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Anyone know how Omega actually produces limited edition pieces?

Annapolis
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What I mean by the question in the title:

I've noticed that on certain LE pieces (numbered ones, like the platinum Seamaster 300, limited to 357 pieces or my beloved white gold Aqua Terra, limited to 61), the watch will suddenly reappear as available for sale on the Omega site after months of unavailability. These are LEs that were originally announced/released years ago.

I feel confident deducing from that that Omega doesn't just crank out the specified number in one big batch (or maybe they do, but then they hold back on selling a certain amount?), but instead they produce a few per year and make them available gradually...? I'm confused. Anyone know how this works?

Is the idea that they dole them out, slowly, until the point that they hit the promissory number; then they break the mold, so to speak? I suspect the answer might vary from piece to piece.
 
Annapolis
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No one? This is making me feel less silly for not knowing.
 
O
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Annapolis Annapolis
What I mean by the question in the title:

I've noticed that on certain LE pieces (numbered ones, like the platinum Seamaster 300, limited to 357 pieces or my beloved white gold Aqua Terra, limited to 61), the watch will suddenly reappear as available for sale on the Omega site after months of unavailability. These are LEs that were originally announced/released years ago.

I feel confident deducing from that that Omega doesn't just crank out the specified number in one big batch (or maybe they do, but then they hold back on selling a certain amount?), but instead they produce a few per year and make them available gradually...? I'm confused. Anyone know how this works?

Is the idea that they dole them out, slowly, until the point that they hit the promissory number; then they break the mold, so to speak? I suspect the answer might vary from piece to piece.

Some LE watches were not hot sellers, if there is demand Omega will pump them out until they produce all the LE numbers. On the other hand, some LE released years ago still have not sold out, they will every once in a while make some available. I am guessing they produce them on non-priority basis when there is a gap to fill the production line.

Two years ago from the OB I bought an enamel dial LE 50th Ann speedmaster which was released in 2007. They received 4 pieces and my friends and I bought all 4, they did not come in the special wooden case and tools that it came with originally, we were given the old big speedmaster case, with a nato and leather strap with a deployant. Last year they received a couple of LE SMP300 OHMSS, which were thought to have been long sold out, I bought one. I know someone who bought the Speedmaster Apollo 50th full moonshine gold three months back, its still listed on there website so I presume they have not produced all 1,014 pcs yet.
 
texasmade
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O OmegaBHR
I know someone who bought the Speedmaster Apollo 50th full moonshine gold three months back, its still listed on there website so I presume they have not produced all 1,014 pcs yet.
Wait.. what!!?? They got it from an OB at MSRP?
 
TLIGuy
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They over hype, over sell, take deposit, under produce and then rinse, lather, and repeat.
Edited:
 
Evitzee
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TLIGuy TLIGuy
They over hype, over sell, take deposit, under produce and then rinse, lather, and repeat.
OP is talking about LE pieces where there is a hard number in the series, not the new strategy of an unstated 'limited production' item like the 50th Snoopy.
 
Scooterino36
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I am inclined to think that if Omega states a discrete production run (3,557 SM300 1957's for example), they would produce them in as few batches as their manufacturing allows. How these are then released out to various boutiques is likely controlled. At least this is what makes logical sense to me.
 
Jones in LA
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Some LEs just get stuck in the system, then are flushed out by unknown forces. The Speedmaster Apollo-Soyuz 35th Anniversary LE (aka Speediorite), limited to 1975 pieces, was released in 2010, and from what I understand were snapped up fairly quickly. Then, mysteriously, a few made their way into Boutiques and ADs in mid-2015, a full five years later. I stumbled onto one of these in a Boutique in 2015 and purchased it as NOS at the original MSRP. It is numbered 14XX, so it's not like it was one of the last ever made.

D00_190814_IMG_0303_modded.jpg
 
Annapolis
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Yeah that’s the part I’m wondering about—how they get doled to OBs/ADs or appear on the Omega website years later. Are those potentially 10-year-old watches suddenly coming on the market? New in the sense that they’ve never been worn/sold before, and fully kitted with a 5-year warranty—but potentially due for a service straight from the point of sale?
 
O
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Annapolis Annapolis
Yeah that’s the part I’m wondering about—how they get doled to OBs/ADs or appear on the Omega website years later. Are those potentially 10-year-old watches suddenly coming on the market? New in the sense that they’ve never been worn/sold before, and fully kitted with a 5-year warranty—but potentially due for a service straight from the point of sale?

I was thinking that as well when I got the enamel 50th speedy. They gave me a 5 year warranty so I have to presume that its not a 14year old NOS piece but rather it was assembled recently, so effectively a new watch. All 4 that my friends and I purchased run perfectly, two years now no issues.
 
YY77
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O OmegaBHR
I was thinking that as well when I got the enamel 50th speedy. They gave me a 5 year warranty so I have to presume that its not a 14year old NOS piece but rather it was assembled recently, so effectively a new watch. All 4 that my friends and I purchased run perfectly, two years now no issues.
I got a Seamaster Trilogy in '21 from the OB in Madrid which is also covered by 5 years warranty, pretty sure that wasn't produced later than 2018.

A Speedmaster A17 40th Anniversary is also an example of a long sitter in the window sill due to lack of demand, I know one which was bought new in 2021 (+9 years).
 
tyrantlizardrex
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O OmegaBHR
I was thinking that as well when I got the enamel 50th speedy. They gave me a 5 year warranty so I have to presume that it’s not a 14year old NOS piece but rather it was assembled recently, so effectively a new watch. All 4 that my friends and I purchased run perfectly, two years now no issues.

There were a lot of these floating around unsold in OBs - it’s going to be a 14 year old piece and they’ve applied the current 5 year warranty.

In the London OBs circa 2019 they seemily went through some sort of rationalisation of all the dead stock and were actively contacting collectors who were known to them, offering up supposedly “sold out” products - including quite a lot of Alaska Projects.

Better to have product sold and cash coming back in, and take the gamble on needing to give out some services that cost Omega (at their own cost) very little, than sit on it forever.
 
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