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Some musings on the "next gen" Speedmaster

  1. buramu Aug 26, 2020

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    I was thinking about the much-rumored next generation Speedmaster Professional and how it may present Omega with some interesting choices to make. Bear with me for a bit...

    We can be almost certain that the new model will get the Co-axial 3861 movement, and expectations are that the price point will be bumped up a notch or two, moving the Speedy Pro into a new/different category of watches.

    The Speedmaster has humble origins, starting life as a big, relatively affordable toolwatch. Not necessarily utilitarian, but certainly more a functional tool than a precious piece of jewellery. Fast-forward 60'ish years, and the Speedy has retained pretty much the same character. Sure, the price has gone up quite significantly, but looking at the Omega catalog the Speedmaster is still down the bottom of the brand's price range and it still has that basic toolwatch soul.

    If Omega, as speculated, move the Speedmaster into luxury watch territory, the market will expect something beyond the existing value proposition (in addition to the chronometer certified movement): higher end materials (no more hesalite? will people accept a plastic crystal on a 6-8 K€ watch?)... A more distinctive/eye-catching dial? In any case, going into a higher price range may mean moving away from the original watch that went to the moon.

    So the conundrum seems to be:
    - move away from the heritage piece that earned them so much fame and street-cred to try and appeal to a different customer segment?
    - or stick to the original "Moonwatch" concept and risk overselling at a too-high price point

    What do you expect?

    upload_2020-8-26_17-1-56.png
     
  2. Redwes25 Aug 26, 2020

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    I personally don’t see them going a way from having at least one model that ties back to the original. Think they will keep the plexi crystal as lower priced option like they do now.
     
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  3. buramu Aug 26, 2020

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    That would certainly make business sense. But would you then also expect that model to move up to the 3861 movement, or do think they'll keep producing the 1861 (do they even still have non-coaxial models, beside the Speedmaster)?
     
  4. Redwes25 Aug 26, 2020

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    I could see them just keeping it all the same and adding new movement and raising the price. They have been raising price regularly and this gives them a good excuse to do so again.
     
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  5. Caliber561 Aug 26, 2020

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    Based on recent releases, I suspect that the new standard Speedmaster will probably share the same case (but in steel) as the Apollo 11th steel/gold and 321 platinum. It doesn't make sense to me that they would develop this new case design and then revert to the slender-lug, square pusher case. Ceramic bezel also has a fair chance of being used, I think. The caseback and the bezel for these new cases apparently aren't interchangeable with the current Pro, which makes me think it's the start of a new design iteration for the case. It also makes sense to test out these designs on limited editions rather than standard production, I suppose.

    The new sapphire model will probably have the milky ring omitted since Omega has figured out how to do that on the Apollo 11 and 321 releases. The fact that they haven't done any hesalite crystals, even with the carbon-copy steel 321, makes me think that they may only produce sapphire-crystal watches for the standard Speedy 3861.

    Finally, I suspect the dial may be stepped with slightly recessed lume – it's another style/feature Omega has been utilizing extensively (Ultraman onwards). They've also introduced a new run of 321-Professional service dials with the step, so if that is what they are trending towards, we may see it on a general production watch again.

    All said this is complete speculation :rolleyes:

    One thing that I would like to see Omega do is reduce the height of the caseback, so the Speedmaster sits lower on the wrist. I figure they should be able to do this since the 3861 uses silicon parts, and will no longer need the use of a dust cover to bolster magnetism resistance.
     
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  6. Foo2rama Keeps his worms in a ball instead of a can. Aug 26, 2020

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    My guess is at most a ceramic bezel and it will have chronometer or master added to the dial. Well maybe not master on the dial... but on the back?
    I’m going to guess it will remain as classic hesalite and sapphire sandwich.