OK. Steve W takes a step backwards
OK. [Whipes egg off his face ]
It looks like a reacted too quickly ( mental note to self, first research, then write )
I assumed by L'Orient you meant the far east. hence my reply. I have just googled "L'Orient Switzerland" & find ..... this Following a link in there takes me to this This
So we are talking about a town/village in Switzerland.
However reading the clubspeedmaster article carefully, it isn't clear to me that the watch is assembled in L'Orient. I think it's just the movement that is built at L'Orient, at the Lemania Factory.
I'd still say that the final watch assembly is done at Bienne by an Omega employee.
For your second question, I can't imagine that Omega will stop producing speedmasters with the 861. If they did this they'd automatically loose their NASA status. I think this would be a disaster for them. who would throw away this unique source of advertising & publicity ? So I really can't see them dropping the 861 movement altogether. So there are 2 options for them, start production again under the Omega name or still buy them from Lemania.
What is clear is that there are FAR more speedmaster versions fitted with movements other than the 861 & I think it's safe to say that the 861 will ONLY be fitted to the "moonwatch" speedmaster, any other speedmaster model will ( continue to ) be fitted with a non-861 movement. ( so I think you can forget a MK II re-issue or a Seamaster using the 861 again ) With this policy Omega can claim exclusivity & raise the price of the moonwatch as they wish :-)
Fortunately there are a LOT of secondhand Speedies out there :-)
Good question Ryan !
All the Best
Steve
