Second World War & Big Eye Binoculars

We are proud to have for sale a large collection of Second World War Binoculars and Big Eye Binoculars from our HQ in the United Kingdom. These binoculars are both stunning to look at as well as having exceptional optics to give stunning clarity and a wide field of view. They would look stunning in any home of office environment and are perfecting for appreciating any view or simply gazing at the stars. 

As a general rule of thumb, the Germans and Japanese made the best quality optics with companies such as Zeiss and Nippon leading the world in prism and lens design and manufacture. This article is written to provide more information on German binoculars and in particular the 10×80 Flak Glas.  

In 1936 the German government identified a need for its military to be equipped with a large aperture observational binocular and commissioned a number of companies to submit designs. The requirement was for a 10×80 binocular that could be used for air observation, the 10 signifying they needed a magnification of 10 times and the 80 that they needed to have a front aperture of 80 mm, allowing for a wide field of view. Several optical companies submitted designs with Emil Busch (supported by Zeiss) winning the contract. The final design is now the recognisable Flakglas pictured.

10×80 Big Eye Binoculars

Big Eye Binoculars

It proved to be so effective that it was soon utilised by all branches of the German Army (Wehrmacht), Navy (Kriegsmarine) and Air Force (Luftwaffe). With German efficiency the production of the binoculars was out sourced to a number of other companies but only if there was strict adherence to exact build quality control. Minor variations were allowed to the design of the outer part of the 10×80 binocular, for example by the Kriegsmarine (Navy) adding longer splash shields as pictured, but they all retained the same inner design.  

Kriegsmarine Big Eye Binoculars

War Time Coding System….

The battlefield success of these binoculars made the disruption of their production a military priority for the allies, to counter this the German devised a war time coding system to ‘hide’ the factory origins. This was a closely guarded secret during the war with the vast majority of binoculars having a three-letter coding that you can see today – D.F. – Doppelfernrohr (double telescope), CXN – Emil Busch and an X and O indicating the lubrication used which was essential if deployed to sub zero climates.

War Time coding system used on Binoculars

War Time Codes

The list below is a near complete summary for all the war time codes and can be used identify the origins of any German WW2 set of binoculars. Please feel free to use this reference material and contact Aviation and Binoculars if you have any questions. 

CODE – MANUFACTURER – CITY – COUNTRY 

 
b e h ERNST LEITZ. WETZLAR GERMANY 
b e k HENSOLDT WERK FUR OPTIK UND MECHANIK HERBORN GERMANY 
b l c CARL ZEISS, MILITARABTEILUNG JENA JENA GERMANY 
b m h JIRASEK (not in Walter) PRAGUE CZECH 
b m j M. HENSOLDT & SOHNE, A.G. WETZLAR GERMANY 
b m t C. A. STEINHEIL SOHNE, GmbH MUNICH GERMANY 
b p d C. P. GOERZ, GmbH VIENNA AUSTRIA 
b v f C. REICHERT VIENNA AUSTRIA 
b y g JOH. WYKSEN, K.G. KATTOWITZ POLAND 
b z z I.G.-FARBENINDUSTRIE, CAMERAWERK MUNICH GERMANY 
c a d KARL KAHLES (telescopic sights) VIENNA AUSTRIA 
c a g D. SWAROVSKI WATTENS/TIROL AUSTRIA 
c a u KODAK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, DR. NAGEL WERK STUTTGART GERMANY 
c c x OPTISCHE UND FEINMECHANISCHE WERKE, HUGO MEYER & CO. GOERLITZ GERMANY 
c l b DR. F. A. WOHLER KASSEL GERMANY 
c l n ED. SPRENGER BERLIN GERMANY 
c r h FRANZ SCHMIDT & HAENSCH BERLIN GERMANY 
c r n HANSEATISCHE WERKSTATTEN FUR FEINMECHANIK UND OPTIK, FRIEDRICHS & Co. HAMBURG GERMANY 
c r o R. FUESS, formerly J. G. GREINER & GEISSLER BERLIN GERMANY 
c x n EMIL BUSCH, A.G. RATHENOW GERMANY 
d d v OCULUS (optometrist equipment, possibly gunsights) BERLIN GERMANY 
d d x VOIGTLAENDER & SOHN, A.G. BRAUNSCHWEIG GERMANY 
d k l JOSEF SCHNEIDER KREUZNACH GERMANY 
d o q DEUTSCHE SPIEGELGLAS A.G. (telescopes, lenses) LEINE GERMANY 
d o w WAFFENWERKE BRUNN A.G. (1943-OPTICOTECHNA GmbH) PRERAU CZECH. 
d p g ADOX KAMERAWERK GmbH (cameras) WIESBADEN GERMANY 
d p v ZEISS IKON A.G. DRESDEN GERMANY 
d p w ZEISS IKON A.G. GOERZWERK BERLIN GERMANY 
d p x ZEISS IKON A.G., CONTESSAWERK STUTTGART GERMANY 
d y m RUNGE & KAULFUSS RATHENOW GERMANY 
d y s HEINRICH ZEISS, UNIONZEISS K.G. (‘apparently optical’ BERLIN GERMANY 
d z l OPTISCHE ANSTALT OIGEE GmbH BERLIN GERMANY 
e a f MECHANOPTIK GESELLSCHAFT FUR PRAZISIONSTECHNIK, AUDE & REIPERT BABELSBERG GERMANY 
e a w R. WINKEL GmbH GOETTINGEN GERMANY 
e e d KURBI & NIGGELOH (photographic equipment) RADEVORMWALD GERMANY 
e s o G. RODENSTOCK MUNICH GERMANY 
e s u STEINHEIL SOHNE GmbH (telescopes & optics) MUNICH GERMANY 
e u g OPTISCHE PRAZISIONS WERKE GmbH WARSAW POLAND 
f c o SENDLINGER OPTISCHE GLASWERKE GmbH BERLIN GERMANY 
f j t PHOTOGRAMMETRIE GmbH (aerial recon. cameras) MUNICH GERMANY 
f l n FRANZ RAPSCH A.G. (sights, often subcontractor to Busch) RATHENOW GERMANY 
f v s SPINDLER & HOYER K.G. GOTTINGEN GERMANY 
f v x BECK & SOHNE KASSEL GERMANY 
f w r OPTISCHE ANSTALT SAALFELD GmbH SAALFELD GERMANY 
f x p HANS KOLLMORGEN GmbH BERLIN GERMANY 
g a g F. MOLLENKOPF STUTTGART GERMANY 
g k p RUF & Co., formerly CARL SCHUTZ KASSEL GERMANY 
g u g UNGARNISCHE OPTISCHE WERKE A.G. BUDAPEST HUNGARY 
g u j WERNER D. KUEHN BERLIN GERMANY 
g w v ERNST PLANK NURNBERG GERMANY 
g x l FRANKE & HEIDECKE (photographic equipment) BRAUNSCHWEIG GERMANY 
g x p HOMRICH & SOHN (photographic equipment) 
h d v OPTISCHE WERK OSTERODE GmbH OSTERODE GERMANY 
h f o VALENTIN LINHOF OHG (photographic equipment) MUNICH GERMANY 
h k m CARL BRAUN KG NURNBERG GERMANY 
h n a KORELLE WERKE, G.H. BRANDTMANN & Co. (photographic) DRESDEN GERMANY 
h r w HOH & HAHNE (photographic reproduction equipment) LEIPZIG GERMANY 
h w t IHAGEE KAMERAWERK, STEENBERGEN & Co. (cameras) DRESDEN GERMANY 
h x h A. KRUSS HAMBURG GERMANY 
j f n TETENAL PHOTOWERK, Dr. TRIEPEL, K.G. (photographic equipment) BERLIN GERMANY 
j f p DR. CARL LEISS BERLIN GERMANY 
j n h F. TUTEMANN (lens holders & optical equipment) LUDENSCHEID GERMANY 
j o n VOIGTLANDER-GEVAERT (cameras) BERLIN GERMANY 
j u x NEDINSCO, NEDERLANDSCHE INSTRUMENTEN, (vehicle & aircraft instruments?) VENLO NETHERLANDS 
j v e ERNST LUDWIG WEIXDORF GERMANY 
j x n HELMUT KORTH BERLIN GERMANY 
k h c OTTO HIMMLER (microscopes, optical equipment) BERLIN GERMANY 
k l n ERNST & WILHELM BERTRAM (photographic equipment) MUNICH GERMANY 
k n a DER ROBOT, BERNING & Co., K.G. (photographic equipment) DUSSELDORF GERMANY 
k q c JOS. SCHNEIDER & Co., K.G. GOETTINGEN GERMANY 
k r q EMIL BUSCH A.G. (assembled from foreign components) RATHENOW GERMANY 
k w c GAMMA FEINMECHANISCHE & OPTISCHE WERKE BUDAPEST HUNGARY 
k x v A. JACKENROLL GmbH BERLIN GERMANY 
l a e HEINRICH ZEISS, UNION ZEISS K.G. GOSTINGEN 
l f n REFLEKTA-KAMERAFABRIK, C. RICHTER (cameras) THARANDT GERMANY 
l m q CARL ZEISS (assembled from foreign components) JENA GERMANY 
l w g OPTISCHE WERKE OSTERODE GmbH (assembled from foreign components) OSTERODE GERMANY 
l w w HUET ET CIE PARIS FRANCE 
l w x OPTIQUE ET PRECISION DE LEVALLOIS, PARIS LEVALLOIS-PERRET FRANCE 
l w y SOCIETE OPTIQUE ET MECANIQUE DE HAUTE PRECISION PARIS FRANCE 
m b v I.G. FARBENINDUSTRIE, A.G.; AGFA (cameras) BERLIN GERMANY 
m c a FOTOWERK, Dr. C. SCHLEUSSNER, GmbH (photographic equipment) FRANKFURT GERMANY 
m t q PHOTOCHEMISCHE FABRIK ROLAND RISSE GmbH (photographic equipment) FLORSHEIM GERMANY 
m t r VOIGTLANDER & SOHN, A.G. (cameras) BERLIN GERMANY 
m t u A. LORENZ (MTU also used for AEG electrical equipment) GUTENFELD 
m t v A. LORENZ DRESDEN GERMANY 
n m s RICHARD HOLZ BERLIN GERMANY 
n x t S.A.I. OTTICO MECCANICA E RILEVAMENTI AEROFOTOGRAMMETRICI 
(stereoscopic aerial photography equipment) ROME ITALY 
o c p AKTOPHOT GmbH (photographic equipment) PRAG-SABECHTLITZ 
o c v W. KLAZAR (precision engineering; reportedly photographic equipment) PRAG 
o k c HAUFF A.G. (photographic equipment) STUTTGART GERMANY 
p v f C. REICHERT VIENNA AUSTRIA 
r l n CARL ZEISS JENA GERMANY 

Please keep checking the website for more news articles or contact us if there is anything you would like more information on. 

david

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