The production of Leica watches

Flawless, precision engineering is found in fields other than the camera industry – and while M Leicas represent a legendary testimony to manufacturing, the art of watch-making is equally fascinating. Leica asked photographer Michael Agel – most readers will surely have seen his outstanding concert images and musician portraits – to document the production of the hand-wound ZM1 and ZM2 watches. We are presenting some of his pictures, on the occasion of the recent launch of the ZM 1 Gold Limited Edition.

The great love of detail is not only evident in the production of the calibers with patented push-crown, which Leica realises together with Lehman Präzision in the Black Forest; it is just as obvious in the photographs taken by Michael Agel at the factory. Rather than unemotionally documenting the technology, his images stir both the senses and the desire for a Leica timepiece. They reveal details of the steps that need to be taken, giving an idea of how much knowledge and skill is required to manufacture these pieces. In addition to the aforementioned, hand-wound watches, which are currently available in three versions, Leica have also introduced their first automatic watches with Swiss calibers.