Saarbourg optic modern16x50 coated lens. Made in France (1 Viewer)

[alan12345]

Hello. I have recently acquired a pair of binoculars. They have the name SAARBOURG. They are also marked OPTIC MODERN..16 x 50...COATED LENSES...They are also marked. MADE IN FRANCE..
They are longer than normal at 23 ,cm
Please can any tell me anything at all about these binoculars

Thank you

Alan

 

[Paultricounty]

Hello. I have recently acquired a pair of binoculars. They have the name SAARBOURG. They are also marked OPTIC MODERN..16 x 50...COATED LENSES...They are also marked. MADE IN FRANCE..
They are longer than normal at 23 ,cm
Please can any tell me anything at all about these binoculars

Thank you

Alan

Welcome to BF.

Post a few pictures, would love to see what they look like. I used to have full sets of French made Clave astronomy eyepieces that were phenomenal quality.

Paul

 

[alan12345]

 

[alan12345]

They are worn, the black sleeves are taped together. Lenses are not clear. Interested to know how old they are. Why named after a town in Germany but made in France.

 

[Paultricounty]

I never seen those before. Maybe one of the experts will chime in and give us some good info. John Robert’s usually comes up with good data on binoculars.

Paul

 

[Binastro]

The length will probably provide better images if properly collimated.

If uncoated maybe 1930s?

There are several other same name binoculars in different sizes.

Did this town change countries?

Sometimes binoculars are named after stores or opticians.

I cannot find an actual manufacturer.

It could be a 10x50 with extra tubes added and longer focus objectives.

Regards,
B.

P.S.
Seems blue coated so maybe late 1950s.

 

[John A Roberts]

Hi Alan,

A quick search under 'saarbourg binoculars', shows:
a) a Worthpoint listing 'Vintage Saarbourg Binoculars 8x26 with brown leather case', and;
b) a Pickclik one 'Saarbourg binoculars, black, 8 x 26, good condition, with brown leather case'.

Each shows one image, with one unit being centre focus and the other individual focus:



And neither 'saarbourg jumelles' (French for binoculars) or 'saarbourg ferngläser' (German) shows anything useful.
So likely a marketer's branding - notwithstanding the 'Made in France' marking in English.


John


p.s. It may be worthwhile to inquire on Cloudy Nights: https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/64-binoculars/

 

[tehri]

They are worn, the black sleeves are taped together. Lenses are not clear. Interested to know how old they are. Why named after a town in Germany but made in France.

there is also a homonymous city, Sarrebourg (Saarburg) in France.

 

[fazalmajid]

France occupied the Saarland for about a decade as reparations for WW2, but its capita lis Saarbrücken, not “Saarbourg” and in any case the Saarland was never annexed by France (it was given a choice by referendum and opted to return to Germany).

 

[tenex]

"Saarbourg" must be the French name for the German town of Saarburg which was very briefly held by France (along with the entire west bank of the Rhine) in the Napoleonic era, but otherwise part of a German principality. (It's just north of the Alsace-Lorraine region which went back and forth with the fortunes of war for centuries.) And it was under French occupation again after WW2, from 1946-56, before returning to Germany. So I suppose naming a French binocular "Saarbourg" has politics to it, either hopeful or wistful depending on the date of manufacture?

(Presumably the French would have spelled their own town of "Sarrebourg" correctly, which is further south, in Lorraine?

 

[tehri]

 

[tenex]

Well then, maybe "Saarbourg" is the German name for the French town, and binoculars were made by Germans living there? That's a simpler hypothesis. French Wikipedia has an extensive article on Sarrebourg that mentions "Verreries Lorraines de Sarrebourg, de 1924 à 1979", which sounds more like crystal wares than optics, but who knows what else may have been there. Some things are too obscure for Google. In any case these look like they were produced around or just after WW2, don't they?

 

[henry link]

The binocular appears to have been cobbled together by adding an extension to the objective bell of a 10x50 and then substituting a longer focal length 50mm objective lens to increase the magnification to 16x. The advantages of making a 16x50 from a 10x50 that way rather than by simply substituting a shorter focal length eyepiece are that the eye relief would be preserved and aberrations should be lower.

 

[Binastro]

See post #6.

Regards,
B.