A. Lange & Söhne

I'm a lurker of this forum for some time and never bothered to post. However, with all the controversy around the Odysseus, I feel like sharing a bit of my thoughts.

After thinking about this for a couple of weeks, my overall conclusion is the watch design is actually really brilliant.

1. The Odysseus should NOT be compared to any integrated bracelet watches (Nautilus, Royal Oak). As many pictures have shown, once you take away the bracelet, the Odysseus in fact retains a traditional Lange case design. And because of this, when you squint, you don't ever feel it's derived from the lineage of the Genta designs (much like the new Overseas, Belmont, etc.), but rather something entirely different.

2. Thus, the Odysseus SHOULD be perhaps compared to the Rolex case designs, which makes it the ONLY high horology case/bracelet design with an interchangeable bracelet designed from the get-go. Unlike the Nautilus/Royal Oak/Overseas, it offers the similar type of flexibility with bracelet/strap change as the Rolex. (Look at the rose gold Nautilus/Royal Oak with leather straps...very weird and incongruent.)

3. And the Odysseus' widened and tapered bracelet makes it MUCH bolder than Rolex oyster/jubilee/president bracelets. With Rolex, you can see the limitation of these designs, i.e. in order to bolden Rolex's sports model looks, Rolex has to resort to the Maxi-case with thickened lugs that creates a sort of imbalance between the bold case and the slim bracelet. Vice versa, once your eyes are adjusted to the new Odysseus design, go back and take a look at the Submariner or Deep Sea, don't you feel something is oddly unsatisfying?

So the brilliance is this: with the widened and tapered design, Lange is able to, without changing the case design (thus retaining the Lange look), embolden the design of the overall look, thus creating a true-to-itself design that defines that Teutonic look -- hefty, provoking, immediately ugly, enduringly beautiful. That's why I think it's really brilliant. 

The only reservation however with this initial launch, is with the complication. I personally dislike the day of week complication. However, we all know the watch family will expand. I look forward to a day when they release their time only version of the Odysseus. When that happens, I'd be gladly trade in my Explorer and upgrade.

Frank

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