The 1980s had a watch. It was a Rolex GMT-Master II with a red-and-blue bezel, and it lived on Tom Selleck’s wrist for 162 episodes. Magnum P.I. didn’t just wear a Pepsi — the watch wore the show.
Thomas Magnum arrived in Hawaii with two things: a red Ferrari he did not own and a Rolex that looked like it had seen actual travel. The GMT-Master was not new in 1980 — it had been flying with Pan Am captains since 1955 — but on Magnum’s wrist, it became the watch that millions of viewers associated with living well without apology. Not wealth-flexing. Living.
Why a pilot watch for a private investigator?
The GMT-Master dual time-zone bezel was designed for pilots jumping across oceans. Magnum jumped across Oahu. But the logic was perfect: a man who works the edges of the globe, who shows up at dawn surveillance and midnight rescues, needs to know what time it is somewhere else. A Pepsi bezel in particular — the red and blue — has always been the version that catches light. On television, that mattered.
The watch in the show was a reference 16750, produced during the late 1980s run. Pre-owned Pepsis from that era now sit around £18,000 to £24,000, depending on condition and dial type. A player’s watch, not a banker’s watch.
The Pepsi’s lasting power
Rolex made Pepsi bezels standard on the GMT-Master for decades, but when the Cerachrom ceramic bezel arrived in the early 2000s, something shifted. The combination of blue and red ceramic became unexpectedly rare. What the 1980s took for granted became what 2020s buyers chase.
You can own that same watch today. Not the one Selleck wore — that’s collector history now — but the reference that defined a character. A GMT-Master II with a Pepsi bezel, steel, 40mm. The dual time zone still works. The lume still glows. And yes, someone on your flight to London will notice.
The Magnum effect
Television does not often break a watch. But Magnum P.I. did not just show a Rolex — it showed a way to live. Not ostentatious. Practical. A tool that happened to be beautiful, worn by a man who chose his own path. In the 1980s, that was radical enough to matter. In the pre-owned market today, it still is.