A. Lange & Söhne

A long time ago, I purchased my first “super nice” watch. A Lange 1 in rose gold - ref 101.031. At the time you could pick them up quite inexpensively because Lange wasn’t really as hyped as it is now. I loved the design and aged German silver on the back of the movement. The glashutte stripes really popped because of it…

A year or two later, I sold one of my first companies and decided to buy something stupid, and settled on a Zeitwerk from Lange. 

I was told I would receive an Odysseus allocation but…didn’t. 

Then, I randomly got a hold of someone at Lange who was helpful (thx Emong in NYC)

…a few weeks later, I have this stainless steel Odysseus. 

First things first, this watch photographs horribly. I think it’s a design that needs to be worn to be appreciated. It looks much much better in-person. Online it looks kind of awkward. The design simply comes together and meshes when you see it in the flesh. 

Lange should be commended for doing their own thing completely and producing something that is not heavily inspired by the Nautilus or the Royal Oak. It’s a fresh take on the rather stale sports watch genre where everyone else shamelessly rips off AP or PP. It is a much “softer” design than most watches in this category; cool grandpa vibes to it. 

The case and bracelet are the most important parts of a good sports watch, and both are well executed. In particular, the way the pushers are integrated. I doubt most people would realize the pushers are there unless you told them. At 40mm x 11mm, the watch has perfect dimensions. It wears fairly true to size in my opinion. Maybe a biiit large. As in, feels like a 41mm watch > 40mm due to end links that do not flex or point very far down. 

Either way, super comfy and there are no sharp things or hair pulling. I am going to get shit for this, but this bracelet is probably the most comfy bracelet I’ve owned or tried. The only one that comes close for me is my tegimented Sinn bracelet, which feels soft due to their “tegimenting”. And yes, I like both a lot more than modern rolex bracelets…

There are tons of nice little details on the case in particular. I’m a little surprised given Lange is usually not very good at cases compared to their direct competitors. Both Patek, Vacheron and AP tend to have more interesting case work…but here Lange did a good job of bringing a very fresh and well executed case to market. 

The bracelet has an adjustment system that is very slick and offers up to 7mm of adjustment. I don’t use micro adjust much personally though because my wrist doesn’t change sizes but I do like this system more than the rolex quick adjust. Removing/adding links is very very simple as well. This system was invented by a 3P bracelet maker - Brogioli - and is used by a few brands.

Finishing is probably the best you’ll get on a sports watch from a big brand. A cut above patek or AP for sure. In particular, I love how soft the glashutte stripes are. Very, very well executed. I think they are actually better done than the Zeitwerk I owned in 2020. 

Anglage on this model appears to be a bit thicker than normal, but it's not insanely clean like my Armin Strom.

With that said, the reality of most sports watch options in this price range is that most have roughly equivalent quality on the dial side of things, and bracelets make it a pain to see the movements anyways. So I wouldn’t even weigh finishing of the movement and dial much relative to the case and bracelet, which are what you really interact with. 

The dial itself has a lot going on when you take the time to look carefully; seconds track on a concave inner track that is there, but not in the way, or the nice splash of red for the 60 second point. Loads of  textures, well executed high polish indices that are lined, and a lumed handset. The date windows are nicely curved.

The handstack on mine is actually a lot better looking than some other Lange pieces I’ve owned or spent time with. What I mean by this is the finishing of the pinion and the tightness of the handstack.

The timekeeping is solid too. Seems to belong about a second a day, maybe slightly less.

Finally the PUSHERS! Using the date pushers is incredibly fun. Lange did a good job of making them incredibly crisp and satisfying to use. I wish this was a chronograph so I’d have an excuse to use Lange pushers more often. 

Anyways - does it stack up to the hype? 

If you want something that flys under the radar, is very well made, practical and very Lange in design…then this is for you. I can see it being a no-brainer choice. 

If you’re on the fence, I’d even lean into buying it because it’s so much nicer in-person. I said it above but the design really does look a lot better in-person on the wrist. 

But…

At current MSRP, there are a lot of excellent options. This watch is about 55k - 60k for a “preowned” 2025 model, which I think is a better way to look at it instead of MSRP because you aren’t getting one unless you play the spend game. That is objectively a lot of money for a stainless steel sports watch. You can get a used Gauthier C for quite a bit less which is better finished, and there a lot of AP options, VC Overseas, Chopard Alpine Eagle, etc. 

All that said, none of those options look like this watch. There really isn’t anything that has this aesthetic. Like I said above, if you like the design, then this is a no brainer over other options. 

One thing I don’t love is that the bracelet can’t be swapped out. On first batch of the SS Odysseus, it can be. But with this you are married to the bracelet. As someone with a big variety of straps, it’s pretty disappointing! I don’t really get why it was done, especially given there are no alternatives from Lange? 

Anyways, here are my pictures. I just use an iPhone with a bit of Lightroom magic. 

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