This was a truly iterative year, even for a company who has made marginal upgrades to their popular, well-marketed timepieces, as a way to continually grow their top and bottom line, without fail, for decades.

Case in point, the 2019 Rolex GMT-Master II “Batman” on Jubilee bracelet. Following the 2018 release of the all-new GMT-Master II in a stainless steel case, with its red and blue ceramic “Pepsi” bezel, which included the introduction of the newly developed Rolex caliber 3285, this year Rolex rolled out a new version of the existing black and blue ceramic bezel GMT with the same upgrades.

The upgrades include a new movement, a change from an Oyster bracelet to the Jubilee bracelet (Oyster bracelet is now only available on precious metal versions of the GMT-Master II), and slightly contoured lugs and case edges.

There is nothing particularly compelling about this upgrade, but that’s not the point when you consider that the outgoing Batman GMTs with Oyster bracelets were already taking a significant amount of time to acquire from authorized dealers because demand far exceeds supply. Similarly, the new stainless steel Pepsi GMT, is also in such high demand that to buy one you have to pay a huge premium from a non-authorized dealer or get on an authorized dealer’s waiting list in order to get one (authorized dealers are not allowed to charge over retail but are limited to how many Rolex will supply them, and Rolex limits how much of each model will be produced on an annual basis, without adjusting for increased demand of a certain model).

With the introduction of the new Rolex GMT-Master II reference 126710, reference 116710 has been discontinued. The new Rolex GMT-Master II “Batman” Ref. 126710 BLNR comes in a 40 mm diameter case, with 100 meters water-resistance, is tested to a -2/+2 seconds per day level of accuracy, and has a 70-hour power reserve. Retail is $9,250.

Learn more at Rolex.