If they can make a rep 4130, they can make a rep 3861. Would pay 800 any day for a decent rep with that clone movement.
3861 no chance
1861 maybe
They're not going to replicate the coaxial escapement, that's unrealistic to expect
Also it's again not about whether they can do it technically (as in technologically)
It's whether they can do it at a profit
You may pay 800 for a clone movement speedy but I doubt you're going to find another 50,000 people to do it with you which is probably what's going to be necessary to make it reasonably profitable
Also, even if, and it's a huge if, even if the projections are such that one could be reasonably expect to turn a profit on making the speedy super rep. Surely you must agree that it would be a slower seller than say a submariner rep. This is the business case that all the rep factories are tackling. Why make a speedy rep of I can make a sub rep and make 20x more money?
Ever wonder why every single factory has a sub coming out and why we get so much shady tactics by factories when it comes to subs but almost no one plays games with omega reps? (or literally any other brand excluding patek) is cuz those are the volume sellers.
You MAY be correct that there will be enough demand for a super rep speedy. I hope you are correct I truly do. Half of the watches in my collection both gen and rep are speedy pros. The problem is that the factories don't think so and until a bunch of people put their money where there mouth is, no factory is going to want to take the first step because it is business suicide. It's not even just the fact that they might lose money by not being able to recoup development costs, it's also the forgone profits from tying up all the machinery, tooling, staff, and all the other capital in the supply chain.
The noob 4130 and clone 3135, are examples of where the factories lead the market. Sure customers always say "I want clone movement" but these were on models where anyone and their grandma would know a clone movement would sell by the bucket loads. Do you think there is a business case to make a super clone movement for a tag heuer 1887? Even the gen is a heavily reworked seiko so it's not like we're reaching for the moon here. But the gen goes for 2000-2500usd all day long in the aftermarket, very similar to the speedy. I would expect every person that cries out for a super rep speedy to think that a super rep 1887 is a waste of resources but the numbers work out to be almost identical to the 1861. If anything, I expect the 1887 to outsell the speedy pro just because it is a automatic and most people don't like to deal with manual wind both green and rep owners.
Is really unrealistic to expect them to do this, I'm just trying to make sure people don't have silly expectations and are upset when they don't materialize.
I would love for the two factories to do some vintage handwound patek calatrava reps. It's well within their capabilities (simple as fk movements, no free sprung balance, no hacking, not even date complication, just traditional offset seconds) but again.. I know that they're choosing between allocating a production line (not literally, just development and production resources) to a sub, nautilus, royal oak, Daytona, etc.... And a vintage calatrava? Yes that calatrava is NEVER going to happen.
