[LRflex] Re: leicareflex Digest V4 #127
- From: KEITH LONGMORE <keith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 11:07:45 +0100
Hello Folks
Interesting to read your comments about the winder - I had forgotten.
With the grip fitted, you can't really reach the normal shutter release
on the R-E! And I can't see why I would want motor-driven multiple
exposures... Sounds like a case of "Good thinking Batman.......not".
David's info about the break up of Leitz rings a bell or two now. The
problem with a one-product company is that if it goes through a bad
patch, there isn't anything to fall back on. And worse - if a new
product fails, it's almost certainly fatal.
I was born in Coventry, a city that had an illustrious past in
manufacturing, especially precision goods. In the 19th century, it was
the leading and largest watchmaking region of the UK - including
London. In 1868, both the Brits and Swiss sent delegates to the
Philadephia Expo; their brief was to discover how the Americans could
make superb watches at low price, and help formulate a defence
strategy. The Swiss came back and said: " There is not one Swiss watch
in 10,000 that can equal the performance of these mass-produced
products; we must change. Factories, mass production, quality." The
Swiss government passed a law that for every so many US watches imported
into Switzerland, one of the automatic watchmaking machines was to be
provided. In 30 years, they were seriously threatening the US makers,
who ultimately priced themselves off the market.
The British came back, and said "We must keep out these nasty cheap
foreign products at all costs! Our high-quality hand made watches are
far better, and anyone who knows will always buy them." So they set up
the British Horological Institute, which was to promote English
watchmaking. By 1914, the English watch industry had almost disappeared.
There were two companies set up in Coventry to mass produce movements,
also one in Prescot, Merseyside. The Coventry Movement Company could
make upwards of 10,000 movements per week; the biggest order it ever had
was for 1000. Rotherhams survived by buying into the Swiss industry -
they bought Buren - and the Lancashire Watch Company of Prescot went
bankrupt in 1910.
Coventry watches were lovely craftsmanship, high quality, expensive. A
£25 Coventry watch could not match the timekeeping of a £4.00 Swiss
watch, or a £1.50 American Waltham. Coventry watches always used
full-plate movements. They were thick and heavy. Swiss and American
were slim and light.
I fear that Leica are in danger of going down a similar road. Past
glories are meaningless - it's present-day sales and profit that
matter. A name does not make a product good, only good design, product
quality, consumer perception can offer a chance of success. That, with
a good name will make the success bigger, if it comes.
Well, I apologise if the diversification is a bit long, and I don't want
to make all you Flexers downcast. But, you know, history has a lot to
teach us, if we are willing to see and learn. I just hope that Leica
will learn from their past, get it right, and enjoy the success we all
would wish for them.
Cheers
Keith
------
Unsubscribe or change to/from Digest Mode at:
http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/lrflex.htm
Archives are at:
//www.freelists.org/archives/leicareflex/
Other related posts:
