Hands-On The A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus Chronograph

The first watch I ever saw under embargo was the 2019 release of the original steel Odysseus. A passionate watch enthusiast, I was hired by an unnamed outlet to photograph the new piece – something I'd never done before – and despite my excitement, it went exactly as terribly as you could imagine. Lange graciously gave me another shot with a brand-new Odysseus at Watches & Wonders and boy, is it a doozy.

When Ben said on our W&W Day 1 podcast that Lange "continually do stuff for people like me when they don't have to," I know he didn't have my personal redemption in mind. And while it's weird to say that a steel sports watch from the Glashütte powerhouse (something once unimaginable) would be something people would be clamoring for, here we are four years later left to acknowledge that yes, the new Odysseus chronograph is certainly a watch made for Lange die-hards.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that A Lange & Söhne is, among all the other great things it does, a chronograph specialist. A brand new chronograph movement from any brand is pretty big news but for Lange, it's really all you could ask for. In hindsight, an Odysseus chronograph is the most obvious follow-up they could have done to their newest line of watches but it certainly doesn't make the announcement any less exciting. Yes, it's big. Yes, it's expensive. But that certainly doesn't capture the whole of the watch by a long shot.

One of the greatest successes of the new Odysseus Chronograph is maintaining the overall Odysseus design language as holistically as the brand has. The hallmarks of Lange DNA are everywhere in this watch, from the dial to the movement. But when rumors started to circulate about an Odysseus chronograph, I know at least one collector who assumed that the only thing that would remain would be a steel case in the same shape as the Odysseus of the past. The result is better than they could have hoped. In fact, the very nature of the new Odysseus being a brand-new chronograph could have been overlooked if not for the red hand in the center. 

The date and day of the week indication continue the iconic Semper Opera House clock design that Lange has become known for and is a part of the design language that makes the Odysseus the Odysseus. The dial has the expected mix of textured finishing with appliquéd white gold minute markers, a minute track, and a small track above the rehaut that shows the subdivided seconds. That, alongside the subseconds dial at 6:00, gave me everything aesthetically on the dial that I've come to love about Lange's mix of traditional and forward-thinking design. I don't think there's anything negative I could say about the aesthetics of the watch, but let's be honest, when it comes to Lange it's nearly all about the movement.

Ben's introduction of the Odysseus chronograph was so thorough (and includes the place the watch sits among other options in the market) that I wanted to be brief so we can get to the hands-on impression of wearing it. You'll see that brevity is not exactly easy when talking about the achievements of the brand's novel movement design, especially when compared to the top tier of watches in stainless steel integrated cases.

Instead of taking the "easy" way and modifying an existing chronograph design like the L951.5 movement in the 1815, Lange did something more exciting and impressive in modifying the L155.1 Datomatic caliber that powers the Odysseus to make the new chronograph caliber L156.1. Movement designers will tell you that one of the most difficult things to do in the world of watchmaking is to design a novel chronograph and Lange has done it here, maybe in part because their hand was forced with the already unique date window functions of the Odysseus, but as a 516-component self-winding chronograph with a platinum rotor, it's plenty impressive.

The resulting function is also pretty unusual and fun to watch. I saw the chronograph run over my short time (maybe seven to eight minutes) photographing. Ben rightly pointed out the first analogous watch that came to mind, the pre-war Longines 13ZN variant "Doppia Lancetta" with a central totalizing minute hand as well as a central chronograph hand. In this case, the hidden silver chronograph hand acts as the central totalizer for the minutes while the bold red central hand counts out the seconds. It's an odd duck chronograph design but makes obvious sense as a solution to keeping the design language of the Odysseus intact on the dial side.

Lange also kept the case design language intact while adding the chronograph function. On its face it's an easy feat; the original Odysseus came with pushers above and below the crown already so it seems obvious to put a chronograph in the case and call it a day. But those pushers changed the day and date, so they required their own solution. When the crown is in, the new Odysseus functions normally as a chronograph (or as normal as possible, which we'll get to in a second) and when the crown is out, you can adjust the day and date.

I do think one of the biggest points of confusion when reading the press release was the reset of the watch. I wish I had a video of the reset – we just weren't set up for it – but I'll try to do my best to explain. The new Odysseus Chronograph isn't a flyback, so the watch has to be stopped to be reset, but when you press that bottom button, you're in for a wild ride. The red hand basically "unwinds" for every minute it's gone around the dial while the minute counter resets back to zero directly in the fastest direction possible. Below thirty minutes of elapsed time, the hand runs counterclockwise to zero, and over thirty it – and the red seconds hand – goes clockwise. In fact, the second hand will only go around clockwise not once for each elapsed minute but rather once per remaining minute up to an hour. If you've run your chronograph for 37 minutes, the red hand will spin around the dial only 23 times.

The best part about all this is that there's still not been a good explanation of why the chronograph works this way. In fact, when the prototype was made, everyone involved with designing the movement was reportedly surprised at how it functioned. That's right, Lange made a chronograph that accidentally does something cool. And while I assume that it understood the "why" by the time the watch made it to a production level, not a single person I've spoken to outside of A. Lange & Söhne in the last two weeks really understands it themselves, leaving a bit of "wonder" in Watches & Wonders (which as Ben deftly pointed out last week is kind of the point of the trade show).

I understand that the wearability of the watch is probably the main concern of readers, and there are two thoughts here to consider. First, A. Lange & Söhne is only making 100 of these chronographs and my understanding is they're essentially all pre-sold. If you're not already buying the watch, don't let the concerns over its 42.5mm wide and 14.2mm thick case (which yes, comes with 120m water resistance which exceeds how most owners will use it, I'm sure) or its approximately $150,000 price tag bother you. In some ways, that's someone else's concern. And the price certainly is a concern for those buyers, some of whom expected a watch closer to $100,000, not an extra 50% more. One collector told me on background, "It certainly gave me pause where I didn't have pause for any other Odysseus pieces." But being a completist and acknowledging the role of the watch in moving the brand forward, they put their name down anyway. Frankly, I can't blame them.

Despite being 2mm bigger than the original Odysseus and nearly as thick as a Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon, the new Odysseus wears more comfortably than you'd expect. Out of all those same collectors I spoke with who had a chance to wear the watch and discuss it around the table at the collectors' dinner, not a single one can recall one of their fellow Lange lovers dismissing the case as too big on the wrist.

This is, after all, supposed to be a sportier watch and it can certainly can get away with being larger. But the three-part case isn't large for the sake of being large like some companies have chosen to do. Nor is it because the movement couldn't be made smaller – they had six years to push it to its limit. The best explanation seems to be that the lever mechanism that allows the pushers to operate both date-setting and chronograph functions increased the case size a non-insignificant amount. That's the price you pay for creativity.

No matter. In my experience, any watch on an integrated bracelet will wear more well-balanced than a watch on a strap of the same size because of the balance of weight around the wrist. In this instance, the case shape and design are distinct from measurements and the falloff of the lugs from the case as well as the integrated bracelet dropoff and taper makes it manageable on my 7.25" wrist. It's also the last place you'll find a bracelet in the modern Lange lineup after Wilhelm Schmid discontinued the option on the brand's other pieces many many years ago.

My biggest concern was rather the aesthetics of the movement. If I was buying any great Lange, it would be in large part due to the beauty and depth of the movement. Sadly, you don't get that as much here. In fact, in my panic to get my photos and get out of the way so Lange could show the watch to yet another waiting customer – one that sadly probably wouldn't have a chance to buy the watch – I only photographed the movement from one direction and the winding rotor was covering what little of the chronograph works you could see. But I realized I was viewing this from the wrong lens. This isn't a Triple Split or a Datograph, this is a sports watch.  It's beautifully finished – one of the keys to Lange's success in adding value with hand-finishing on top of watchmaking done with modern techniques – but the novelty lies in its success as a whole and what it represents for the brand moving forward.

For all the comments and feedback, I feel like listening to nitpicking is the price you pay for being at the top of the game. Even in my short time with the Odysseus Chronograph, there's no doubt in my mind that's where A. Lange & Söhne sits, at the very top, with a new model that's proof in the metal.