zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

The article is obviously a couple years old. I don't know when IWW 62 came out (I assume it's issue 62). There was no mention of the 33 LE Skeleton DeVille Co-Axials in Gold.

I also find it interesting that, what we've suspected about Omega positioning themselves in the higher end of the market was addmitted by Omegas President.

"Repositioning the Brand In a very interesting address, the President of Omega, Stephen Urquart (who is also President of Blancpain), made it clear that the coaxial escapement is central to his plan to revitalise and reposition the brand. Further models are in development, there will be a chronograph for next year and within five years all Omega’s mechanical watches for men will be coaxial. Mr Urquart wants to return to the prestige market Omega had in the 1960s. He said that it was time to resume selling watches on their intrinsic merits to a new type of consumer who has a strong technical interest. Omega would abandon the lower price points in its range and reposition itself firmly with the top end of Swatch Group, along with Breguet, Blancpain and Glashütte Original."

They've had to back off this stratagy a bit, at least in terms of price. That's why we see some price discrepancies. The DeVille Co-Axials start at $600 US MSRP more than the starting Aqua Terra Co-Axials with Sapphire Display Back. The Speedmaster Broad Arrow was introduced at $4495 US MSRP on a bracelet. The price on the Seamaster America's Cup Chronograph on bracelet, released just last year, is $3295 US MSRP. $1200 less expensive than the Broad Arrow with the same exact movement (cal 3303), and 300m water resistance rather than 100m water resistance.

We have also seen the elimination of the lower end models such as the Dynamic and the Omegamatic. We are now seeing more models with applied markers and logos, more display backs, and even a Sapphire Crystal on the Speedmaster Pro w/ display back. A plethera of higher end models such as the Speedmaster Broad Arrow, Split Seconds Chronogaph, Speedmaster Pro Moonphase, Aqua Terra, DeVille Co-Axial, DeVille Co-Axial Chronograph... without once introduction of an "Economy" model.