Omega Speedmaster "Ed White" reissue with Caliber 321
Omega Speedmaster "Ed White" reissue with Caliber 321
Last year, Omega announced a very special limited edition Speedmaster power by its legendary 321 caliber movement and housing in a platinum case. The watch community has built a considerable interest in this watch and expressed that they want Omega to reissue a stainless steel version of the watch.
At the start of 2020, as the first watch announced by Omega this year, they have responded to the demand among the Speedmaster enthusiast community. Omega has just announced the new reference 311.30.40.30.01.001, a steel-on-steel watch, with sapphire crystals front and back, and a ceramic tachymeter bezel, based on the ref. 105.003 worn by astronaut Ed White during American's first human spacewalk. And this watch is powered by Omega's new reissued 321 caliber movement which follows almost the exact design of the vintage ones.
In 2018, Omega has done a very limited platinum case edition watch housing the 321 movements, however, all these movements were built using chronograph parts stored in the company's archives. This means that all the 321 movements used in this limited edition Speedmaster were built from original vintage parts and is technically a new old stock movement.
The reintroduction of the new 321 movements, however, were built by scanning an original 2nd generation caliber 321 worn by astronaut Gene Cernan on Apollo 17 mission. And the movement plate has been swapped from Copper to Sedna gold to uplift the chemical stability of the movement. Besides, the new 321 movement is identical to the vintage Speedmaster wear by Gene Cernan.
In 2018, Omega has done a very limited platinum case edition watch housing the 321 movements, however, all these movements were built using chronograph parts stored in the company's archives. This means that all the 321 movements used in this limited edition Speedmaster were built from original vintage parts and is technically a new old stock movement.
The reintroduction of the new 321 movements, however, were built by scanning an original 2nd generation caliber 321 worn by astronaut Gene Cernan on Apollo 17 mission. And the movement plate has been swapped from Copper to Sedna gold to uplift the chemical stability of the movement. Besides, the new 321 movement is identical to the vintage Speedmaster wear by Gene Cernan.
Following its predecessor, the new watch was designed with a straight lug, no crown guards case and is paired with a bracelet that reminds you of the vintage Speedmaster 105.003. With a display case back, collector of this watch can share with everyone its special movement by simply taking the watch off their wrist.
All sounds great isn't it? The more controversial touch on the watch, however, will be the beige lume on the hands and indices of the watch. Some watch enthusiast thinks Omega has overdone it by adding this vintage touch into the watch, however, I am up for it as this patina lume is matching with the overall vintage design of the watch and it will certainly look odd if it pairs with the white Super-Lume just like other modern-day Speedmaster.
The new 321 caliber Speedmaster will be retailed at USD 14,100. In my opinion, Omega has done a significant market move by bringing a competitor side by side with Rolex Daytona. The production figure of the new 321 movements will be limited as all the movements are hand-built by a single watchmaker, the market estimated that the production will be limited to around 2000 pieces per year. We are sure once it hit the market the waiting list will be as long as the Ceramic Panda Daytona in all ADs.
Be sure to check out if you want a Speedmaster that feels different from everyone else.
Thank you for reading, see you next week!
Thank you for reading, see you next week!
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