Workers are trained to man every station in the lens-making process, with stations being rotated weekly so that they don’t burn out.
This vast space is where most of the brand’s glass elements are made, and Leica’s DNA in optics is very much in evidence. When we arrive at Leitz-Park at around 2pm, activity at the factory has already started to wind down for the day and the stark space is almost deserted except for a few stragglers in white lab coats ‒ here, as at many German companies, staff member start the day early. Here you can see changing exhibitions, take a guided tour, book an appointment with customer care services and peep into the factory before heading down to Wetzlar to capture a shot at the famous spot where Leica inventor Oskar Barnack took the first picture with the Ur-Leica. Rather than just being a manufacturing site, it was devised as a destination for Leica enthusiasts. With a main building that has been designed to resemble a film roll, this sleek complex is a hub for all things Leica besides the factory, it is also home to a café, the Arcona Living Ernst Leitz hotel, a gallery, a shop and more. The new factory belongs to Leica’s Leitz-Park, which officially opened to the public in 2018. High above the town sits a factory with a Leica sign overlooking the valley, a presence that is a constant reminder of the brand’s influence on the area ‒ even though Leica recently relocated the main part of its production to a newly built base just up the road. It is famous as the home of photography manufacturer Leica. An hour’s drive from Frankfurt, this small German town is not, however, renowned only for its picturesque qualities. With its quiet cobbled streets, pastel-hued timbered houses and location on the banks of the River Lahn, Wetzlar could easily be the setting of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
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