A. Lange & Söehne Odysseus Chronograph

When A. Lange & Söhne introduced the Odysseus in 2019, it was already something of a shock: a stainless steel sports watch with an integrated bracelet from a manufacture best known for exquisitely complicated precious-metal dress watches. Four years later, Lange pushed the idea considerably further with the Odysseus Chronograph. More than simply a chronograph version of the brand’s sportiest watch, Ref. 463.178 marked a genuine first for the manufacture: its first self-winding chronograph.

Limited to just 100 pieces, the Odysseus Chronograph pairs a 42.5mm stainless steel case with an integrated steel bracelet and a beautifully complex black dial. The oversized day-date indications sit at 9 and 3 o’clock, respectively, while varied graining and texture give the dial surprising depth. Most unusually, there are no conventional chronograph subdials. Instead, elapsed time is indicated centrally, with a red chronograph seconds hand and a separate lozenge-tipped minute hand, keeping the familiar Odysseus architecture remarkably intact.

Inside is the automatic Calibre L156.1 Datomatic, developed specifically for the watch and offering approximately 50 hours of power reserve. Even the pushers have been cleverly reconsidered: with the crown in its normal position, they control the chronograph, while pulling out the crown transforms them into correctors for the day and date. And then there’s the reset. Activate it after timing an event and the red seconds hand races backward around the dial, completing one full revolution for every elapsed minute as the chronograph minute hand simultaneously returns to zero. It is an entirely unnecessary bit of mechanical theater, which naturally makes it wonderful.

With its integrated bracelet, black dial, oversized calendar displays, central chronograph, and exceptionally complicated new movement, the Odysseus Chronograph manages to be unmistakably Lange while breaking several of the manufacture’s own rules. This example is accompanied by its inner and outer boxes, along with all original paperwork and pamphlets. Only 100 were made, and perhaps appropriately for Lange’s first automatic chronograph, they certainly didn’t take the easy route.

For Germany, Reunification represented a renaissance of sorts for a country that had been rent asunder by the Cold War. And for A. Lange & Söhne, which fate had situated on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain, it was indeed a rebirth.

Lange was founded in Glashütte in 1845, and its first century was truly a golden age. The brand imbued its products with a care and an attention to detail that brought worldwide renown. Its pocket watches, in particular, gained high marks in competition and saw use on the railroads of Europe.

But the coming of World War II and the subsequent Soviet occupation saw that golden age come to an end. The Soviet authorities expropriated the company in 1948 — the factory was shuttered, and the once-shining name of A. Lange & Söhne nearly faded into obscurity. That is, until 1990, when Walter Lange — great-grandson of the founder, Ferdinand A. Lange — resurrected his family’s old company and brought it to prominence once more.

Armed with Ferdinand Lange’s journal, Walter Lange sketched a watch that would adapt his great-grandfather’s designs to modern tastes, while still keeping an eye firmly on tradition. In the journal, Walter discovered sketches of a clock that Ferdinand designed with his mentor Johann Gutkaes. Commissioned by the Elector of Saxony for the Semperoper House in Dresden, the “Five Minute Clock” was nothing short of revolutionary.

With legibility as their primary concern, Johann Gutkaes and Ferdinand Lange designed a clock that, with its rectangular construction and two counter-rotating drums — one to show the hours, the other the minutes — was essentially the world’s first digital clock. Over one hundred years later, it was that clock that would inspire the modern manufacture’s first watch post-Reunification.

In 1992, Walter Lange filed a patent for a big date window, similar in style to the clock in the opera house. Two years later, it would appear on the Lange 1. Without question the firm’s flagship model, it features a big date function as its hallmark. Though found in watches like the Zeitwerk or the Langematik Sax-O-Mat, it’s in the Lange 1 that the big date is used to the greatest effect. Alongside other details such as asymmetrical sub-dials depicting the hours and sub-seconds, and the A. Lange & Söhne's signature with its famous ampersand shows a clarity of vision that is wholly Lange.

Subsequent models — no less innovative — have only further cemented the brand’s footing as one of the most refined and fascinating watchmakers in business today. From the ludicrously complicated Zeitwerk to the elegant Saxonia to the recent Odysseus dive watch, Lange & Söhne is committed to pushing the horological envelope and reestablishing Germany as foremost amongst the world’s centers of watchmaking innovation.

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Since our pieces are vintage or pre-owned, please expect wear & patina from usage and age. Please read each item description and examine all product images.

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We back each Analog:Shift vintage timepiece with a two-year mechanical warranty from the date of purchase.

International Buyers

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All of our watches include complementary insured shipping within the 50 states.

Most of our products are on hand and will ship directly from our headquarters in New York City. In some cases, watches will be shipped directly from one of our authorized partners.

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We welcome international buyers, please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.