Fake Zeiss (1 Viewer)

[trancework]

Couldn't see the terrible engraving on the original picture before I bought these.
Just opened the box and my heart sank.

 

[trancework]

Didn't see the marking on the eyepiece either.

 

[Binastro]

Looks like an interesting binocular, if you didn't pay much.
Are the eyepieces really capable of more than 20 dioptres adjustment?
Any clue where made?
Coated?
What is the clear aperture of the objectives?
Liebermann and Goerz lookalike?

 

[trancework]

The eyepiece moves a good 15mm from fully out to in. They don't seem to have any coatings and there is no other markings on them to identify them.

 

[trancework]

Also on further inspection the left side has an aluminium top and objective cover plate. The objective lens cover is also aluminium. On the right they are all brass.

 

[trancework]

 

[trancework]

The clear aperture is 50mm

 

[Binastro]

Strange indeed.

Perhaps used in Alice in Wonderland.

 

[trancework]

Haha,
I'm not sure if I should strip them and give them a clean. Who knows what I will find inside?

 

[etudiant]

Also on further inspection the left side has an aluminium top and objective cover plate. The objective lens cover is also aluminium. On the right they are all brass.

Hybrid binoculars, surely a first for BF.
It seems to be a chimaera, maybe recreated from two damaged glasses.
Still pretty interesting, there must be some makers markings on them somewhere.

 

[Foss]

Ouch!
Another heads up comes from Hans Seeger's Fernglasser und Fernrohre (pg 332) that unscrupulous people have taken surplus wartime Zeiss 7x50 Kriegsmarine prism plates (with eagle, swastika, T marking, big N marking) and attached them to old civilian Zeiss 7x50 bodies. I saw a pair that I had my suspicions about sell at a recent auction for $500 +.

 

[trancework]

The left objective

 

[trancework]

Got as far as striping the left diopter and hit a wall, the section with the numbers does not clear the housing.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Where did you get them? Can you post a link to the original advertisement/auction?

 

[trancework]

Here was the picture from the auction.

 

[garymh]

Got as far as striping the left diopter and hit a wall, the section with the numbers does not clear the housing.

The ring with the engraving on will unscrew separately (it is a reverse thread) from the rest of the eyepiece and then you will be able to remove the eyepiece from the tube.

 

[trancework]

Thanks garymh,
Have you seen this style before?

 

[garymh]

Hi,

It looks very much like a fake based on an old French binocular - there are a lot of these about.

Here is a picture of one of mine.

 

[NZbinodude]

That's a shit situation to find yourself in! Hope you can find a way to get back at the seller.

Going by the auction screen-grab you posted: It looks very cliche and cheesy - just the way that they've utilised a still life-esque style screams 'I'm trying really hard'. Often a good product will speak for itself. But that's just from my experience - because that's exactly the technique I use when trying to sell old junk. Haha.

All the best.
AJ

 

[etudiant]

That's a shit situation to find yourself in! Hope you can find a way to get back at the seller.

Going by the auction screen-grab you posted: It looks very cliche and cheesy - just the way that they've utilised a still life-esque style screams 'I'm trying really hard'. Often a good product will speak for itself. But that's just from my experience - because that's exactly the technique I use when trying to sell old junk. Haha.

All the best.
AJ

Most people don't even think of a fake binocular, so it may well be that the seller was just unknowing, rather than malicious. Learning that there was a flourishing business building fake Zeiss optics was certainly a surprise to me when I first became interested in binoculars.