VIDEO: The new A. Lange & Söhne ghost grey Odysseus is 50% more expensive but 100% more awesome than the debut model

Andrew McUtchen

When the price tag of a wristwatch is more akin to a house or a McLaren supercar, there are a certain amount of bells and whistles you want to see. With A. Lange & Söhne’s Zeitwerk Minute Repeater in white gold, there may not be bells, but you can see the aggressively sculpted hammers striking the snaking gongs in an ingeniously simple way.

Instead of ringing the hours, quarters, and minutes like a ‘regular’ minute repeater, A. Lange & Söhne replicate the numerically digital time display with a low gong for hours, followed by double strikes for every ten minutes, and then single high gongs for the minutes. Although the Zeitwerk collection has existed for some time now, this limited edition of 30 pieces is a celebration and affirmation of how revolution can still be found in luxury watchmaking. This model was also reviewed in a little more depth here.

The second surprise of Lange’s 2020 releases was an adjustment to the controversial Odysseus — their answer to the blue-dialled steel sports watches that have been running away with the ultra-luxury market for decades. It seems that they’ve broken the modern rules and read the comments though, as the new version does away with the inexplicably awkward-looking steel bracelet and substitutes it with a sleek, black rubber strap, or rugged cocoa-brown leather.

Both of these options feel much more acquainted with the new smoke-grey dial, which has also had alterations made to its decoration. Guilloché where there once were rings, and matte smoothness where there used to be grainy stippling. The use of white gold instead of steel has been a slightly more mystifying addition though, adding more than $15,000AUD onto the price and taking away some of that sporty practicality of steel. Read more of my thoughts on the new A. Lange & Söhne sports model here.