Would there be a reason Omega might be reluctant to put the silicon balance in the 1861 movement. Meaning some problem with fitting it requiring large exspense or redesigning. Or would it just be a marketing choice.

 

Dear OF friends,
I follow this thread in parts and think there is still much speculation about everthing concenring the 50th watch.
Case, Dial, movement, bezel everything seems to be unclear.
I read about Gold accents in the subdial and on the hour markes, WTF
As the expected price is CHF 9.500 or so. I just think that
potencial buyers have also the change in opportunity to buy a pre moon cal. 321 Speedmaster for a Price under that for the 5ßth.
So evey new member here, who doesnt`t have a cal 321 Speedy is invited to check this on here or elswhere.
IMHO this will be the much better deal for 2019 Omega Speedmaster Lovers.

 

i doubt the old 321 will be reintroduced as it was then. unless, it is modified with modern omega patented inventions (as mentioned). though would still love to see a new 321 as 3321 like the 3861. this might be highly improbable because 3321 will certainly negate the market for 3861, if both have the same chrono functionalities and external appearance.

 

I would certainly wait until „things“ get clearer. At least that‘s what I do...

 

It will! And it will in the old fashion way without modern materials and new inventions! This has been clear and communicated months ago...

 

There's no technical reason why it could not be done. Personally I would love it because it would show where the accuracy of all the new movements really comes from...

 

Not sure they want us to know and shoot themselves in the foot in the process... It may make more economical sense to segment the market and not upgrade "old" technology? But I'd like to see this too.

 

Some of us already know, but yes they don't want everyone to know...

 

Not everyone reads the forum. Can you elaborate?

 

I'm not in Archer's head, but here is what I think, basically :
- biggest accuracy gains may be from the new hairspring material and balance assembly
- co axial is interesting mostly because it is closed tech: only Omega (broadly speaking, I include Omega-certified independents) will service it.

So if a 1861 with the new balance performs as well as a co axial 3861, cost less and can be maintained by every proper watchmaker under the sun, will you pony up the cash to buy a co axial?

Notice for ex. the accuracy increase of the Rolex movements, still using "obsolete" tech but new hairsprings.

Note the the above is my opinion only, I welcome any correction!

 

Also there have been people that replaced the original hairsprings in their Rolexes with the new parachrom blue. I believe it was a straight swap. Maybe the same thing could be done with the 1861 which as others have said might undermine the perceived superiority of the coaxial.

 

Delivery of these 50th anniversary Speedmasters is slated to be in the Jun/Jul/Aug timeframe which means they are already in production (or close to it), yet there has not been any sort of leaks within the Omega system, that is remarkable. Usually spy photos creep out of hush-hush product introductions. Of course Omega could blow the delivery window but I doubt that would happen, it's too big of an event to let it slip much past the actual moon-landing date. Also we have no info on the presentation box, but considering the Ultraman packaging was quite elaborate, and even the standard Speedmaster is nicely packaged these days, I would expect something very special for this watch.

The relatively high price has nothing to do with its gold content which would probably be $100 or so, the price is strictly based on expected demand for the watch. For the US market it is about an 80% premium which is very high, but Omega has concluded the market will support the price. We shall see.

 

I confess to being new to the OF and collecting watches, but would not replacing hairsprings as suggested lead to considering the watch to be a Frankenwatcch?

 

I’m new here too but for what I understand a frankenwatch is a watch put together with parts that belonged to one or several watches. In this case if you replace the hairspring with a new part, I believe it would be only considered a modification.

 

that's good to hear. at least, it's a bit clearer now first with a targeted date. so the release is still worth a guessing game.

 

the movement of the limited edition will be the 321, and the presentation box will be spectacular, the watch will be held with a kit of the lunar module.

 

Is this a known fact? Are we sure the limited edition. will be the 321?

 

Sure as hell sounds reasonable and possible. Why else launch the 321 re-edition in advance? The packaging proposal would do for a nice presentation package as well.

 

Thought it would have same movement as the gold 50th?...

 

Who knows! Luckily we are allowed to hope for the 321.