Ernst Leitz (company)

The company of Ernst Leitz had its origin in the Optical Institute founded by Karl Kellner in Wetzlar, Germany. The earlier Leitz trade catalogues give the date of establishment as 1850 but by the early twentieth century, Leitz publications put the date at 1849.

Telescopes were the main product of the early company, but in the 1850s, microscopes became the principal product. In 1855, Kellner died at age 29 of tuberculosis and his partner Friedrich Christian Belthle took over the workshop. The company became known as the Optical Institute Kellner and Belthle. In 1865, Belthle hired an engineer, Ernst Leitz (1843-1920), who became his partner a year later. Leitz took over the company upon Belthle's death in 1869, and renamed it the Optical Institute of Ernst Leitz (Optischen Institut von Ernst Leitz). Leitz was only 26 years old at the time.

With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Leitz had a rough time his first year. Even so, he was able to ride the wave of an expanding market for microscopes. One innovation he made was to ramp up production and quality by switching away from the slow, labor-intensive manufacturing by hand to serial manufacturing. This production method became the industry standard and made microscopes more reliable for scientific research.

Between 1889 and 1911, the Leitz company introduced still projectors, cinematic projectors, binoculars, and other optical equipment to their line of goods.

A sales office was opened in New York City in 1892, and later became known as E. Leitz, U.S.A. By 1910, the Leitz company was producing 9000 microscopes per year and had a workforce of 950 people.

In 1911 Oskar Barnack (1879-1936) was hired by Ernst Leitz with the idea of designing an easily portable camera. In 1912, Dr. Max Berek (1886-1949) joined the Ernst Leitz company after he had finished his studies in mathematics and mineralogy in Berlin. He mathematically designed the first Leitz camera lens, a 50mm anastigmat. In 1913, Barnack invented the 35mm camera using the new lens system. It is today known as the "UR-Leica Prototype."

In 1920, Ernst Leitz died, and his son, Ernst Leitz II (1870-1956) became the sole owner of the business. In 1924, Ernst Leitz II decided to put Barnack's invention into production. The new 35mm cameras were branded "Leica," which was formed by a contraction of Lei(tz) Ca(mera). The first Leica cameras were put on the market in 1925.

In 1930, Leica introduced the first 35mm cameras with interchangeable lenses. The branches of the Leitz companies were consolidated and renamed Ernst Leitz GmbH.

During World War I, the German government forced the Leitz company to convert to war production. During World War II, however, Max Berek, the renown optical scientist at Leitz, refused to cooperate with the Nazi party. The German government stripped him of his professorship, but it was reinstated in 1946. During the 1930s and 1940s, Ernst Leitz II and his daughter Dr. Elsie Kuehn-Leitz, both Protestant Christians, arranged for hundreds of Jewish employees and their families to get out of Germany, thus escaping the Holocaust.

In 1972, Wild Heerbrugg bought 25% of Leitz, and in 1986, Ernst Leitz GmbH and Wild Heerbrugg AG merged to form Wild Leitz AG. In 1990 Wild Leitz Holding AG merged with the Cambridge Instrument Company, and Wild Leitz AG became Leica Heerbrugg AG. In 1992, management bought out the Leica camera business. In 1997, the Leica group was split into Leica Microsystems and Leica Geosystems.