Amex has stated that the card will launch on August 1st, with existing SPG cardholders eligible to upgrade on August 9th. Since the card launch is not dependent upon the final combination of the reward programs, there's not really any reason why Amex would need to postpone the dates to happen after the merging of the IT systems; it didn't hold Chase back from launching their new card in April.
125k is a great bonus, depending on how much the required spend is and whether someone would have been spending it on the SPG Luxury anyway. I've been offered the 180k on the older Marriott card a few times, but 5/24 got in the way and the spend required to do that was a lot for that card. A new app for SPG Luxury isn't in the cards (no pun intended) for me; I'm getting closer to that $75k spend that will carry over from the current SPG and a new card would cause a total reset of that.
The CARD Act would prevent you from moving up to a higher AF card until your anniversary. DW and I have the same problem with upgrading to Delta Reserve for a few more months (but waiting until January for the MQM boost to count for 2020 status).
@Anonymous + Priority Pass, Global Entry, higher category free annual night, complimentary Gold Elite status, and ability to spend to Platinum.