In my opinion they are not the finest, but they are the most practical and best functioning portable in 2021. I don’t know about some of the more obscure German machines, like the Alpina etc., but among the machines most commonly available, the SM9 is the best, especially the ones from the mid-1960s. They feed paper consistently well, much better than the Smith Coronas (Galaxies and previous models with the same core build). The SG1 will feed a page with type already on it (typed by the same machine) to the exact same spot, such that with no extra effort you can type exactly over the letters after re-feeding the page. The SM9 will almost do this. The only downsides to the SM9 are the eraser/correction table along the platen, which is at a bad angle–in this way the SM3 and 4 are superior for making handwritten corrections on the page. It has some plastic where I wish there were metal. And it’s a bit more loud than the Remington Quiet Riter. It’s also not as easy to work on as the Remington and the Smith Coronas. I consider these three models–the Smith Coronas, the Quiet Riter, and the Olympia SMs–in the same class in 2021 for wide availability and quality. But the SM9 out performs the others in terms of touch, print alignment/quality, paper feeding, precision in controls (ribbon selector, carriage release, etc.), and ergonomics. In my opinion, the SM9 is the one to get, all things considered, assuming you will be using it heavily. Even so, all three are better than the others in some way. The Smith Coronas have the most comfortable keytops, are the easiest to work on, and have the best case by far (probably why there are so many of them now in such good condition after all these years). The Remingtons may have the most robust action and they have no plastic where it really matters. They also have really thick rubber on the platen, which I like, and they might be the fastest of the bunch. But the Olympias, especially the SM9, is a professional’s machine.

I don’t know, I had a deluxe that only had the carriage release key on the left side.

Check out the manual here — no need to remove platen.

Click to access OlympiaSM9.pdf

Ribbons can be a bit tricky. Use gloves.

The De Luxe (the way Olympia spells it) has a carriage release key on both sides, the standard model on one side only. There may be other minor differences. The SM-9 De Luxe is about as close to a good office machine as a portable gets.
As far as style, its fine but not distracting.
These machines do not have the spring cushioned keys that the early portables and office machines have. Does not seem to make much difference and I think was expensive.