WOW!
Here is my last thought on the subject, and then I will stay quiet. Unless provoked...
I have had a couple conversations on this subject in the last two days and here is what I see is the situation. IMHO
The high line London makers have resisted modernisation and still are making their guns in much the same way as they have for the last century. This is where the excessive hand work and time is made neccessary.
Is this a good way to do business? Depends on your point of view. The limited ability for these makers to produce quality in quantity is what keeps eager buyers in the wait line and prices at the premium which they are. I have seen in other threads that H&H, Purdey etc. make maybe 10 best DR's each per year. Is this due to low demand? - No, in fact there is a wait list. As for the gun on the shelf at Purdey's, it has not sold because it is a non-bespoke gun at very bespoke gun price. Who the hell will pay that for a gun that wasn't made specifically for them to their every exact desire?
Is an entirely hand made gun "better" than one which has been largely made by machine?
This is also a question of personal POV. It is possible,even with 20yr. old CNC technology, to rapidly produce an action which is 95% done with tolerances which require very little hand finishing. Would you know by looking at a finished gun whether it was made one way or the other? NO. Would it feel or shoot differently either way? NO. Would servicing the gun be more easily accomplished? YES. Would the gun be faster to produce? YES. Would the buying public still pay the inflated prices? Probably not for long.
And therin lies the quandry. The question is not whether to revive a downtrodden name to make guns in the same fashion as has been done for 130 years, it is really whether a high quality gun can be made today which has all of the attributes, real or percieved, of a that "old guard" maker with modern techniques, at a reasonable cost and with a ready market.
I say YES.
Another point worth remembering is that Purdey and H&H survive not off of revenue from guns, but from "lifestyle" products. $200K gun? Bet they sell that DAILY in accessories. If it is pure greed dollars you want, buy the Rigby name and start making clothing, hats, belts, slings etc. - anything you can stamp the Rigby name on.