Hands On: A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus Honeygold
A. Lange & Söhne launched the Odysseus Honeygold last year and it’s easily the brand’s most luxe sports watch. Presented end to end in 18k Honeygold, this Odysseus is impressively well made, impressively heavy, and impressively expensive. I recently got the chance to spend some time with one of the 100 pieces made, and it was certainly a good experience. Initial thoughts The Odysseus was never a pretty watch, and this isn’t more visually appealing than the titanium or steel version. The design doesn’t have the finesse of its rivals, most notably the Royal Oak or Nautilus. But the Odysseus does have tactile and intellectual appeal, and that translates into physical attraction. The Odysseus is impressive like many Lange watches are thanks to its build quality. In Honeygold it looks and feels even more luxurious. The warmth and weight of the metal give it greater appeal, in fact Honeygold gives this a large-yacht-on-the-Mediterranean type of feel that its counterparts in more common metals lack. Look and feel aside, this has all of the strengths and weakness of the earlier versions. Strengths include the quality of course, as well as good ergonomics, which matter more here because of the weight. One of the weaknesses is the clasp, which is practical and easy to operate, but a little too large for a sports watch that is also supposed to be elegant. With a price tag of US$110,000, the Odysseus Honeygold is very expensive for what it is, even by Lange standards. But wha...