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Sometime around 1993, a fancy gold-plated Leica Special Edition 1913-1993 pocket watch was created to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Oskar Barnack’s legendary Ur-Leica prototype of 1913. Now, less than 30 years later, you’d think it would be easy to unearth such basic facts as who made this posh timepiece, how many were produced, and what it originally sold for, but you’d be wrong. There are currently about a half dozen of these eye-catching collectibles offered for sale at online auctions at asking prices ranging from about $2,000 for the watch and chain to around $4,500 for pristine examples in the original white presentation box with “papers.” None of the sellers’ descriptions provides any provenance, and the accompanying images do little to dispel the mystery. Most of these watches simply have a black script Leica logo at the bottom of the white enamel dial to denote the brand, a few have a spiffy “1913 Leica 1993” logo in red, and one has an ”Incabloc, shockprotected” hangtag indicating that the movement uses this patented Swiss anti-shock system.

Here’s one seller’s sparse description of a used Leica pocket watch currently offered on eBay at a Buy It Now price of $2,000.00, “About the Watch: I’m sure there are some scuffs and scratches from age. I think it is in very good condition as you can see in the photos. Size: Approximately 46mm in width height: approx. 60mm. Total length of the chain is about 37.0 cm (including the hook part). Hand-wound pocket watch. The only accessories are the watch and chain”.

Horologist’s comment on the provenance the Leica Special Edition 80 Years 1913-1993 pocket watch:

“Hmmmm. I won't discount the possibility that it was made for the Leitz camera company as "paraphernalia" (you can get "Mercedes" watches that were never made by anyone at Mercedes or Daimler-Benz!) but I doubt it. "Leica" was or is a brand of the Hin Company that was or is based in Singapore. However, it does seem to have the original Unitas Cal. UT 6497 movement rather than a Chinese copy. Overall, this one is a bit of a mystery.” Hartmut Richter

Note: In citing Leica as a “brand of Hin,” Mr. Richter is referring to the Singapore-based company marketing non-photographic Leica branded products under license.
Description and specifications of the Unitas Caliber 6497 movement from Caliber Corner, a leading horology website:

“Although many would consider the Unitas Cal. 6497 a rather pedestrian movement, its massive bridges lend themselves to elaborate decoration, while its ruggedness assures dependability. And as any master watchmaker will tell you, if you have the time and the skills, it can be regulated to chronometer-like precision, so elite companies such as Panerai would modify the Unitas to feature such refinements as a swan neck regulator and superior bridges, as well as higher beat counts. Think of this hot-rodding as what muscle car builders of the 1960s did to basic engine blocks. With 66 years in constant production, and a client list that runs from Alpina to Zeno, the Unitas Cal. 6497 can boast so many variants that a collector might rightly be overwhelmed.”

What we know: The Leica Special Edition 80 Years 1913-1993 pocket watch is a well-made timepiece that incorporates a solid, well made and reliable classic Swiss movement. The unadjusted 17 jewel hand-wound movement is adorned with a fancy gold finish and ornate damascening but is otherwise unremarkable. The gold-plated case and fancy face contribute to its “luxury look” and are very well executed. This watch may offer no special interest to a horologist or a serious watch enthusiast, but it will certainly attract some Leica aficionados who have the requisite bucks to acquire one.

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Adam Wagner, a brilliant mechanical engineer and camera designer, originally signed on with E. Leitz Wetzlar in the fateful year of 1933. We don’t know his whereabouts during WWII, but as a young man, he likely was conscripted and served in the Wehrmacht. Shortly after Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, Adam Wagner walked home to Wetzlar from Karlovy-Vary, now in the Czech Republic, a trek of 272 miles, to resume his work at the Leitz camera design department, arriving in June 1945. To say Wagner was a dedicated Leitz employee is an understatement.
Adam Wagner was responsible for many notable achievements at Leitz—his designs include adding “F” sync (for flashbulbs) to Leica focal plane shutters, devising the Leicavit rapid winder, creating the overall design of the coveted Leica IIIg of 1957-1960, the last of the screw-mount Leicas, and designing and constructing the Leica MP2 of the late ‘50s, an “evaluation sample” of an upgraded classic Leica MP that incorporated an M2-spec “35mm- 50mm- 90mm” range/viewfinder and an integrated Leitz 3fps electric motor drive. The motorized MP2 never went into production and only about 15 were ever assembled, making it a priceless museum piece.

One of Adam Wagner’s fundamental design principles paralleled the approach taken by Oskar Barnack in creating the timeless Leica I (Model A)—keep things as compact as possible. With that aim in mind, sometime in the late ‘50s to early ‘60s, he began devising a posh, compact, self-contained, high-performance half-frame (18 x 24mm format) rangefinder Leica with autoexposure capability and a fast prime lens. It was eventually dubbed the Leica H, and its sleek, svelte body incorporated a unique pop-out lens covered by a hinged flap. The Leica H was Wagner’s pièce de resistance as a camera designer. and his commitment to it was deeply emotional as well as technical. He was thrilled when the management at Leitz made it an official project assigned to him and his staff, and a handful of working prototypes (perhaps as few as 3) were assembled. In the mid-60s Adam Wagner participated in a well-known photo excursion to St. Christoph am Arlberg, an elite Alpine resort in Austria, with a working sample of the Leica H. He captured hundreds of images of surpassing quality (some of his contact sheets and prints from this excursion have been preserved) and by 1965 the Leica H was slated to go into production.
Exactly what happened next is open to interpretation. Still, it’s clear that after intensive and impassioned negotiations amongst various factions in the company, Leitz management decided to pull the plug on the Leica H project. The camera was never put into production. Heartbroken, Adam Wagner couldn’t cope with this decision, and he resigned from Leitz after 32 years as a top designer. Until his death, Wagner believed the company had made the wrong decision.

Why did Leitz management decide to deep-six what appeared to be an audacious and promising entry into the then very popular half-frame arena populated by such major Japanese manufacturers as Olympus, Canon, Minolta, Fuji, Ricoh, Yashica, et al?

For one thing, by 1965 Leitz was busy turning out M-series Leicas and the extensive system that supported them (the company’s cash cows), and the new Leicflex SLR was already in production and on the market. As a result, manufacturing the new Leica H would have, at best, put a serious strain on Leitz’s production capacity, and may not have even been feasible. Also, some in management were undoubtedly afraid that the Leica H would compete with the Leica M, resulting in reduced profit margins, and others were chary about getting into a new format that might prove transitory.

Unfortunately, there was never any spec sheet, technical data, or manual published for the Leica H so we can only make educated guesses from the detailed photos and comments by Lars Netopil published in issue No. 110 of the Leica Historica VIDOM magazine.

Finally, among the welter of Leica aficionados expressing their opinions online, there’s considerable disagreement on the aesthetics of the Leica H. The majority think it’s distinctive and attractive and that it would have been quite successful. A minority think it’s ugly, and a majority of the latter group thinks Leitz was right to give it the thumbs down. We’ll never know who was right of course, but we do know one thing--if anyone offers a complete Leica H for sale in any condition whatsoever, they can probably name their price.

Many thanks to Lars Netopil and VIDOM magazine for providing the photos, illustrations, and much of the background information used for this article.

In August 2002, Minox, then based in Wetzlar, Germany, released what was described as a Digital Classic Camera (DCC) a beautifully detailed and faithful palm-sized metal replica of a Leica M3 (although some of its features, e.g. the self-timer and frame selector lever, are merely decorative). It had a 1.3MP CMOS sensor and relied on 32MP of internal flash memory with a capacity of 99 low-res 320KB images, 60 “hi-res” 500KB images, or 6 low-res 320 x 240-pixel videos, that were then downloaded onto a PC using the furnished USB cable. There was no memory card slot, and the LCD only showed a 2-digit frame count. The camera was shown at Photokina 2002, but no prices were given at the time. The original 1.3MP version is widely available in pristine working condition on the leading online auction sites at prices ranging from about $100.00 to $225.00.

Given the modest performance capabilities of the original 1.3MP version, user-collectors might want to opt for one of the later versions of the Digital Minox Leica M3, which have the same elegant form factor plus upgraded specs. The DCC Leica M3 2.1 (aka 3.0) has a 2.1MP CMOS sensor and a 9.6mm f/2.8 (48mm equivalent) lens; the DCC 4.0 has the same lens as the DCC 2.1, but adds a 3.2MP CMOS sensor, and the DCC Leica M3 5.0 has an upgraded 5.0MP CMOS sensor (2,060 x 1,920 pixels) plus, glory be, a 1.5-inch TFT LCD screen and an SD card slot!

The ultimate Digital Minox Leica Replica miniature is undoubtedly the last of the line, the DCC 14.0 of 2013, which has a 14MP CMOS sensor, a 2-inch LCD screen, a 7.4mm f/2.4 (41mm equivalent) Minoctar lens, 4x digital zoom capability, and a gorgeous shoe-mount “accessory” viewfinder prominently engraved “MINOX Wetzlar Germany.” However, while the DCC 14.0’s sinuous rounded-ends form factor and styling licks are unmistakably Leica, it’s clearly not an M3 replica. In short, potential buyers must choose between an authentic M3 form factor and optimal imaging performance. The original price of the DCC 14.0: $239.00.

Many thanks to Leica Rumors and Leica Store Lisse for providing the images for this post.

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In 1983, Leica issued a limited edition of 2,500 chrome Leica M4-Ps to commemorate 70 years of Leica dating from the Ur-Leica, Barnack’s first prototype of 1913. The back of the top plate of each was engraved “Leica 1913 to 1983” along with one of the five letters in the name ‘LEICA,’ followed by a number from 1 to 500, and a regular production serial number was engraved on the hot shoe. In what was either a colossal engraver’s error or an act of puckish sarcasm, a very limited number of these cameras bear the inscription “1813-1983,” which are now rare collector’s items ironically dubbed “Napoleonic M4-P’s.” Fascinating factoid: Standard issue M4-Ps in chrome are also prized by collectors—of a total production of 23,180 units only 500 were chrome!

According to a November 1983 Leitz New York news release announcing this limited-edition Leica M4-P, three sets were available. Set #1 consisted of a suitably engraved silver chrome M4-P body, a black 50mm f/2 Summicron lens, a silver chrome MR-4 meter, a black M4-P winder, and a special combi case, all at a suggested retail price of $2,691.00. Set #2 included the entire contents of Set #1 except that the 50mm lens was upgraded to a f/1.4 Summilux, and a 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit lens was added. List price $3,943.00. Finally, Set #3 included a silver chrome M4-P body, a silver chrome MR-4 meter, a black 35mm f/2 Summicron, and a black 90mm f/2.8 Tele-Elmarit lens, plus the special combi case, at $3,283.00 retail. Each set came with a certificate of authenticity, and a reproduction of a 1913 photograph by Oskar Barnack. All included items were engraved with the same script legend as the camera, and delivery to purchasers was slated for “early 1984.”

Anyone looking to buy any one of these uncommon 40-year-old “70th Anniversary” Leica M4-P kits in mint or NOS condition right now is probably out of luck. And should one surface at one of the premier European auctions, you may rest assured it will fetch considerably more than the original 1983 list price. However, there is a solution, providing you’re willing to forego the accessories, special presentation box and bag, and other paraphernalia—buy the lens and body separately! Pristine Leica M4-P bodies with “Leica 1913-1983” markings are readily available at online auctions at “best offer” prices ranging from $2,900.00 to $4,880.00; pristine 50mm f/2 Summicron-M lenses with the 70th Anniversary logo go for about $2,000.00 to $2,500.00, and you can snag a marked special edition 90mm f/2.8 Tele-Elmarit for a paltry $1,611.72.

If you think these prices are high, consider the gorgeous 28mm f/2 Summicron-M ASPH. lens with a distinctive “warm satin chrome” finish on the barrel, lens cap, and back cap that’s currently listed on eBay at an astounding Buy It Now price of $13,995.00. How can this be? Well, it was originally part of a 2012 Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’ set, one of only 100 made in memory of Jean-Louis Dumas, the former president of Hermès. The price of this set: $50K!

Heartfelt thanks to ace Leica historian James Lager for providing images and background information for this post.

Sometime, starting in 1945 and up to the early ‘50s, E. Leitz Wetzlar fabricated a special limited edition scientific camera body based on the Leica Ic (or perhaps a stripped down IIIc). Finished in beautiful black enamel it had no rangefinder, no fast speed dial, and a blanked out slow speed dial. On its top there’s a circular wheel with a milled edge and a notch cut out of it, that’s labeled “auf” (open) with a clockwise arrow and “zu” (closed) with a counterclockwise arrow. There are also two top-mounted vertical “posts,” one surmounted with a film wind connector. You can’t take conventional pictures with this exquisitely crafted device—it was designed to be fitted to (as only the Germans could put it) a Leitz/Forster Oberflächenmessgerät (not shown), literally a surface measuring device, that was used in the field of metallurgy.

Film was wound through the camera with the shutter fully open, while light from the 'Oberflächenmessgerät' projected a magnified image of a finely machined surface to show an enlarged "curve" of the surface irregularities horizontally on the film. Although both the modified Leica camera shown and the device it attached to are extremely rare, limited production items that were evidently built to order in very small quantities, there are currently three (!) of these exceedingly rare and unique camera bodies up for sale, all in “near mint” or A/B condition.

Many thanks to James Lager for providing images and background information for this article.

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Some lenses are clearly frauds and counterfeits that purport to be what they are not, with the clear intention of cheating potential buyers. But what do you call a provocatively named one-off lens that has no exact counterpart in any manufacturer’s catalog? Such is the celebrated “Leica-Sonnar 1:1.5 5.8cm” in rangefinder coupled Leica screw mount that was evidently produced in a variety of metal housings shortly after World War II, a chaotic period when many small German companies and ad hoc groups of engineers and machinists were throwing things together in a bid to make a quick buck.

These “Leica-Sonnar” lenses are well made, albeit not at the same level of fit, finish and craftsmanship as genuine Zeiss lenses, and the typefaces, fonts, and spacing and sizes of the inscriptions do not match the originals either. Carl Zeiss Jena did produce a limited number of genuine (uncoated) 50mm f/1.5 and f/2 Sonnar lenses in Leica screw (LTM) mount for the German military and the German Press Corps (PK) during World War II. However, subsequent X-ray examination proves that that these postwar 5.8cm f/1.5 impostors employed the Zeiss Biotar design that had been used on prewar Exaktas, not the iconic 7-element, 3-group 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar formula designed by the great Ludwig Bertele of Zeiss.

Evidently no Leica M39 screw mount lenses were ever made by Zeiss- Opton or Zeiss Oberkochen after WW II, although VEB Carl Zeiss Jena (aka East German Zeiss) did turn out a few in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. Production records for this time frame are not as reliable as they were before the war, and in the cash-strapped postwar years many German optical companies resorted to barter to obtain the raw materials they needed. Also. trademark and copyright protection after the war was sketchy, often based on war reparations, and large quantities of parts were confiscated and taken out of the country by the American and Russian military.
So, what is the true provenance of the mysterious 5.8cm f/1.5 Leica- Sonnar? In a reply to avid Zeiss and Leica collector Dr. Harry Soletsky dated April 19, 1972, Jenoptik, the successor to VEB Carl Zeiss, replied that they had no knowledge or records specifying a 5.8cm f/1.5 lens, and an analysis of serial numbers has proven inconclusive. Perhaps the upshot is best summed up in a caption to a picture of a Zeiss Contax II next to a Russian Leica copy (Fed?) both fitted with the fabled 5.8cm f/1.5 Leica-Sonnar:

“We must realize that the trained mechanical workers of this era had been working at many different firms which may not have survived the war. The possibility also exists that the foreign workers from the days of the war returned to places like Poland and Russia and applied their skills to the manufacture of such products. However, there is no way left to trace the origin of these and other lenses that tried to display a Leitz or Zeiss pedigree.” Some have speculated that VEB Carl Zeiss Jena (the company or rogue employees) or unspecified “Russian technical experts” were involved in the project.

Bogus or not, the 5.8 cm f/1.5 Leica-Sonnar in LTM mount is now a coveted collectible that fetches about $1,500 to $2,000 in pristine condition. A genuine wartime 50mm f/1.5 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar in Leica screw mount runs a measly $1,200.00 or so.

Many thanks to James Lager, and to the late Lawrence J. Gubas for providing the background information and images for this post.

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Many Leica aficionados blithely assumed that the lens Oskar Barnack fitted to his prototype Ur-Leica when field testing his masterpiece on the cobbled streets of Wetzlar was some version of the 50mm f/3.5 Leitz Anastigmat or Leitz Elmax, both of which are based on the same idiosyncratic 5-element 3-group optical formula with a cemented triplet bringing up the rear. The problem with this theory is that the legendary Max Berek designed these lenses in the early 1920s, long after the period from about 1907 to 1913 when Oskar Barnack was conducting his initial “photojournalistic” field tests.

To discover the truth, we turned to the late, great Erwin Puts, Leica historian extraordinaire, and to Chapter 2, entitled “The evolution of the LEICA Lens” from his seminal book, “Leica Chronicle,” which is now widely available online as a printed volume or as an ebook.

To quote from the master, “When Barnack was busy constructing and refining his camera, around 1907 to 1911, and decided to use a format of 24x36mm on cine film, no suitable lens was available on the market. As any lens projects a circular image, you need an angular coverage equal to the length of the diagonal of the image format.” Two minor corrections: a lens constructed of spherical section elements produces a circular image field—others may not. There were other lenses available that covered the 24x36mm format, notably the 50mm f/3.5 Zeiss Tessar type 1c used on the American-made Simplex camera. Understandably, Barnack steered clear of using a Zeiss lens!

Puts continues, “The diagonal of the 24x36mm format has a length of 43.27mm, which gives a maximum image height of 21.6mm from the center of the image. Barnack therefore needed a lens with an angular view of 46 degrees to cover the format. A lens with a focal length of anything between 40mm and 60mm would do. Barnack, working at the Leitz factory, a well-known microscope manufacturer, found a series of lenses, made by Leitz and named Mikro-Summar and Milar with several focal lengths to choose from. He chose the Mikro-Summar 1:4.5/42mm, which he fitted in at least one of his three prototypes. The Ur-Leica, residing in the museum in Solms, has been equipped with this lens. Some researchers have identified the lens as a Milar or a Summar.”

“There is no inscription on the lens, so there is room for interpretation. The exact focal length however can be measured and recently the optical engineers at Solms just did this and established a focal length of 42mm. The only lens in the Leitz microscope catalog around 1910 is the Mikro-Summar, a six-element symmetrical lens. So, we may now reveal with certainty the identity of the mysterious lens in the Ur-Leica. It is a Mikro-Summar with 6 elements, symmetrically arranged.” An optical diagram of the 42mm f/4.5 Mikro-Summar and one photo Barnack shot with it are included in this article. Note: since it’s a close-up lens designed to deliver optimum performance at close distances, its performance at infinity and at object distances of 5m or greater is inevitably compromised. The Leitz Anastigmat, Elmax, and Elmar are all optimized at infinity and therefore have no such problems.

Why did Barnack settle on the 24x36mm format? Other camera designers of still cameras based on standard double perforated 35mm cine film ('Kino-film') had used 24x24, 32x44, 18x24, and 30x42 formats. But Barnack has been quoted as wanting to ensure good image quality by using the maximum area of 'Kino-film, which was 24x36mm, or double the standard cine frame. Moreover, the dimensions of 24x36mm have a 1:1.5 aspect ratio, the same as the 6x9cm negative of the then ubiquitous folding roll film cameras, the 'point and shoots' of the early 1900s.
One of Barnack's primary aims was that his compact camera with its small negative would deliver image quality as good as, if not better than a 6x9cm contact print. The entire subsequent history of Leica is proof positive that he succeeded beyond measure and created a camera that literally transformed the world of photography. And while Barnack didn’t invent the 24x36mm format it was his pioneering work that established it as a world standard that’s still used in many today’s top professional digital cameras, including the Leica SL3 and the M11.

Many thanks to Leica Historian James Lager and to the late Erwin Puts for providing the images and information used to create this post.

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Leica Society International is proud to announce its 8th Annual Photography Grant. The submission period will begin on July 24 and end on September 10, or when the limit of 60 is reached, whichever comes first. Application fee is $35 USD. This is a global program, where allowed by law.

The 2024 grant has a financial award of $7500. It also includes a new Leica M11 camera and lens courtesy of Leica Camera.

In addition to the grant, the recipient and runner-up will also have the honor of showing their work in an exhibition at the Leica Gallery in Vienna, Austria. The premier of the exhibit will be held during the LSI Spring Shoot in Vienna in May 2024.

Grant Theme: Through the Lens of Hope. We are looking for projects/stories whose images express our innate ability to achieve greatness and positivity, determination and courage, and success and victory; the kinds of stories whose arc have the potential to inspire fellow human beings to act, to celebrate achievement, and to uplift all people.

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Special limited editions are certainly nothing new for Leica but the tiny run of only 18 distinctively finished, specially marked outfits Leica created to celebrate the opening of a new Leica store in Singapore in 2016 is more special than most. Leica opened its posh outpost inside Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands casino complex by unveiling an 18-piece Leica M-P digital rangefinder outfit finished entirely in silver chrome, including a unique synthetic textured wrap in the same color. Functionally identical to the standard production Leica M-P (Type 240), it sports an elegant white Marina Bay Sands towers silhouette on the top plate, and an engraving of Singapore’s traditional lion head emblem on the lens hood, a reference to the upscale city state that is now home to four Leica stores! The outfit was originally available only at the eponymous store, but don’t despair—there’s a used “open box” example “showing some little wear” currently up for sale on eBay by Leica Store Lisse (Netherlands) at the understandably grand sum of $19,999.00 or best offer, plus $100.00 shipping.

The camera has the standard complement of Leica M-P (Type 240) features, including: a high-performance 24MP CMOS sensor with a broad dynamic range, a fast, low-noise Maestro Image Processor, Leica’s iconic M range/viewfinder with 6 auto-indexing, parallax-compensating. projected frame lines for unsurpassed viewing and manual focusing precision, and a durable, ultra-robust brass body with a scratch resistant sapphire crystal cover glass protecting the LCD. The Leica M-P (Type 240) Marina Bay Sands Edition comes with a special silver chrome finished 35mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH. lens, lauded by many experts as the finest 35mm f/1.4 lens ever made. So, this is one drop dead gorgeous collectible you might really want to use for making pictures! It will be fascinating to see what price it brings.

Many thanks to Leica Store Lisse for furnishing all the images accompanying this article.

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The brainchild of W. Berssenbrugge, an expert in color stereo photography with the Leica, the Leica Tandem (aptly code named TOWIN), was originally used for stereo applications, but when E. Leitz New York officially announced the device in 1949 it was marketed as an ideal solution for shooting simultaneous images in black and white and color, a common practice among magazine photographers at the time due to the high cost of publishing photos in color.

While using the TOWIN was quite convenient once the two (Barnack type) Leica bodies were loaded and mounted, ordering it was not. You had to send your cameras to the E. Leitz New York’s famously well-equipped workshops and request Tandem Synchro Service, to ensure both cameras fired and could be advanced in unison, and that pressure on the top shutter release caused the lower camera to fire simultaneously. Most users fitted lenses of the same focal length (typically 50mm) to both top and bottom cameras, but if one was equipped with a longer lens, Leitz recommended that it be mounted to the lower camera for better handheld balance.
When it came to advancing the film, the TOWIN provided two choices. You could advance both cameras simultaneously by using the wide, protruding advance k**b fitted atop the lower camera, or advance only the top camera using its regular film wind k**b. The top camera was also accessible for changing shutter speeds, while changing shutter speeds on the bottom camera required disassembly of the rig.

Typically, users chose different shutter speeds for each camera based on the speed of the film used in each and set the lenses to the same aperture, but other workable combos were possible. As for focusing, the usual procedure was to focus the top camera lens using the rangefinder and transfer the distance setting to the focusing scale of the lower lens—not the last word in either convenience or precision. Within its parameters the TOWIN could be useful, but despite being featured in the Fall, 1949 edition of Leica Photography and being listed in the Leitz, New York catalog at $77.00 (equivalent to about $1,016.00 today!), this beautifully crafted satin chrome finished “custom fitted accessory” was never very popular, and it is doubtful that more than 50 were ever made. What’s it worth? Hard to say without a recent sales figure to go by, but $1,000-$1,500 certainly wouldn’t be out of the question.

Many thanks to James Lager for generously providing much of the information and all the images for this post.