[Leica] Horology

[imx <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

I am reading a fat book about the industrial and technological history of
the watch and that is fascinating stuff. The mechanical watch is a fine
mixture of craftmanship, art and science and while outdated and made
obsolete by the digital watch, it still sells well. The drive of the master
craftsmen to design and produce a collection of extremely accurate machined
parts to indicate time with an accuracy of a fraction of a second per day
(or week) is paralled by the leica designers in their field. In a sense it
is a bit strange that so much effort is put in a device that is used as a
rough time indicator. it is enough for most people to be on time within a
minute or so. Still when we look at a watch of which we know that is
accurate beyond belief, we look at Time Measurement itself. The joy of using
leica cameras and lenses is partly based on the same irrationality. When
taking pictures, we use mostly a small fraction of the precision and
recording capabilities of the instrument. And as the recent exchange of
opinions about the limits of digital printing has shown, many persons are
satisfied when they see an image that seems as detailed as the eye can
percieve. Still there is more than meets the eye. As with the watch, the
hidden precision and accuracy of reproduction, shines through and adds a new
dimension. The Cosina Nokton 1.5/50 may superficially deliver as good a
picture as the Summilux. Still I know that my Nokton has decentred elements
and my Summilux has not. And that fact diminishes the joy of using the
Nokton. At least it does for me. If I take a picture of a car with small
reflections in the headlamp, I know there are details within the
reflections, that good silver images can extract (and digital prints
cannot). While I am unable to see these tiny details, I sense they are here
and they will add to the hidden dimension of picture quality, where sensing
is more important than seeing. As with a painting where you sense the artist
and his brushes, without really seeing.
I have no idea how to check the accuracy of a high precision mechanical
watch and I know that a humble digital watch from Malaisia will rival the
accuracy of the Swiss product. But the Swiss watch is durable and will
record time for centuries, while the digital one lasts a year at most. And
the swiss watch is being assembled with great care, parts are selected and
machined to the highest industrial standards. The use of Leica cameras is
for most of us a leisure  activity, with passion, but still an act that
should be pleasurable in itself. What pleasure to derive from it is an
individual preference. I like to try to find the limits of recording
capacity of the machine and I like to use an instrument that I know is build
with an engineering quality that can support my queeste. The proverbial
response that it is better to use a medium format camera than a 35mm camera
when you are looking for high quality images, is missing the point. As is
the remark that a simple digital watch is as good as a 10.000 dollar
mechanical watch for its purpose of time indication. But the purpose of the
swiss watch is not the mere indication of time, it is the embodiment of a
century long drive to measure time to the smallest fraction. And the Leica
camera is also the result of a century long drive to mechanically capture a
slice of reality with high accuracy. The value of the camera is not measured
in its ability to take good pictures. This list is full of messages that
many cameras are very capable to do just that. We do the engineers of Canon
etc no justice when we assume that they do not know how to build great
cameras and lenses. They do! The value of the Leica camera is that is can
take good pictures and that it is at the same time  a piece of engineering
that reflects tradition, craft and science. You sense ingenuity and elegance
when holding the camera. The lenses are a good example. No one will see or
can even detect the small tolerances that are used when machining the parts
or fitting the parts. To adjust a lens element in such a way that the object
point can be recorded at a micron level, is irrelevant for many a user. But
the drive to do it and the craft to be able to adjust the lens in such a
way, is build into the result. And we may or may not feel inclined to use
the instrument in the same way as it is build and designed. The small
negative-big print rule was the driving force of Barnack. To maximise the
information on a negative is still the rule at Solms. And it is nice to know
that the optical quality is still a challenge to wrestle with. As with an
asymptote, you may never be able to find the target, but it is a pleasure to
try. 

Erwin