Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Pascal wrote: > >When I bought the R anglefinder at "Leica" price, I was somewhat >disappointed to note that is was "only" made in Japan > >Funny thing is that on the box of the R8 motor-winder it is said "made in >Germany", while on the motor-winder itself, it is said "made in Portugal" >on the bottomplate. ======================= Pascal, I believe the very first item to be produced in Japan for Leitz was an angle finder, presumably for the SL or SL2. A story in an issue of the LHSA's 'Viewfinder' (I think) told of a Leitz rep. coming back from there with this (Minolta) item full of admiration so that the company subsequently instigated talks with them which developed into the famous liason. In common with many manufacturing processes, e.g. cars, the multiple origins of parts which make a whole, (including current M6 production) certainly relies on provision of manufactured units (such as shutters and rangefinders) arriving from Portugal and elsewhere, these are then finally assemled at Solms and final testing implemented. So its a little hard to say where any one finished product comes from, but as others recognise, it makes some purchasers a lot happier if it says 'Made in Germany' rather than elsewhere. The truth may be closer to Portugal for the item itself, but most likely the exterior packaging was produced in Germany! Leica did in fact win a recent ecological award for its packaging and the press release on this may still be readable on their web site. Jem