- A. Lange & Söhne’s ODYSSEUS in Honeygold challenges the dominance of Swiss sports watches.
- This 40.5mm piece is crafted from Lange’s proprietary 18-carat Honeygold®.
- This limited edition timepiece is available in just 100 pieces.
Released at Watches & Wonders 2025, the new ODYSSEUS in 18-carat Honeygold challenges the idea that Swiss watches always sit at the summit of fine horology. Of course, when you’re looking to update your burgeoning watch collection, it can be tempting to go for ‘anything Swiss-made’ as that’s the mark of modern quality and historic prestige.
Which is undoubtedly true. But there are a host of exquisite timepieces from across the globe that can mix it with the very best that the Swiss horologists have to offer. Take Bremont, pioneering the watch market in Britain (which is where today’s love affair with contemporary timekeeping first began); or in the frosted tips of Japan, where Grand Seiko continues to push the boundaries of fine art and watchmaking; then there’s A. Lange & Söhne.
A. Lange & Söhne Challenges the Swiss Market
Founded in 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in the sleepy Saxon town of Glashütte, A. Lange & Söhne wasn’t born into the prestige of Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux, frequented by affluent hedonists looking to blow off a little steam in between board meetings. It earned its stripes from the ground up, with precision engineering, sharp aesthetics, and an obsessive attention to detail.
Lange’s vision was to build a watchmaking industry from scratch, and in doing so, he was able to create a distinctly German watch culture: analytical, considered and artful. A. Lange & Söhne doesn’t flood the market with a dozen releases every year. They’d rather drop one masterpiece than ten mediocrities. Which brings us back to the ODYSSEUS, this year’s masterstroke at Watches & Wonders 2025.
A. Lange & Söhne ODYSSEUS in Honeygold
Purists might tell you that Lange doesn’t do sports watches. Until 2019, when the Saxon watchmaker dropped the original ODYSSEUS and redefined what “robust elegance” could look like. Now, in 2025, the most uncompromising version yet has arrived: a 40.5mm, 100-piece limited edition cased entirely in Lange’s proprietary Honeygold. And yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds.
Honeygold is, of course, the sweet hue of this spectacular piece. But it’s also a proprietary alloy exclusively developed in-house that’s noticeably harder than traditional gold. On the wrist, it’s a weighty offering that wouldn’t look out of place at the head of the boardroom or walking into the nearest beach club. The piece’s sharp case angles, dial symmetry and precision-machined pushers all speak the language of function-first design. It just so happens to be fluently spoken in German.
Inside is the L155.1 DATOMATIC calibre, a self-winding movement made of 312 components, with a 50-hour power reserve and a beat rate of 28,800vph. Like all Lange calibres, it’s a work of mechanical art, visible through the sapphire caseback, hand-finished to within an inch of its life: Gold chatons, blued screws, and that hand-engraved balance bridge that’s as much art as it is engineering.
And then there’s the dial. A rich brown textured surface offset by luminous baton indices, Lange’s iconic outsize date, and a day-of-week display that actually looks… desirable. No clutter, no compromise. Just clarity and control, in a layout that reminds you why German engineering is trusted in everything from microscopes to Mercedes.
Odysseus was a king disguised as a wanderer. The namesake fits. This is a piece that moves through life without raising its voice. It doesn’t scream luxury… it simply is.
Of course, you’ll find louder watches at Watches & Wonders. You’ll find more complicated ones. You’ll even find ones with more gold. But you won’t find many that wear their confidence with this much restraint. For those who know that the best luxury isn’t always Swiss, the ODYSSEUS Honeygold is a quiet mic drop from a German brand you might not have even heard of.
