Howdy
Dunno what else is happening, but I can tell you when I visited the factory a few years ago there was only one engraver. No, he was not running a machine, he was hand engraving the old fashioned way. If there is still only one engraver, he is probably backed up pretty far.
To the OP: did you call and find out what is the story with your order? Not email, call and talk to someone.
P.S. Just checked the S&W website and there is a machine engraved option for the Model 29. But if it wuz me I would still call and find out what was up.