For our 46th Leitz Photographica Auction, we are honored to present an extraordinary piece of photographic history: the Leica 0-Series no. 112. Before the Leica I was introduced to the public in 1925 - forever transforming the world of photography – the Ernst Leitz company produced some cameras of the prototype 0-series in 1923 and 1924. Today, only about half of them are known to still exist. Among them, 0-Series number 112 holds particular significance, as it was personally handed to Oskar Bar

Restored footage from circa 1915 showing workers at Ernst Leitz Optische Werke in Wetzlar, Germany, leaving the factory after a day’s work. This footage was taken by the chief designer Oskar Barnack who, in 1913, built the first commercially successful 35mm still-camera, called the Ur-Leica. Ernst Leitz Optische Werke would go on to become Leica Camera. Footage frame rate increased, upscaled and “colorized” by HistoryColored using AI technology. Footage originally from: Arbeiter verlassen das Le