SME is leaving the OEM and aftermarket/retail tonearm business.

Every SME tonearm can be found on second hand market for much better price than new from the dealers, they made so many of them and i think there are many left for buyers. Shouldn't be a problem at all to find and buy just the arm without turntable.  

has anyone ever visited the factory?

Here is a video tour by analog planet shaking camera

The Sme production are like the best weapons, well built, excellently finished, solid and durable, produced with constant performance and where possible they also build the screws inside the factory

Well, what's the difference between solid and very well build Reed tonearms for example and SME ? Reed does not have their own factory, but the build quality is second to none, made in Lithuania, not even in England. And Reed also design their own turntables. You don't have to own a factory to made amazing tonearms and stuff, the fact that SME own their own factory does not make their tonearms any cheaper, they are actually very expensive, pretty much like everything from England. There are many more amazing tonearms on the market from the small manufacturers like Schroeder in Germany, i also remember Da Vinci tonearms. Those 3 (Reed, Schroeder, Da Vinci) are the arms that not only sound great, but they also looks great (unlike SME). 

@lohanimal with all my respect to SME engineering this is the sort of the arm i have never even wanted to buy, never ever. It is true that vintage turntables on used market often comes with an old SME, but this is the first thing i would immediately remove and sell to put much better japanese vintage tonearms instead. New SME must be better, but at their price there are so many tonearms to choose. In terms of design i just don't like SME on any turntable, so ugly in my opinion.