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Leica Televid Zoom eyepiece coming apart (1 Viewer)

Swissboy

Sempach, Switzerland
Supporter
Switzerland
I have a 20-60x zoom eyepiece for my APO Televid 77. Though I bought it in 1996, it had so far never caused any problems. Today however, I tried to pull out the eyecups, and the whole eyepiece came apart. The optical parts stay together but the metal parts around them with the zoom indicator can be turned further than they should allow.

I will have to send it in for repairs, but I still wonder why this happened. It's particularly bothersome as I was in the process of selling this piece when the problem showed up for the first time. :-C
 
....., but I still wonder why this happened. .............

I had the repairperson on the phone. He said that a problem like this might happen if the eyepiece got a major hit. Though I don't recall any such thing happening the last many years. I still think this coming apart virtually spontaneously should not be possible to happen in such expensive optics.

We'll see what this is going to cost me. In Leica's terms most likely not a matter of warranty repair.
 
I had the same problem last year, I sent my eyepiece to Leica and was told it was beyond repair, had to buy another, I was a bit miffed.
 
I had the same problem last year, I sent my eyepiece to Leica and was told it was beyond repair, had to buy another, I was a bit miffed.

Got my eyepiece back today. Repair cost me 100 Swiss Francs. But at least it was repairable.

Of course that means that, in essence, I get 100 CHF less for my scope. The discovery of the problem happened as I was showing the scope to a potential buyer, after I had advertised it for a specific price. So I can't just up the selling price.
 
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I had exactly the same problem a couple of years ago, the eyepiece coming apart in my hands when I tried to remove it from the scope. Leica USA repaired it without charge. I can't remember exactly when I bought it, but it would have been about 10 years old.
 
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At least it isn't as bad as the APO Televid body coming apart! My scope body took a fall onto grass (fall only about 4 feet), and neatly broke in half in the middle, still sitting in the garage..
 
................ Leica USA repaired it without charge. I can't remember exactly when I bought it, but it would have been about 10 years old.

I'm sure Swarovski would have repaired it free of charge. But Leica is stingy here. I experienced that on a number of previous occasions. May be better in the US.
 
At least it isn't as bad as the APO Televid body coming apart! My scope body took a fall onto grass (fall only about 4 feet), and neatly broke in half in the middle, still sitting in the garage..

That is definitely pretty bad. But these things depend on just how the scope hits the ground. My brother's APO77 got the prisms shattered when it fell off the tripod because it was not secured. It hit the gravel surface real hard with the rear bottom as it was essentially flung off the tripod when my brother tried to shoulder it. My own APO77 tumbled decades ago when we were up on the rocky platform of Masada in Israel. The scope-tripod assembly did not withstand a sudden gust. There was a slight dent in the sun shade, but the foot of the scope had broken off. It had probably absorbed most of the impact energy. The scope's optics did not get damaged at all despite this heavy blow. So I was still able to use it on the trip, just had to position it on the roof of the car or so. Leica managed to replace that foot assembly, including engraving the scope's manufacturing number.

So I guess there is a joint in the body in that area where your scope broke apart. Might be worth investigating about repairs.
 
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