England 1937 – Compact – 35 mm – Very Rare. The Compass was manufactured in London by the Swiss watch-makers Le Coultre et Cie for the Compass Cameras Ltd in 1937. It was conceived and designed by Noel Pemberton Billing, an airman and Member of Parliament and is probably one of the most incredible cameras … Read more99 Le Coultre & Cie
Compass
The most intricate
England 1934 – Subminiature – 16 mm – Very Rare. The Midget is a subminiature camera made by Coronet in England starting 1934. The Midget was as small as a match box and designed to be used as a gift in cereal packets. The designers took advantage of the way Bakelite could easily be moulded … Read more94 Coronet
Midget
Cereal box gift
France 1960 – Submarine – 35 mm – Very Rare. First sold in France in 1960, the Calypso was the world’s first fully capable underwater camera. This groundbreaking camera was developed in collaboration with renowned French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, who had envisioned the ideal underwater camera for years. Not only was it the most compact … Read more88 Spirotechnique
Calypso
First underwater
England 1905 – Spy Camera – Custom film – Very Rare. Designed around 1905 by Swedish engineer Magnus Neill, the Ticka Watch Camera is the European counterpart to the American Expo Watch Camera, patented in the United States on September 6, 1904. Falling squarely into the category of early spy cameras, it adopts the deceptive … Read more87 Houghton
Ticka
Germany 1932 – Folding – 120 film – Very rare. The Voigtlander Prominent 6 X 9 went into production in 1932 and is probably one of the most incredible folding cameras ever built. This massive folding camera was designed from the start to be a superlative camera and was sold about the same price of … Read more85 Voigtlander
Prominent
Germany 1935 – Compact – 34 mm – Very Rare. Produced from 1932, Zeiss Ikon’s Contax was designed to be the brand’s challenger to Leitz Leica. Aware of the Leica’s growing success, Zeiss Ikon decided to produce a competitor designed to be superior in every way using the same perforated 35 mm film. The name … Read more82 Zeiss Ikon
Contax “Chrome Face”
Few 100s produced
Germany 1932 – Compact – 35 mm – Very rare. Produced from 1932, Zeiss Ikon’s Contax was designed to be the brand’s challenger to Leitz Leica. Aware of the Leica’s growing success, Zeiss Ikon decided to produce a competitor designed to be superior in every way using the same perforated 35 mm film. The name … Read moreZeiss Ikon
Contax
France 1955 – Compact – 35 mm – Very Rare. Created in the mid-50s by Paul Lachaize near Lyon, France, the Mecilux is a remarkable device. Lachaize, a skilled artisan, ventured into industrial production using emerging precision plastic injection techniques. What sets the Mecilux apart is its focus on accessibility and user-friendliness. Lachaize devised an … Read more81 Lachaize
Mecilux
1500 produced
Germany 1940 – Compact – 35 mm – Very rare. The Praktiflex, launched by Kamera-Werkstatten (a.k.a. KW), made its debut at the 1939 Leipzig Fair and would generate excitement almost immediately. Demand for the new Praktiflex was so great, that the company had to quickly relocate into a former candy factory in Niedersedlitz in the … Read more80 Kamera Werkstatten
Praktiflex
Japan 1958 – Compact – 35 mm – Very rare. The Honor S1 (or Honor 35) is a Japanese Leica III copy, made from 1956 to 1959 by Zuiho Kōgaku. It seems that it was first developed by Daiichi Kōgaku as the Ichicon-35 though no original document has yet been found to confirm this. The … Read more77 Zuiho
Honor S1
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