This week on The Business of Watches, we’re in Wetzlar, Germany, home of the legendary camera and lens maker, Leica. Of course, Leica isn’t just an optics company. Since 2015, it’s been on a new mission to create watches as well, a project initiated by Leica’s controlling shareholder, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, who is not only passionate about cameras and photography, but also timepieces.
Henrik Ekdahl wearing a Leica watch and using a Leica camera in 1996 (left) during his first stint with the brand, and in 2024 (right) wearing a newer model Leica watch, after rejoining the company as head of watches and accessories. (Photo courtesy Leica)
The person in charge of Leica’s nascent watch ambitions is Henrik Ekdahl, a convivial Swede who has returned to Leica after more than two decades away, spent in the executive ranks of automakers, and, most recently, watchmakers such as IWC.
Leica’s connection to watchmaking is not unwarranted. Ernst Leitz, the company’s founder, studied watchmaking in Neuchâtel in the 1860s. It was partly this mechanical know-how that allowed him to begin producing optical instruments, including microscopes and cameras, in Germany and to create the foundation for the company that would become Leica.
The latest iteration of Leica watches, launched in 2022, is currently distributed only at Leica stores and online. Less than 5,000 watches are currently being produced each year by the brand, but Ekdahl says the watch division has ambitions to grow and make further use of its manufacturing expertise with new designs and models that draw on Leica’s long association with mechanics and watchmaking.
Leica ZM 11.
There’s plenty of watch business and strategy to discuss, and we hope you enjoy the conversation. Be sure to leave any thoughts or questions in the comments section, and we’ll do our best to respond. Want to subscribe so you never miss an episode? This show is being published to the original Hodinkee Podcasts feed, so you can subscribe wherever you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or TuneIn.
Show Notes
0:53 100 Years of Leica: Event in Wetzlar
2:35 Henrik Ekdahl is the new Managing Director of Ernst Leitz Werkstätten GmbH
4:13 Cartier
4:50 Rolls-Royce
4:59 Mini Cooper (BMW)
6:40 IWC Schaffhausen
8:36 The History of Leica Watches
11:30 Example of vintage Leica watch (eBay)
12:36 Dr. Andreas Kaufmann on watches (YouTube)
13:38 Reinhard Meis (Deployant)
14:37 Lehmann
16:25 Leica Watches
22:21 Leica Red Dot (Red-Dot-Org)
25:59 Leica ZM 2 Monochrom
27:00 Leica ZM 12
27:30 Chronode
28:51 Leica Stores
34:01 Gerd Plange
35:40 Leica Portugal Manufacture
