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landsknechte
10-07-2007, 14:36
Yesterday, I found myself looking at my IIIc from a slightly different angle. On the top of the cavity between the flange and the curtain, right next to the roller that couples the lens to the rangefinder, there are some numbers. Neatly scratched in with some sort of a sharp stylus, in what looks like a European handwriting (using the 1 that looks to Americans like a compressed 7).

32,
13

Anyone have any clue what that might mean?
LeicaTom
10-08-2007, 22:37
Yesterday, I found myself looking at my IIIc from a slightly different angle. On the top of the cavity between the flange and the curtain, right next to the roller that couples the lens to the rangefinder, there are some numbers. Neatly scratched in with some sort of a sharp stylus, in what looks like a European handwriting (using the 1 that looks to Americans like a compressed 7).

32,
13

Anyone have any clue what that might mean?

They are the employee numbers or stations of each person who put together different pieces of the camera in the production line :)

My "Half Race" #3974xx is all torn down now and the doctor told me there`s little two digit numbers all over the inside of the camera :D

Tom
landsknechte
10-09-2007, 00:26
Ah. Kilroy war hier.
LeicaTom
10-09-2007, 00:56
Yeah, except his name was Fritz....... LeicaFritz :D

Tom
DrLeoB
10-09-2007, 09:49
So far, I have found 14 of these numbers in Tom's camera: 1, 5, 7, 14, 28, .... I have found similar numbers in my own cameras and usually, the same number is in the same location among cameras. Be another point of interest to have names to go with them....
LeicaTom
10-09-2007, 15:24
So far, I have found 14 of these numbers in Tom's camera: 1, 5, 7, 14, 28, .... I have found similar numbers in my own cameras and usually, the same number is in the same location among cameras. Be another point of interest to have names to go with them....

Sounds like a job for the Leica Detectives!

Maybe the Leitz workers were smuggling out top secret information in a form of numbers code you could get by tearing down your Leica after you bought it at
Leitz NYC?........(JUST KIDDING!) ;)

Thanks for all the hard work Leo!

Tom
landsknechte
10-09-2007, 17:28
The cold war was just getting under way, ODESSA was busy at the time. Hmmm...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station

Makes one wonder what all those so-called telegraph codes really meant.

;)