Among our more notable examples of outstanding parts support is this Carl Zeiss Telita II, a 6x 18mm Moller-Prism leather-clad binocular that was sold new to the original owner in about 1938, as he recalled. He used it regularly over decades when attending sports events, theatre, or casual walks yet had never brought the binocular in for service. He tended to keep this binocular in its original protective leather case when not in use. So while the binocular developed obvious signs of use, internally it was in pretty good condition with only mild fogging of the prisms that lowered the contrast of what could be seen through the binocular; a testament to how well Carl Zeiss Jena was crafting binoculars even then.

The customer brought the binocular to Company Seven for repair after he dropped it, this cracked one of the two machined phenolic eyecups. I recall he asked if this would be a warranty item and I replied 'no', though that would be something if it were! As we noted above there was some minor fogging of the prisms so it was overdue for cleaning, but otherwise it was in pretty good condition with the prisms properly in place even after the drop so there was no need for collimation. We contacted Carl Zeiss in Germany to obtain parts support, then overhauled the binocular. When the work was completed on the binocular it appeared as shown in the images above; it it clear to see the replacement eyecup installed is a perfect match.

When the elderly owner returned to Company Seven to pick up his repaired Telita, he perused several of the modern binoculars in our display cases. He was so impressed by the newer binoculars, and we were so impressed by Carl Zeisss' parts support, that we allowed him to trade-in his Telita against a new state of the art binocular. We retired the Telita to our museum collection on display. By the way, we bought this binocular on 30 September 1986 after completing the repairs on this 48 year old binocular!

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