Odysseus, Titanium

The 2019 release of the steel Odysseus marked A. Lange & Söhne's bravest step since the early 2000s, a steel sports watch with reserved, Teutonic confidence. The Odysseus is a departure from every other A. Lange & Söhne, yet fully at home in the catalogue. It was the first A. Lange & Söhne with a screw-down crown for 120m water resistance. And yet, the Semper Opera house influence and fine watchmaking threads have not been diluted. The Odysseus was the very first German watch to take fine watchmaking and sporting wearability with equal seriousness. Lange leveraged this new identity to allow the use of new materials and finishes. This titanium variant, limited to just 250 examples, is the first and only use of the metal by the brand to date and features a beautiful combination of matte and hand polished finishes not present within previous Odysseus offerings. 

The 2019 Odysseus in steel was the brand’s first sports watch. The story behind its production is as compelling as the watch itself. The project's intellectual origin traces to the late Günter Blümlein, the visionary executive who co-orchestrated Lange's rebirth in 1990 alongside Walter Lange. Among Blümlein's archived notes, written in the early days of the relaunched brand, was a single phrase: ‘time steel’—shorthand for his ambition to one day create a sporty, elegant Lange in steel. It fell to Anthony de Haas, who joined as Director of Product Development in 2004, to eventually carry that vision to completion. De Haas has noted that the Odysseus project went through three attempts over roughly 15 years before it reached production. Its case, in full Lange proportions, retains the signature cues of Lange such as the three-body finishing techniques and strong lug design. The bracelet, with its unique decoupling system, went through almost 50 prototypes before landing on this version.

In 2022, Lange released this 250 example numbered limited edition titanium Odysseus at Watches and Wonders in Geneva. It is the first and only titanium watch from the brand, a case metal well suited to the Odysseus' sporting character that results in 43% weight reduction, just 105 grams to the steel’s 154 grams. The watch feels a true refinement of the original through both material selection and the painstaking attention to detail in its finishing. Along with the first use of titanium, Lange introduced a new finish not present in the earlier steel and white gold variants. The case and five-row bracelet feature the same innovative design as earlier models though here with beautiful contrast of micro blasted matte surfaces and hand polished flanks and chamfers, an impressive feat when considering the difficulty of machining Grade 5 titanium and the sheer number of components within the bracelet. While the frosted dial and subdial centers remain from the original design, its brass dial has a striking ice blue tone that contrasts beautifully with the matte titanium. Its minute track features a unique guilloché pattern with radial grooves that arch toward the luminous notched baton markers creating the appearance that the chapter ring is distorted by the weight of the white gold indices. The movement inside, calibre L155.1, is assembled twice per Lange's longstanding protocol and features German silver bridges and plates, gold-inlaid engraved lettering, hand-polished anglage, and a skeletonized 950 platinum-edge rotor.

Where often limited editions are produced in precious metal to celebrate the model, this example chooses to do so by diving deeper into its sporting identity. It feels incredibly pure. The lightweight nature of the titanium along with the matte aesthetic feel a natural evolution of the model rather than a statement, while the level of refinement and precision is simply staggering given it features both a material and finish never before attempted by Lange.

This titanium Odysseus presents in excellent overall condition. Its titanium case and bracelet show only the lightest signs of wear, consistent with occasional and careful use. The dial and hands are immaculate showing no patina or wear. Its calibre L155.1 is running well within spec. on our timing equipment and all calendar functions are operating as expected. The watch comes with its full set.

This example is modelled on an average-sized 7-inch wrist.