What identifies an orginal Pepsi bezel on 16710 ?

[seabreeze]

I came across the answer to this once in a listing, and looked here ion the forum, but the best way to tell from a serial # if the watch was born a pepsi or if it was swapped out?
TIA

[Tools]

There is nothing associated with the serial number, it is just a unique identifier, and nothing can be assessed by it except an ambiguous "dating" estimation compiled by many enthusiasts.

[watchnwine]

Nothing specific to the SN. Sometime papers have a letter code after the model number (although rarely) and in that case, a 16710A=Coke, 16170B=Pepsi and 16710N=all black. That can sometimes be the case with the white tag as well but those almost never survive with a 5-digit. Most of the time you will never know. It's unclear to me whether a Rolex dealer can look it up but they seem to be willing to offer a replacement of any color (because it came in all three) provided they take the old one in exchange.

[0nly5iv3Digits]

Only paperwork will tell you for sure - and as noted above, not all paperwork will specify.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by seabreeze

I came across the answer to this once in a listing, and looked here ion the forum, but the best way to tell from a serial # if the watch was born a pepsi or if it was swapped out?
TIA

Here is a bit of trivia for you though.

The GMT II was "born" with the original red/black insert and so that is the only insert for 16760's, and the first 16710's that became available with that original color insert were designated as "A", so if you can find that build code, a 16710A is red/black insert and the "B" designation would be for the red/blue.

However, the GMT Master was born with red/blue, so Masters, including the 16700 would have an "A" designation for that color, and none of them ever got a red/black.

However, all of them (except the (16760)use "N" for the black insert (noir) which became available for the GMT in ~'72.

In any event, all of the sapphire crystal inserts are interchangeable

[springer]

On the typed USA warranty papers, beginning around 1980, on the top right side of the warranty paper is the serial number for the watch and below that is the style number. The style number will indicate the model type, bezel color and bracelet. For the 16710 GMT II, the style number begins with 16710 then a letter A, B or N. The "A" would mean a red/black insert, the "B" would indicate it came with a red/blue insert and the N would identify a black insert. Additionally, many new watches were sold by the dealers with inserts and/or bracelets that were changed by the dealers themselves or changed by a dealer per a customer request.

In regard to the style number - at the end of each style number you will find four digits that identify the bracelet that originally came on the watch which can be identified by the following examples:

7836 indicates a 78360 Oyster
6251 indicates a 62510 Jubilee
9315 indicates a 93150 Oyster flip-lock bracelet
7879 indicates an Oyster 78790
and so on until the end of production for the 16710.

Below are a couple examples of the typed USA warranty paper.