Leica
Ernst Leitz’s optical workshop in Wetzlar; Oskar Barnack’s Leica (1925) created the 35 mm camera. The name is formed from Leitz Camera.
Ernst Leitz took over an optical workshop in Wetzlar that made microscopes. Oskar Barnack built a small camera for 35 mm film, and it was shown in 1925 as the Leica.
The M3 of 1954 had a viewfinder in which the rangefinder and the viewfinder image were combined, and the M series has continued ever since. Leica Camera is now a company of its own, and production remains in Wetzlar.
Serial numbers on the body that can be dated from the maker’s lists; a red dot on newer models.