[rollei_list] Phone disconnected Karl Heitz, RIP (Query: Mechancial Cameras)
- From: mak@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 13:56:17 -0700 (PDT)
phone number on the website is disconnected
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Shell <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Apr 12, 2005 12:14 PM
To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Karl Heitz, RIP (Query: Mechancial Cameras)
On Tuesday, April 12, 2005, at 12:25 PM, Douglas Shea wrote:
> Sad to read that he was treated poorly by both Alpa and Gitzo; Alpa's
> demise
> was certainly no fault of Karls'. Interesting that in spite of these
> difficulties that he ended up with all of the excess parts and
> inventory
> (thank god).
This was in the late 70s. Some ex-Berkey Photo people got up with
Pignons S.A. and convinced them Karl was a slacker and they could sell
a lot more. They came up with some slick advertising, and ran it a few
times. Their company was called TAG, The Alpa Group. It was during
this time that the Japanese "Alpa" cameras came along. They were
nothing but Chinon Memotron cameras with different top covers and the
Alpa name on them, and they did not sell. A bit over a year and TAG
was gone in a bankruptcy, and Alpa was twisting in the wind. Karl took
them back, but the writing was on the wall, and they went out of
business. I don't know if Karl bought parts and such at the bankruptcy
auction in Switzerland.
What happened with Gitzo was a bit different. Gitzo was on the verge
of bankruptcy in Paris due to poor management. Lino Manfrotto bought
the company, put in good management, and made it into a profitable
concern again. Since Lino was already tight with Bogen Photo, it was
only natural that he would move distribution to them. But it was a
blow to Karl, since Gitzo was his main business.
Bob
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