Looks nice. Guess Omega also raised prices again? This one is $10,5 USD, and the 3861 SS is $9k.
The white one has not been increased. The panda SS has a ceramic bezel and rhodium plated hands and markers additionally compared to the white dial.
I've never been tempted by a Speedy before. But this one will test me.
It seems to me, that with these changes, Omega wants to go directly competing with Daytona. Till now, Speedy has been seen as the luxury chronograph in the the toolish niche, and Daytona in the fancy niche. Like Omega is saying - we are in both niches now, while Rolex remains only in one of them.
Boo! Applied markers.Boo!
I just visited my local Boutique. The Panda is stunning in person. It really does look like a different watch compared to the standard black dial Speedmaster. The black on the Panda is significantly and noticeably darker, deeper, richer and more glossy compared to the standard, that includes the bezel. For me the sandwich dial with the sunken registers really make it feel more expensive and makes it look like a different watch. The hands are more legible than the standard steel hands, see my comparison with the meteor dial. But for me I would rate the legibility which is a deal breaker for me (I flipped my black dialed Daytona because I could not read the time) as just barely acceptable. I was still able to read the time on the watch looking down at it. It failed my test of standing in front of a full length mirror about 4 feet away and being able to read the time on the watch. (The standard speedy and white dial passes this test.). I think I am going to buy this. It ticks all my boxes for an upgrade on the Speedmaster to a more luxury looking watch. I think this reference can compete on equal footing with the Daytona. Just my 2 cents.
The white one is 1000 more than when I bought mine in 2024. I don't see why this one is 1300 more than that in steel, ceramic notwithstanding.
You can just tell from the video and photos that the crystals on both are not like the FOIS’s domed crystal
In Fratello’s article comments, @Robert-Jan confirmed that the glass is the same with standard Moonwatch (Omega sent them wrong information initially).
