In a LP environment they will never state how many watches they make per year or in total, we will never know the total made. You'll never know X, you might know Y, but that won't tell how many were made.

I think the Apollo 8 is a good example of this. It's not a numbered or limited edition, but rumors are Omega is constrained to <2,000 pieces a year because of the laser treatment of the movement. You generally don't see them in dealer stocks now, and its been 'out of stock' on the US website for about six months. So no one really knows how many have been made and how long Omega may make the watch. Yet they are readily available for close to list price on places like Chrono 24. Omega now has the companion Alinghi model which is available. So no one really knows what the status is of these watches. And that probably works fine for Omega, they can put these watches out and sell them fairly easily without a lot of discounting, this will continue until demand slackens or an internal Omega decision is made to stop production. But you won't know how many were made.

 

All I'm waiting for is the drop on October 5th (in which time zone though?). Just placed the deposit!

 

As I recall with the Apollo 11 unveiling, it was released early in the morning Swiss time (0600 or so), it showed up on the US website around 11pm Central Daylight Time (prior day). So those in the US will see it on Sunday evening. Put on your jammies, have a cup of hot cocoa and wait for the Boom! and a flurry of posting.

It's only FIVE more days......"it's like a cup of coffee":

 

Gonna be a sleepless night then...

 

Look with less than a couple of days to go -

This
1. I want to see a nice watch.
2. I want it to be priced accordingly to other Speedmasters although I don't mind paying a small premium.
3. It needs to put me off purchasing a SS Rolex Daytona.
4. I don't want it to be mass produced.
5. I want it to hold its value.
6. I don't care if it appreciates or not.
7. I would like it to be a collectors item.
8. I don't want Omega turning me over for their own gain
.

 

Lol. Rolex already did that to everyone except for the VVIP's.

 

Though nowadays not being the first owner of the guitar can be the much more expensive route.....

 

Nice! do you mind sharing what position you were on the list?

 

I’m pretty sure Karusel was last on the list when he placed his deposit.

 

I don't think they'll tell you this. I've placed my deposit last week over the phone with my Omega Boutique, and they mailed me a credit card and sales receipt. Item description is listed as "DEPOSIT APOLLO 13 50th"

 

Great question, the Rolex drop surprised me as it was set at for 9/1 and all the watches came out in the evening of 8/31. So which time zone?

 

i hope snoopy 3 turns out to be a truly great speedmaster befitting its legacy, no pressure Omega.
D day -5. 5 days to go

 

So, how many here has already put a deposite/willing to buy the snoopy?

 

The A8 is probably made in batches, shipped, sales monitored and then if demand remains good a further batch is made and so on. The manager at my OB told me that Omega has invested a lot of money in the tools to do this type of work so he didn't see an end to production anytime soon. The Alinghi version would use the same equipment so maybe this explains why the A8 has been out of stock for a few months, focus has been on the new model, now that the Alinghi is out production can restart on the A8.

Just a few thoughts before the coffee kicks in.

 

If I may, these are my responses

1. Agreed - but 'nice' is an opinion so what you see as 'nice' may not be what I see
2. Price will be Speedmaster Moonwatch Sapphire Crystal plus 50% (at least)
3. If you want a Daytona the Snoopy 50th isn't going to scratch that itch
4. If it isn't mass produced then point 2 but plus 150% as you will be in 321 territory with a hand built watch, so around £12k - £13k
5. Values may be retained long term (depends on numbers released) and due to flippers it will rise initially
6. Linked to point 5 but values have to rise at least in line with inflation to protect the core investment, my Seamaster from 2010 is worth about the same now as it was when I bought it allowing for inflation.
7. Contradiction of point 6, if it becomes a collectors item then prices will rise, so you can either accept that it retains value relative to inflation or it becomes a collectors items like the last Snoopy.
8. Omega are going to turn us all over for their gain, thats what they are in business for, making a profit.

The key bit for this release is going to be the numbers; if very limited then it is likely to be released in a precious metal only and very expensive, if a SS version is released the Omega will have a minimum of 7000 pieces available and maybe more. I cannot see them repeating the numbers in the last Snoopy.

Just my 10 cents of opinion

 

Let me explain why I am not so excited by another LE Speedmaster and I think the LE strategy is a very thin line.

Good examples of LE
I thought the golden 50 years anniversary LE was a stunner and a home run. Thats the same kind of concept such as AP started doing recently as well with the [Re]master01. Both watches are very beautiful, smart, thoughtful and perfectly executed watches. They started with an older watch and made them contemporary and way better for today's standard. Both companies succeeded to turn a diamond into a different kind of modern cut.
Besides that particular golden Anniversary LE , Omega has made some cool LEs such as ST1, the Snoopies, Mitsukoshi, Alaska project, SpeedyMoon, Soyux and Tintin. All of those have aged very well.

Bad examples of LE
At the same release of the 50 years anniversary LE there was also the steel one with Buzz his ass and that watch to me is just a plain disaster. Most likely they all sold out anyways. Everything imho is too much and not nice. Don't get me started on that one, it's not aging well to say the least.
There are many Speedmaster(s)/ LEs that are strange, ugly and don't stick with a bigger community beside the hardcore Omega LE fanboys. The number of Apollo LEs that are so so is above 10 if you ask me. The vast majority of the Speedy LE's I would never be wearing since I think they are not serious watches but just a gimmick.

The core
When we get to the core I love it that Omega dares to introduce new things. They want to improve and most likely will next year replace the movement of the regular professional 1861 caliber with a 3861 caliber with a coaxial escapement facing the possible fury of purist. They are testing the waters I think here and the new caliber is getting quite the approval. To balance this new caliber introduction they also made a very great re-edition of the 321 to please the old school 321 fanbase.
But at the same token I am also seriously afraid that people who are not so hardcore into Speedmasters get very much tired with all these new LE introductions and start regarding the brand as Italian instead of Swiss. This process is already happening. What sets the crown apart is that they are very consistent and only improve slowly step by step. Are these LEs improvements or just plain gimmicks?
The core is what really what makes me smile. When I put my Plain Jane birth year Speedy on my wrist and explain it to my daughters or other non WIS people that's what makes me proud. I personally don't need all the extra bits and pieces to tell a great story I rather stick with the vintage Speedmasters and every serious collector should without a doubt have one.

 

The other side of the coin, well explained and full of detail, thanks for the contribution to the thread.

 

I personally prefer LE ;
1. which makes them collectable - they are different. By all means include the plain jane (your words) version into this
2. which makes them much more harder to replicate or be fake. higher confidence when i buy off someone else other than AD/ OB, they are genuine never suspecting it is fake nor frankenwatches
3. doing very little snail change means you are likely going to see your designers (of movements) not staying / leaving and not attracting new designers. Can you imagine being told by your organisation not to innovate but do minute improvement each year (they cant learn, they will be bored to death, and their annual performance appraisal cannot be good. Great designers have pride in their work and need to have job satisfaction). how can this be good forever? When you then attempt to come up with new movements, you are going to produce watches with potentially higher risk of reliability/ design problems due to the lack of experience/ lesson learnts of your designers (no mentors - all dead or left).

 

Good one! Not really sure but doesn't really matter since I'm good with the OB anyway. It beats waiting like a dog that needs to be curbed for a certain brand.

 

Correct. My receipt states that as well. List is indeed closed now.