« A New Addition to the Black Bay Family »
Mention the word "Pepsi" and many watch enthusiasts think not only of a world-famous American soft drink maker, but also of a distinctive watch design from Rolex. Its standout feature is the blue-and-red bezel, which has been around for more than half a century. Since Baselworld 2018, Tudor's lineup has also included a Pepsi watch, one that wins you over not just with an attractive price, but also with genuine design independence and remarkable toughness. We took a closer look at the new Tudor Pepsi and compared it with the "original" from Rolex.
The Red-and-Blue Bezel and Its Background: A Look at History
The story of the so-called Pepsi bezel is inseparable from that of the Rolex GMT Master. At first glance strongly reminiscent of the dive watches in the Submariner line, this watch was launched in 1954 – one year after the first Submariner. In addition to the hour, minute, and seconds hands, it featured a fourth hand and a rotating bezel with a 24-hour scale. These last two details made it possible to read the time in a second time zone quickly and easily, alongside the local time.
The model was developed in response to a request from the American airline Pan-Am, which wanted to equip its flight crews with watches offering just such a time-zone function. To make it easier to distinguish visually between day and night, some of the watches were delivered with bezels split into two halves of different colors.
GMT-Master: Popular and Sought-After Well Beyond Pan-Am's Flight Crews
The new watch quickly became a popular success for its maker, because in addition to the originally intended target group of Pan-Am cabin crews, more and more frequent business travelers and private individuals soon came to appreciate the practical extra function.
The enduring popularity of the GMT-Master prompted Rolex to launch an improved successor in 1985, the GMT-Master II, which was revised once again in 2007. Older examples of the GMT-Master are highly coveted by collectors today.
Alongside the blue-and-red "Pepsi" version, there are also versions in black-and-red and black-and-blue color combinations, which many watch lovers call "Coke" and "Batman," respectively.
Baselworld Surprise 2018: Tudor and Rolex Unveil New Pepsi Watches at the Same Time
At Baselworld 2018, the Rolex manufacture and its sister brand with the Tudor rose in its logo caused a surprise in that both brands simultaneously presented new watches in the Pepsi color scheme. The Rolex GMT Master 2 Pepsi was paired for the first time with a Jubilee bracelet, which in recent years had been reserved mainly for models in the Datejust line, and Tudor's Black Bay dive watch line now also includes a GMT model with a blue-and-red bezel. It is common knowledge that Rolex models such as the Submariner – and indeed the GMT-Master – are not only frequently copied by counterfeiters, but have also strongly influenced numerous models from other manufacturers with their successful design.
All the more welcome, then, that the Tudor Pepsi by no means falls into the category of what watch lovers sometimes rather disparagingly call copycat models, but instead shows remarkable independence. This confirms once again that it is less and less justified to call Tudor a Rolex second brand and not to see the company – also the last remaining of what were once more than half a dozen trade brands of the company – as autonomous, with its own strategy and model policy.
While sourced ETA movements were used for a long time, in-house manufacture calibers have increasingly been used since 2016. And the Rolex Oyster cases, casebacks, and crowns once used were already replaced by Tudor's own components in the 1990s.
Snowflake Hands and Distinct Typography: The New Black Bay with Blue-and-Red Bezel in Detail
Among the most striking differences between Tudor's new Black Bay Pepsi and the Rolex GMT-Master II are the typography of the numerals on the bezel and the distinctive "snowflake hands" with their diamond-shaped tips, which watch connoisseurs will also know from the Longines Hydroconquest, among others, and which already appeared on previous versions of the Black Bay.
The black dial with its classic dive watch look offers good legibility, which, thanks to generous use of luminous material on the hands and indices, extends to the dark as well. As usual, the crown is adorned with the brand logo – the stylized Tudor rose.
Tough Enough for Underwater Use – the Tudor Pepsi Is a Full-Fledged Dive Watch
With a case diameter of 41 millimeters, the Tudor Pepsi is one millimeter larger than its counterpart, yet costs well under half as much. The difference in water resistance is also remarkable. While the GMT-Master 2 Pepsi – like its predecessor and most other non-dive watches from Rolex – is water-resistant to 10 bar or 100 meters, the Tudor Pepsi offers exactly double that.
So while you can keep the Rolex model on your wrist in the shower or while swimming, it is better left on shore when you go diving. The Tudor Pepsi, by contrast, is – like its older sister models – a full-fledged Black Bay dive watch. The newcomer to Tudor's dive watch line is available on a riveted stainless steel bracelet, a fabric strap, or a leather strap.
