Re: [Leica] Boxes

[apbc <apbc@public1.sta.net.cn>]

After several days cogitation I now realise why box collecting is where 
it is at - 

A LUGGER recently noted that the R8 winder is marked 'Made in Portugal' 
but that the box says 'Made in Germany'. Well presumably it is the latter 
that encourages many to cough up the big bucks but as Pascal (just a 
thought - perhaps was some other LUGGER) pointed out the 'Made in...' bit 
refers to the country where the most value was added to the goods: in 
this case it is clear that it is the box that adds the most value so a 
boxed winder is called 'Made in Germany' but the naked winder is 
presumably so cheap they are never put on sale:)

Seriously, when one blithely assumes that a brand name carries identical 
quality wherever the object is made simply due to the diligence of the 
mother company's QC it is too simplistic: in many cases moving production 
overseas brings a lot of complications which will affect the final 
product. A Volkswagen made in Shanghai is decidedly not the same quality 
as one made in Wolfsburg: I know, I have owned several and driven or been 
driven in several hundred plus I have seen both factories. One important 
factor in this instance is that Chinese law dictates a certain amount of 
local content which comes from a range of suppliers of frequently 
inferior quality. Now as for Leica I understand their Canadian facility 
was originally largely involved in producing high end special optics for 
scientific and military applications and the cameras and camera lenses 
were just a small sideline: it stands to reason that they were fully 
capable of making such products every bit as well as those in Wetzlar. My 
limited experience and those of others of my acquaintance bear this out. 
As for Portugal - who can say but we do know that Solms seems to think 
that 'Made in Germany' is a selling point worth highlighting: witness 
their recent press releases for the 21 Asph or the 90 Apo Asph. Do they 
know something we don't about Leica QC in different countries???

Oh well, back to the darkroom and all those intoxicating fumes :)



Adrian Bradshaw
Editorial and Corporate Photography
Shanghai, China