Breaking News: The New Steel Speedmaster With Caliber 321 “Ed White”

On another note, it had come to my attention through my AD and contact with my closest OB that I would likely never see a 321 Ed White at retail so I went grey for my upcoming 40th b-day. Should be in my possession later this week. Very excited.

As you should be - congrats! - this is one awesome reference & I always have a BIG grin when I look down at my wrist 🥰

Congratulations, wear it in good health!

After fiddling with the world's smallest screws.

Congrats! That is such a good looking watch 👍 🙄

Congrats once more - looking good on you! Enjoy that beauty 👍😉

I feel the same way. I'm seriously thinking of getting this on the GM in a few months since I'm not going to be getting one from Omega.

What camera was used for this? The detail is crazy

Fantastic photos from Travelller, as always.

I feel Calibre 321 is here to stay. Omega invested a lot to resurrect it, and remember this was also their solution to upgrade the speedmaster whilst keeping a heritage baseline, a very smart move I believe. Clearly this calibre is going to be mounted in other models (like the new Canopus gold) which I have no concern with as it would just make the Ed White harder to get (considering I'm lucky to already have one!).

I understand the CEO's video above as "no more LE". This doesn't mean models will be available forever, just that they will stop releasing special editions with a hard stop on numbers (e.g. 2000 models then it's over). I feel this doesn't change anything to be honest, at least on the availability of models that are on high demand. It just makes the brand a bit more serious, as selling too many variations of an original can be perceived as gimmicky.

Now whether the Ed White itself is going to be discontinued or not... well all things have to come to an end, but I don't foresee this model to disappear in the next-coming years. And remember it is not an anniversary model like the Snoopy (which will clearly be discontinued in 2 years or when Omega says there's been enough of them). Again, I feel they have branched the speedmaster line on purpose, each and every time they upgraded the speedmaster (861, 1861, 3861) it came with some eyebrow-raising which shows how it's difficult to evolve a legend (which is a necessity in this world) whilst keeping true to its original. Resurrecting the 321 was the solution: the 321 is here to stay as a historically-correct model whilst leaving room for the 3861 to further evolve technically without looking back.

Anyhow, I've had my Ed White since Oct 2020 and I have absolutely no regret. Ultimate speedmaster. And all my speedmaster-fans friends agree - when they originally thought it was going to not be distinctive enough visually versus say an FOIS, they all changed their mind when they saw it for real... it is radically different (finish of the case, thickness, etc).

didn't Patek use a derivative (or variation) of the Lemania 2310 (aka CH 27-12, aka Omega 321) until 2011 or something?

if so, would it be so hard to re-introduce the 321?

dunno... 🤪

Agree, but none of these daytonas have an expiry date or an LE tag on them. And it's all in the perception, because they are equally unobtainable.

It's all marketing strategy for Omega:
- standard models are sold over the counter.
- standard models that should be hard to get (e.g. 321) are Limited Production (whether this justification is actually true or not).
- Anniversary models (e.g. Snoopy) used to be LE, they're now Limited Release (as in we'll sell them for 3 years until we've decided that's enough and it's time to sell something else).

I think he’s just making the distinction between what used to be a LE and now is just limited due to time like the NTTD or Snoopy vs something that doesn’t have a definite time stamp on it. We know Omega is going to stop making the NTTD before the next Bond movie and the Snoopy will be stopped by the 55th anniversary. The 321 could in theory go on forever if Omega chose.

Vacheron still uses it in their CdV chronograph.