That could be true about the labor being slightly cheaper. I’m sure they have templates for the puzzle pieces, so I can’t imagine it’s too time consuming to sew them on.I have also seen it and my first thought was that it is less expensive to make it because no pieces have to be sewn together.
The original puzzle is a piece of art while the new version doesn’t have this special vibe to me.
Hopefully it won’t replace the original but that’s just my feeling about this bag.
The “soft” version is $300 more. I’m guessing because it’s a different (perhaps more luxurious?) leather.