Experimental Prototype Binoculars Voigtländer & Sohn, circa 1897

Military binoculars, produced by Voigtländer & Sohn in about 1897, as an experimental prototype. Towards the end of the 19th century, in fact, thanks to the invention and diffusion on the market of various types of prisms, which provided new observation methods, many companies such as Goerz, Zeiss, Hensodt and Voigtländer, began to experiment with the creation of models with innovative shapes whose sole purpose was to obtain unique and functional examples which would replace the now obsolete Galilean models.

This path necessarily passed through the creation of binoculars with unusual and innovative designs for the time, which were continuously modified. Among these, only a very few models saw the introduction onto the market in large-scale production. Furthermore, this model, compared to the various types of prisms most widespread in that period such as Porro I and II, Sprenger-Lehman, Abbe-Koenig, hides inside a "reflection prism" made of a single piece of crystal on which a 45° housing has been shaped which acts as the body of the binoculars. This means that even the prism inside, although for the time it was regulated by basic principles of reflection, was in itself a further innovation, in addition to the shape, adopted exclusively by Voigtländer & Sohn. The eyepieces are made up of an unusual "triplet" with 13.5 mm concave and convex lenses which, together with the objective lenses with a diameter of 33 mm, provide approximately 2x/3x magnification. Furthermore, the interpupillary distance is fixed and the focus is regulated by a central screw system that acts on the eyepieces by means of a bridge. The binoculars do not have any serial number and under the screw used to fix the focusing mechanism, there is the writing "Brunswiek Germany". In light of this, it is therefore important to consider that in all known binoculars of "Voigtländer", the associated city present in the logo, is "Braunschweig". This example also has the writing "Brunswiek" in Low German or Low Saxon, a language spoken in northern Germany and extinct since the early 1900s.

Voigtländer Braunschweig was created in Vienna in 1756, the company took its name from its founder, Johann Christoph Voigtländer and initially produced optical instruments, intended in particular for microscopes and other scientific equipment. Among the first achievements are the Petzval type objectives, and others destined to become famous, such as the Collinear and the Heliar.

In 1840 he built the first camera lens, while in 1841 the first all-metal daguerreotype was developed. Subsequently it produced slab machines, built in a practically artisanal way.

In 1849 the headquarters were moved to Braunschweig, Germany, where shortly after Voigtländer & Sohn was born.

In 1925 it was bought by Schering AG. Later the Voigtländer directed the production towards cameras accessible to all, and this allowed it to remain among the market leaders until after the Second World War.

In 1958 it was bought by the Carl Zeiss Foundation and in 1972 it was renamed "Zeiss Ikon Voigtländer".

In 1973 the brand became the property of Rollei until the 1982 crisis.

At this point the brand was bought first by "Plus foto", which from 1980 marketed Voigtländer cameras produced by Ricoh and Chinon and then in 1995 by "Ringfoto", but this represents more than anything else a long period of darkness. Finally in 1999 there was the rebirth of the brand with the purchase by the Japanese Cosina.