Leica became renowned as a maker of high quality equipment for photography, photographic reproduction, and observation.Īfter the 1960s - company face increasingly stiff competition in the market from Japanese manufacturers.ġ972 - co-operation between Wild Heerbrugg, Switzerland and Leitz.ġ986 - Leica GmbH was founded to manage the Leitz camera division just as sales began to decline.ġ986/1987 - company merges with Wild Heerbrugg AG to form Wild Leitz.ġ990 - Wild Leitz and Cambridge Instruments group (including Reichert Jung) merge now Leica Microsystems GmbH, Wetzlar + Leica Camera AG, Solms, Germany + Leica Geosystems, Heerbrugg, Switzerland. ,1849 - Wetzlar Optical Institute founded by Carl Kellner (1823. Oskar Barnack, previously an employee of Zeiss, experimented with his idea for several years before he finally invented the Leica camera. The first 35-mm compact camera was developed and manufactured at the Leitz company. Oskar Barnack, previously an employee of Zeiss, experimented with his idea for several years before he finally invented the Leica camera.ġ849 - Wetzlar Optical Institute founded by Carl Kellner (1823-1855).ġ864 - mechanic Ernst Leitz joined the Optical Institute, manufacturing lenses for telescopes and microscopes.ġ865-1869 - partnership as 'Optical Institute' Leitz became a partner.ġ869 - Ernst Leitz (1843-1920) takes over sole management and renames company as E Leitz, Wetzlar.ġ920 - management passes to Ernst Leitz (II) then to his sons, Ernst, Ludwig and Günther in 1956.ġ924 - the camera goes into mass production. The company became highly successful manufacturing microscopes before branching out in to camera manufacture.
The company became highly successful manufacturing microscopes before branching out in to camera manufacture.