Leica Moves Into Watch Business

World renowned for its cameras, Leica is attempting to bring their talent for precision craftsmanship to another area that demands it – mechanical movement watches.

That’s right, the company known since 1914 for their cameras could soon be the next big name in luxury watches.

Born out of Leica’s new Ernst Leitz Werkstätten the watches will accompany the maker’s cameras starting with two models initially, dubbed the Leica L1 and Leica L2 watches respectively.

Designed by Achim Heine, the man responsible for many of Leica’s current designs and someone who is a steadyhand when it comes to maintaining the manufacturer’s strict vision in aesthetic, Heine’s L1 and L2 seek to bring the same craft that makes the cameras so successful to luxury watches, some of which can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In a press release describing the new watches, Leica said: “The Leica signature look can be found in the countless design elements and features of the watches…The elegance of the hands and indexes, the shape of the finely-detailed stainless-steel case, the special fluting on the crown and the cambered shape of the glass that is reminiscent of a camera lens.”

Crafted in partnership with Lehmann Präzision, the Leica L1 and Leica L2 will be mechanical movement watches with a winding mechanism as well as sapphire crystal glass on the front and back of the watch, allowing the wearer to see the delicate mechanical gears inside of it.

Watch enthusiast website Hodinkee praised the design of the Leica L1 and Leica L2 saying it was very much in the spirit of the cameras produced by the company.

Expect a hefty price tag for these watches – with only 400 projected per annum, analysts expect the price of the watch will come in under $USD 12,000. That’s a lot of cash for a brand new make but probably no problem for the dedicated Leica fans out there.