Wirgin Gewirette

The Gewirette is a small viewfinder-type camera made by Wirgin in Wiesbaden. The name Gewirette is derived from the company name Wirgin Brothers (GEbrüder WIrgin).

The Gewirette is a wonderfully crafted camera whose lens collapses into the body to make it more compact. To load and unload the film, the entire top of the camera has to be pulled off.

It came in a large number of of shutter and lens combinations from 1934 until 1938 when the company’s founders Heinrich and Josef fled Germany to escape anti-Jewish persecution. The factory was then forcibly sold to Adox, the company of Dr. Carl Schleussner, which relaunched the camera as the Adrette.

The Gewirette has an incredibly appealing design mixing pre-war nickel with leather making it a truly fascinating collectible.