25 years on from the launch of the four references that marked a new life for A. Lange & Söhne, guided by the hands of industry legends Günter Blümlein and Walter Lange, the Saxon watchmaker is now primed to introduce a fresh collection into its family watches. The collections that are already established, include the 1815, the Lange 1, Richard Lange, Saxonia and Zeitwerk. The sixth and all new collection being introduced today is the A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus, ref. 363.179.

Lange’s watchmaking identity to the collector circle is one of an extremely elevated level of high fine watchmaking. With the Odysseus, however, Lange is looking fulfil the desires of their customers who have been hoping to see a sportier take on the Lange approach to watchmaking.

In Steel

The Odysseus features a freshly designed case by the team at Lange. At 40.5mm, this is the first regular production timepiece that Lange will be made in steel. The only other steel watch that Lange credits itself to is the one off 1815 ‘Homage to Walter Lange’ in steel that was auctioned off at the at the Phillips Geneva Watch Auction: Seven for charity. There is, of course, the steel Lange 1, but that’s a unicorn of sorts and a completely different story.

The watch mostly retains a circular silhouette, save for the added buttons on the crown side. The buttons are themselves faceted, leading on to the faceted lugs that hold the 5-link integrated bracelet. More on the buttons further down. The links have brushed surfaces while their bevels are polished. In contrast on the case, the horizontal surfaces are mostly all polished where as a great deal of the vertical surfaces are brushed.

The Dial

Moving into the dial of the Odysseus, we start off with the printed minute scale on the beveled, argenté-colored flange ring that frames the face of the watch. The surface of the watch is, thereafter, stepped with the outer perimeter with a vinyl ribbed surface and the center of the dial with a grained surface treatment. The small running seconds sub dial replicates these surface treatments with its centre stepped upward.

The hour markers are notched baton appliques in white gold and have lume applied within the notch. Lume is as well applied to the hour and minute hands.

From there we can finally speak about the day and date windows, placed at 9 and 3 o’clock, respectively. Both windows take on Lange’s signature “big date” implementation with a single wide window for the day and the classical segmented two window design of Lange’s “big date”.

Going back to the buttons on the side of the watch, these allow for quick set of the day and date functions. The screw-down crown then serves for time adjustment and winding.

The Movement

The power house movement that enables all of the Odysseus’ functionalities, is Lange’s newly developed L155.1 DATOMATIC manufacture calibre. The movement design bases itself on Lange’s well-established approach, beautifully executed and finished in German silver.

Lange states that much work has gone into securing the movement against shock, as they are intending for the Odysseus to be a reliable timepiece for the perils of daily wear.

There are, however, two deviations with the new movement. The first of which is Lange’s newly designed balance that regulated with four countersunk poising screws, set flush to the rim of the balance. The reduced profile of the balance is said to give it a more dynamic form, reducing the effects of air resistance in affecting the watch’s chronometry.
The second deviation is the bridge placed over the balance instead of Lange’s traditional balance cock. The bridge, as opposed to the balance cock implementation, adds further stability to the balance and keeps the movement in line with the requirement of increased shock resistance. But, keeping true to tradition, Lange will have the new balance bridge engraved by hand.

Price & Availability

Price stands at € 28,000 (SG$40,700). First worldwide delivery will be made in November of 2019.