From the high complications to the simple complications, A. Lange & Söhne is delivering exactly what watch lovers want: new extensions of watches that melt hearts. While these timepieces would have been unveiled at Watches & Wonders Geneva this week, they instead are making their debut digitally – but that’s okay because the two newest pieces – a Zeitwerk Minute Repeater and an Odysseus – are fan favorites.
New Zeitwerk Minute Repeater
The new Zeitwerk Minute Repeater will quickly capture attention thanks to its grand looks and highly technical appeal. This complicated 10-minute (decimal) repeater watch was first unveiled to the world five years ago in 2015 and resonated with watch lovers around the world. In addition to the melodic wonder of the watch, which chimes the time past the hour in 10-minute intervals (instead of quarter hours), the complicated piece combines a mechanical jumping numerals display – making it the only watch to offer this rare combination.
The manually wound movement, the Lange manufacture caliber L043.5, is so complex thanks to 771 individually hand finished parts, that it takes a watchmaker several months to assemble a single movement. Heretofore, the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater has only been built in a platinum case, in white gold with a black dial, and in rose gold with an argente dial. This year, though, in honor of its fifth anniversary, A. Lange & Söhne releases a limited-edition 44.2mm white-gold version with a rich blue dial. Just 30 pieces will be made, each retailing for 449,000 Euro.
Like its siblings, the 18-karat white gold version strikes the hours with a low-pitched gong, the 10-minute intervals past the hour are sounded in double tones, and the minutes past the decimal intervals are made using a high strike for each minute. The gongs are high polished, while the hammers are black polished and they are fully integrated into the design of the dial for a harmonious appeal: one each beneath the digital jumping hour and minutes displays. The highly legible and beautifully balanced dial also showcases a 60-seconds subsidiary dial at 6:00 and the arched power reserve semi-circular indication at 12:00 (36 hours when fully wound).
Conventional wisdom regarding minute repeaters states that chiming watches sound best when encased in pink gold (the copper in the gold alloy is said to impart a warmer, more rounded tone to the chime), and that white gold tends to lag behind the other gold alloys in terms of sound transmission. Releasing the Zeitwerk in white gold is therefore a true statement of the expertise of A. Lange & Söhne, being able to coax a euphonious chime out of this reputedly difficult material.
Of course, this watch also possesses the same highly technical details and aspects of the other Zeitwerks, including a pusher instead of a slide to operate the repeater, a switching-action protection device to prevent the numeral disks from jumping while the repeater is sounding, patented jumping numerals mechanism with large-format numbers, a patented constant-force escapement, and much more. Like all A. Lange & Söhne watches, each of the nearly 800 pieces in the movement is meticulously hand finished and assembled.
Sporty Chic Odysseus In Gold
On the opposite side of the price spectrum from the new limited-edition Zeitwerk, A. Lange & Söhne unveils a new Odysseus watch that is an extension of its stainless steel sport watch with blue dial unveiled last year. That first Odysseus watch represented an all-new collection for the German brand, and was designed to offer sporty chic appeal, but still with certain icons of the brand, including its oversized day and date showcased via a classic double-aperture display.
The sixth family for A. Lange & Söhne, Odysseus was launched in October of 2019 to mark the 25th anniversary of the re-introduced brand by Walter Lange. It featured a case with screw-down crown and screw-in caseback in order to be water resistant. The striking blue dial and stainless-steel case and bracelet also represented a departure for the brand. In fact, the sporty chic Odysseus was in the making for almost five years – and introducing it in steel with a steel bracelet made the most sense in order to make a true sports statement.
Now, though, A. Lange & Söhne introduces the Odysseus with a three-part 18-karat white gold case. It is accented with a striking gray dial that boasts an almost pleated textured effect on the outer edge and outlining the seconds subsidiary dial. The 40.5mm watch is further equipped with white gold hands and applied baton indexes. Setting this version apart from the steel first generation, in addition to the white gold case and gray dial: it is offered with either a brown leather strap or — for the first time — a bold black rubber strap.
Like the first-generation Odysseus, this watch is powered by the 312-part L155.1 Datomatic movement developed expressly for Odysseus. It contains a special 99-part mechanism for the outsized date and day indication. The automatic winding watch operates at 4Hz (28,800vph), offers 50 hours of power reserve, is shock resistant and is water resistant to 120 meters. It retails for 39,500 Euro.
