Patek Philippe

Now we know it for sure: the next representative of our next generation will be a baby-girl. So after the birth, I will have an impressive track record: Girl in 1995, Girl in 1996, Girl in 1999 and a Girl in the beginning of 2014. Added with our two petch: bitch Brittany in 2007 and bitch St. Bernard in 2012. I will feel like a Chicken Farmer!

My dear wife Darja is very interested in watches but the three teen-aged girls have other interests and hobbies. The dogs are mostly interested in creating a total mess.

My three older daughters are often claiming that there are not enough photographs of their early years. With the next one I decided that I will correct this and started to look for a good camera. Not just one for the standard watch pictures but something I could use for artistic pictures and get also the very highest quality. Something that would be in par with the watches "for the next generation". (I have been an active and dedicated photographer some 30 years ago)

So I decided to have a closer look at Leica. The past couple of years I have been using Leica D-Lux for my point-and-shoot and I have been very happy with that. In 2013 Leica was elected as #1 Luxury Brand in Germany, in front of brands like Lange & Soehne, Porsche and BMW. This made a Patek-Man interested.

Last autumn Leica announced a new digital system camera, Leica M (Type 240) and it was soon elected as "Best Professional Camera in 2013". The specifications are impressive and so is the price: Some of the main features are:

- A range finder camera with Live View

- 24 MB and full frame sensor

- Made in Germany

- First Leica system camera that is weather sealed

- An impressive amount of accessories

So I decided very rapidly that I would build my photography system around a Leica M frame and buy the very best lenses money can buy.

I started to study the lenses and wanted to find just the very best. My lenses had to be razor sharp, have great contrast and the should be very fast. Naturally, the prices of top Leica lenses are insane: in general triple compared i.e. with Zeiss and much more compared with lesser but still great brands like Voigtlander. But I am a "Patek Man" and only the very best is good enough!

I thought about focal lengths and in the end it was easy: I needed a "normal" lens, typically 50 mm. Then a short tele for portraits and a normal choice is 90 mm. Finally also a wide angle for interior pictures and sceneries; my choice was 28 mm.

It is often said that "clever money invest in lenses". Leica's lenses are probably the best money can buy and when I started to study different lenses, I learned that Leica's lenses are very Patek-like: no rebates, waiting times, but the modern lenses hold their value much better than a standard Patek Philippe watch.

It's clear without saying that the prices of the best lenses are insane but I decided to go on knowing that Leica is using around 100 different types of glass, the lenses are hand made, the housings are made of metal, a standard lens is a perfect piece of micro-engineering with in average 100 parts. The mounts are made of brass and the aperture blades are perfectly made and normally deliver wonderful sunstars.

I ended buying three new Leica lenses:

Leica Summicron-M 28 mm f/2.0 ASPH

A well known authority Ken Rockwell is saying:

"This Leica 28 mm f/2 is the world's highest performing 28 mm lens. The Leica 28 mm f/2 ASPH is the world's sharpest 28 mm lens, but not by far. The Leica 28 mm f/2 ASPH is made exactly like every other Leica M lens, which is superbly. In any case this lens is made to last far beyond of any of our life times."

 

 

Leica Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH

According to Ken Rockwell:

"It is a remarkable lens, being the world's only aspherical 50/1.4 with floating elements. This Summilux-M ASPH has the best bokeh of any Leica lens and it is Leica's best 50 mm f/1.4 ever."

Leica APO-Summicron-M 90 mm f/2.0 ASPH

Rockwell:

"It is the highest performance medium tele lens I've ever used. In fact, I've never used any lens with higher performance, regardless of focal length. The Leica 90 mm f/2 ASPH is the world's sharpest 90 mm lens, but not by far. Leica APO-Summicron-M 90 mm f/2 ASPH is the best telephoto lens ever made."

The first test I made a week ago was to mount the tele lens and see what kind of portraits I could take with the camera. I wanted to see if I could catch the soft smile of my pregnant wife. She looks nowadays very different than earlier...

Here is my first picture and it was taken hand held with 90 mm Summicron-M f/2 @ f/2 & 1/45 sec.

But then came the big BUT. I appreciate Leica a lot but the price. The watch story starts:

Am I totally nuts spending such a huge amount of money for a camera system? Even the camera is a hand made Leica, made in Germany, and it should be best of the best.

I bought the camera and lenses from an authorized dealer in London and if I would have walked to New Bond Street I could have nearly bought a top brand watch. I should have added just one hundred and thirty Pounds Sterling (130 GBP), and I could have bought a watch with:

- Patek's bread-and-butter automatic movement

- Nearly as accurate as a basic Rolex movement and with the same complication (date) less hacking seconds

- I could have bought the watch with an exclusive rubber bracelet

 

Naturally, in photography a camera bag is needed and Leica has a nice Leica - Billington bag made in Great Britain. Then some Leica filters and a German made Leica flash. An Electronic View Finder would also be nice, because it turns a range finder camera in par with normal system camera but half the weight. However, the accessories are costing a crazy amount of money!

 

This small amount of Leica gear is costing   n e a r l y    h a l f    of the following fantastic Patek Philippe accessory for ref. 5167 Aquanaut. Is Leica crazy with their prices?

Watches and photography are both dear to me. I am a lucky man: I bought some years ago my 5167 and a bracelet for the same. So I did not have to make the choice. A Leica system is crazily expensive but could it be that:

Patek Philippe is the Leica of watches and Leica is the Patek Philippe of the cameras.

At least they cost the same...

Food for thoughts.

Kari

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