Seiko Claims the 'Official' Pepsi Watch Title with a Carbonated Collab

If you want that iconic look of Rolex’s blue-and-red GMT bezel on your wrist, you’ve always more or less had two options: 1) get a Rolex or 2) get a watch that will inevitably seem like a compromise and constant reference to Rolex. In watchspeak, that color scheme is called “Pepsi.” Like many other brands, Seiko has used it plenty in the past, but now it’s done so in an official collaboration with the cola-maker.

Two new limited-edition watches in the Seiko 5 Sports collection employ this most baggage-laden of colorways. Both are in offshoot subcollections of the SKX series: one with a silver dial and steel case that’s in a reduced diameter of 38mm (as opposed to 42.5mm) and features only the time and day/date; the other joins the collection’s growing family of watches featuring the GMT complication with a black dial and case coating. Both feature the Pepsi wordmark on their dials and a larger Pepsi logo on their casebacks, through which you can glimpse the automatic 4R36 movement or 4R34 for the GMT.

As an official Pepsi collab watch, does this make Seiko’s use of those bezel colors a bit more genuine? Buy me a drink (not a cola) and we can debate it. But I’d say it adds an element of legitimacy as something that can be worn for its own fun personality — even though it’ll never fully escape the Rolex shadow. It still won’t own the title of the Pepsi watch.

Far from the first watch with the color scheme, it’s also not the first with actual Pepsi branding. A quick Google search reveals some cheap novelty watches but also a couple of Swiss-made vintage gems such as an obscure old Waltham. Rolex itself famously produced watches with the Domino’s Pizza logo on the dials, but also those with Coca Cola — though the latter is found on the dials of vintage Oyster Perpetual watches rather than (black-and-red "Coke") GMT Masters. 

Part of what makes this Seiko collab fun and cool is that it recalls the practice of co-branded dials that was popular decades ago but which has seen a resurgence recently with the extreme trend toward everything vintage. We’re great fans of Seiko’s own recent Prospex limited edition with a Datsun logo on the dial, for example. Further emphasizing the retro element, the silver dial model (SRPL99) uses a 1990s Pepsi font whereas the black-dial GMT (SSK047) has the more contemporary logo. 

The silver dial model is said to recall Pepsi cans from the ‘90s, and both ship in packaging that looks like actual soda cans. With a bezel in blue with red for the first 20 minutes, the SRPL99 recalls old Seiko SKX dive watch models that don’t feel overly close to the Rolex look. The black dial GMT, on the other hand, is more on-the-nose with a bisected red-and-blue 24-hour bezel representing day and night times. 

Rolex comparisons can’t be taken too seriously, though, as we’re talking about very affordable (relatively speaking) watches that you might simply enjoy as “for-fun” beaters. Available in September and “limited” to 7,000 examples each, US pricing for the Seiko 5 Sports Pepsi collab watches hasn’t yet been announced. The SRPL99 comes on a steel bracelet and will set you back around the USD equivalent of $440, while the SSK047 comes on a silicon Pepsi-branded strap and costs about $625.

To learn more, visit Seiko here.