[Leica] Re: Berlin LUGgers, avoid Batchvarov + Thiel

[cb <chribeck@mdc-berlin.de>]

Yesterday was a lucky day. I 'repaired' my Leica R3mot.
Well, honestly it was not much work.

But to tell the complete story:
My R3mot is from 1979 and although R3 and R4 are thought of as Leica
'Dogs', mine worked always flawless. Since after all the years the
viewfinder had marks (probably my mistake, because I take it everywhere
and thus somehow some humidity got onto the screen) I thought of having
it cleaned. There was nothing else to work on, the meter still very
accurate, the shutter smooth and reliable...
As I knew what Solms takes for such a 'cosmetic' repair I thought of
having it cleaned by an independend repair service. So I went to
Batchvarov and Thiel here in Berlin. 
When I finally got it back (three weeks!), the finder was marveleously
clear, like new. But when I put a lens on I noticed the aperture was no
longer visible. Back it went. Another three days later(yes they are very
quick if they want) it was fixed. Now the aperture is mirrored in, but
not exactly to the place it use to be. Well, I can live with that. 

Some rolls later, I had just adapted to the 'like new' screen, the
shutter went off. Completely blocked. Since repairing the shutter could
cost me more than buying another used one it went onto the sideboard and
I used the Ns. 

Only yesterday, after three month a strange feeling gripped me and I
decided to open it up, to see what went wrong. I unscrewed the baseplate
- - and there it was: it little peace of metal blocking the shutter
mechanism. Quickly I removed it - everything fine. 
Berlin LUGgers (are there any out there?), draw your own conclusions. 

C.