Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/19

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Subject: Re: [Leica] IIIC-K
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 14:07:59 -0400

At 09:54 PM 4/18/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>I just sold a IIIcK #391114. The camera had no "K" on the top plate and no
>"K" stamped on the shutter. From getting it cleaned
>at Kindermann in Canada, I was told it had a ball-bearing shutter.
>And most of the Leica books( like Lager's) showed this camera as being in a
>batch of 200 made from 1943-1944. Possibly made
>for US or another client? Still not sure.
>

The ball-bearings were added to all IIIc production during the War and all
Leica RF's thereafter have them.  Despite this, there are no "IIIfK's" or
"M6K's".  The mark was used briefly on a limited run of cameras to indicate
both the presence of kugellageren and to indicate further cold-weather
preparations such as the use of lighter lubricants.  With experience, it
was found that the use of ball-bearings on both shutter columns was
unnecessary, and thus, the late IIIc to the current M6TTL only have the
ball-bearings on one side, the other having reverted to the earlier
pin-bearing.  

I have just enjoyed being part of an exchange which involved Jim McKeown on
this point, and the Party Line seems to be that the "K" in the "IIIcK"
stands for kugellager for the simple reason that the ONLY Leica gear so
marked had a 'kugellager' included, while the "K" seen internally on other
German cameras, such as the Contax, stood for 'kältefest', or
"cold-proofed", as this gear had no ball-bearings included.  The true
reason for the adaptation to cold conditions, I understand, has nothing to
do with either high-altitude operations or with the Eastern Front, but has
much to do with the German annexation of Norway in 1940, as these
modifications begin to be developed in the winter of 1940/41, before either
high-altitude bombing or the Eastern Front were issues in German military
employment.

Marc

msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!