that they know they can sell?")

Do these first two points strike anyone as new information? I did some googling to try and find any kind of backup on this without success. Most of what I found were the common discussions I see here about the additional factories coming online soon that would speed up production. I'd never heard anything about only a couple of individuals being responsible for the entire line's ceramic bezels, and I didn't see anything anywhere else about an announcement regarding automated production.

SO, my questions for the group:
1) Has anyone else heard this before (either 2 individuals finishing all the pepsi ceramic bezels, or the note an a new announcement about automating that process?)
2) Does the fact that this came from a Bucherer hold more weight since they are owned by Rolex?

I'm still not expecting one anytime soon, but I will continue to hope nonetheless... (and also stash away a few extra bucks because I'll probably go grey at the end of this year if nothing happens sooner)

Cheers

Wow. Not scalable

[travisb]

I don't give it any more weight than all the other rumors.

[saxo3]

Posted rumors all have the same issue: they don't provide a credible source. People who know something from first hand, such as Rolex HQ, don't post for the internet crowd.

[1William]

A little hard to believe that the bezel work is handled by two people. The discontinuation rumor sound a bit bit more believable.

[tsekh]

Lol, this is total bs.

First of all, Rolex is very secretive regarding the details of their manufacturing process, there is no way that your AD knows anything about how many people work on the Pepsi bezel.

Second, despite how “rare” Pepsi appears to be, that’s mostly driven by the massive demand for that watch. It’s a mass produced watch and a huge number of it get made every year. There is no way that Rolex only has two people hand painted them, if they are hand painted at all.

Many popular watches get discontinued by Rolex and other manufacturers all the time for various reasons, e.g. John Mayer Daytona, Oyster Perpetual with red/yellow/baby blue dials, Patek 5711. And as someone already mentioned, Pepsi had been discontinued before.

[tsekh]

Originally Posted by thesharkfactor

Not the 1st time I have heard the 2 people rumour. Not saying I believe it, just saying heard it.

I heard that one of them is responsible for applying the red paint and the other person is responsible for applying the blue paint.

[fly4food84]

Originally Posted by KatGirl

The only thing that sounded true is that the Pepsi wouldn’t be discontinued, because it’s so popular. The rest sounded unbelievable, to say the least, in my opinion.

Kat


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It’s been discontinued before… and it’s always been popular.


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[madmax21]

This completely makes sense to me on the way Rolex processes are done exactly why we have so many issues with supply and demand personally I think they do this all on purpose it's a great game they play feeding us information like this. Gone are the days of 30% off on a submariner and this is how they do it they keep us all
talking

[slillestrand]

I have heard the same about two people trained to do this work....it is not painting in the general sense.....they are working with ceramic in all of its forms and the issue is that cut line......some colors are harder to work with than others.

Best
Scott

[koronet-kid]

The division line is the same on every BLRO bezel this is not a process that can be done by hand consistently, I was told that the bezels are held on a type of jig and then dipped in the chemical to create the blue colour, this makes more sense as a machine dipping the component can do so multiple times with little to no deviation

[madmax21]

Originally Posted by koronet-kid

The division line is the same on every BLRO bezel this is not a process that can be done by hand consistently, I was told that the bezels are held on a type of jig and then dipped in the chemical to create the blue colour, this makes more sense as a machine dipping the component can do so multiple times with little to no deviation

There's a real easy fix here go back to the aluminum then you won't have any of these problems

[madmax21]

Originally Posted by koronet-kid

The division line is the same on every BLRO bezel this is not a process that can be done by hand consistently, I was told that the bezels are held on a type of jig and then dipped in the chemical to create the blue colour, this makes more sense as a machine dipping the component can do so multiple times with little to no deviation

There's a real easy fix here go back to the aluminum then you won't have any of these problems

[Krash]

Originally Posted by madmax21

There's a real easy fix here go back to the aluminum then you won't have any of these problems

Omega claims their new painted aluminum bezels—on some of their Seamasters—are scratched resistant. I don’t know how true that is. I personally think Omega went back to aluminum bezels as a cost cutting measure, but who am I to say?


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[madmax21]

Originally Posted by Krash

Omega claims their new painted aluminum bezels—on some of their Seamasters—are scratched resistant. I don’t know how true that is. I personally think Omega went back to aluminum bezels as a cost cutting measure, but who am I to say?




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I completely agree that a scratch resistant aluminum bezel is well within reach with the technology we currently have they can produce them easily and much much cheaper without any problems but honestly I believe the main reason why it's decided this is for controversy to keep demand high and supply low thus keeping the prices high purely a marketing move

[inadeje]

My Parnis and Pagani beater watches with retail prices ranging from $50 to $150 seem to have some unusually fine, myth dispelling, ceramic bezels.

https://www.parniswatch.pro/index.ph...roduct_id=1009

https://www.paganidesignwatch.com/pa...yABEgKTYPD_BwE

Are we really trying to say that Rolex in all its glory can’t make a blue/red ceramic bezel in volume while this small example of two homage companies have visibly zero issues knocking out ceramic bezels?

[Henrimontgomery]

Not the same, Rolex is single bezel. Copies are two glued together.