Binoculars Leitz Wetzlar 15x60 AVIOTUR - Observers of Luftstreitkräfte/Kaiserliche Marine, circa 1917

Binoculars 15x60 model AVIOTUR (Messinggläser) Wide Angle, produced by Leitz Wetzlar in around 1917, intended for the Air Defense Observatories of the Luftstreitkräfte and/or the Coastal Artillery Observatories of the Kaiserliche Marine. The binoculars, weighing 1.8 kg, are made with an aluminum body, eyepiece plates and bronze objective tubes.

It was a technologically advanced model, so much so that Leitz continued to produce its binoculars with the identical design, even the 7x50 specimens intended for the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) until 1945.

We are aware that the production of this specific model called "Aviotur" 15x60 Wide Angle was only very few examples, in fact those produced known to date are only 5, with serial numbers: 139140, 139141, 139142, 139143 and 139144, of which only 2 "survivors" one in my possession and the other with mat. 139144 sold in 2009 in a well-known international auction.

I want to underline the rarity of this binoculars, pointing out that until 2009 there was no knowledge of the existence of this specific model called "AVIOTUR" 15x60 Wide Angle used for air defense so much so that it was not reported in no documented paper census, nor in any known catalog relating to the Leitz Wetzlar binoculars and that, in the official publications, only the data relating to a 15x60 binoculars made for the "Military Observatories" (and used for air defense) were reported without it being specified model name, years of production and quantities produced.

Only today after many years have we completed this information.

The binoculars is in an excellent state of preservation, as is its original leather case.

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