Binoculars Leitz Wetzlar 15x60 AVIOTUR - 13 Specimens Produced, 1932

Binoculars 15x60 model AVIOTUR (Messinggläser), produced by Leitz Wetzlar in 1932, in only 13 specimens.

It is known, thanks to a Leitz manager who had the opportunity to consult the Leitz production records between 1931 and 1933, that the manufacture of this specific model, called "Aviotur" 15x60, was of only 13 examples and those known to date are only 5: 139140, 139141, 139142, 139143 and 139144 of which, the one in my possession, with the lowest serial number "139140".

The binoculars with serial number 139142 are sold at the Herman Historica auction house on July 12, 2024 while the binoculars with serial number 139144 are in the possession of an important collector who acquired them at a well-known auction house on February 8, 2025.

The information relating to the model AVIOTUR are also confirmed by another important German collector, part of "Leica Historica Germany", Lothar Funke.

Lothar points out that in a Leitz meeting held in April 2022, it was discovered that, between the numbers 138001 and 142000 (i.e. between 1931 and 1933) a total of 13 Aviotur 15x60 (139015, 139139-139150) were built and in the same period 14 Dilucarit 8x60 of which one is known with S/N 1407XX.

Only today, after many years, have we been able to complete this information.

The binoculars have a weight of 1.8 kg, are made with an aluminum body, bronze eyepiece plates and objective tubes and are in an excellent state of conservation, as is their original leather case.

The Leitz Company is an optical company. It was founded in 1869 by Ernst Leitz, known as Ernst Leitz I (1843-1920), as the successor to Carl Kellner's 1849 company, the Optical Institute, in Wetzlar.