Binoculars 8x40 E. Krauss - Paris, "Italian Military Aviation", circa 1915

Binoculars 8x40, produced by E. Krauss - Paris, to be used by the "Italian Military Aviation" starting around 1915. In fact, after signing the "London Pact" on 26 April 1915, which represents the final outcome of the negotiations between Italy, England, Russia and France, which established Italy's entry into the war within a month of signing, the Italian Government found itself faced with extremely large war needs regarding the supply of armaments, provisions and technical equipment to the military involved in the conflict. To meet these needs, it had to resort to supplies from co-belligerent countries such as France.

In 1915, in fact, when Italy entered the war, our Army had in use French Adrian Mod. 15 helmets, Monoplane and Biplane Fighter Airplanes such as the SPAD VII produced by the French company "Sociéte Pour l'Aviation et ses Dérivés", Hanriot HD.1 produced by the "Société Anonyme des Appareils d'Aviation Hanriot", Nieuport 11 by the "Société Anonyme des Établissements Nieuport", as well as some French-made rifle optics such as Amigues and Scheibler and much other material. In fact, although Italy boasted important companies in the optical field and not only, this was necessary to comply with the insufficient war production of Italian material to be allocated to our armed forces. This binocular is therefore to be considered part of a very limited French production batch, intended for the "Italian Military Air Force": on the right eyepiece plate, in fact, there is the mark of the manufacturer E. Krauss - Paris, while on the left eyepiece plate there is the mark of acceptance by the "Italian Military Air Force", a name in use until March 28, 1923 when, with Royal Decree No. 645, the name was changed to "Regia Aeronautica".

The body of the binocular has an aesthetic peculiarity that differentiates it from all the other models: the prism housing is rounded in shape. This suggests that it was a model designed "ex novo" for this specific client.

The view is clear and collimated and all the mechanisms work correctly.

It is accompanied by its original case.

History of E. Krauss:

E. Krauss was a French manufacturer of Cameras and Lenses; the company was founded in the late 1880s. The founder Eugen Krauss was the brother of G. A. Krauss (Gustav Adolf Krauss). The company had a license to produce Carl Zeiss type lenses.

Leitz called his 35 mm camera "Leica" instead of "Leca" so as not to clash with E. Krauss's French name "L'Eka". In addition to cameras and lenses, Krauss produced Telescopes and Binoculars, many of which were sold and produced under license from Zeiss.