BP engraving and paint comparison

[philipus]

I don't know if this will be of interest to anyone but the M7 engraving thread just below inspired me to compare the three BP Leicas I have at the moment, an M6TTL BP, a Leica II and the M4 BP I just got.

Perhaps a silly thing to do but what the heck. For anyone interested, here you are. The difference in paint is pretty obvious. Though it's been reported that the paint on the M6TTL is thinner and may even show machining marks underneath that's not the case with mine. Still, the paint looks less even, and perhaps more shiny, than on the M4. The M4's paint is more similar to the II.

 

[jwicaksana]

Thick or thin, shiny or not, I love them all.
Seeing these beauties just made my day. 🙂

 

[Tom A]

The paint on the older black M (and LTM's) are a different composition. The early Leica II used a laquer base- the M2/M3/M4 an enamel type - but with fairly "toxic" solvents in it. The M6 TTL and onward (LHSA, Millennium, MP etc) use a water based paint. EU rulings simply prohibited the use of toxic solvents for worker safety reason. The same rules apply to automotive paint.
The first of the Millenniums had an extremely thin paint and it would brass quickly. When the LHSA was decided on, I was involved in the process of selecting the type of final finish. The guys in Solms were a bit baffled by the idea of black paint and kept saying "But it will wear off and show brass" - we kept saying "Yes, that is the whole idea". Initially the LHSA was supposed to be the first "new" black paint M - but Leica jumped the gun and put out the Millennium ahead of it.

 

[philipus]

Thanks Jonathan and thanks Tom for this interesting information.

The M4's paint does seem thicker than the II's. And the engraving on the M4 appears deeper than that of the II. The M6TTL's engraving is similar to the M4's in terms of depth.

The M6TTL is a fairly late number in the series (1381) so perhaps that explains the durability of the paint. I've not cuddled the camera at all but the paint's very resilient indeed (which I like), more so than I imagined it would be having used the II for a while and seen paint come off quite easily.

A question -- I read on Cameraquest that the LHSA was initially supposed to be based on the M6 body but that it was difficult to find parts for it, which is why the M6TTL was chosen instead.

Is this the closest we've ever been to a black paint M6 classic?

cheers
philip

 

[pharyngula]

All I can say is that some of the white paint on my 2 year old black paint MP has chipped out of one engraved letter. Thick or thin, whatever they are doing now is not going to hold up as well as on the older beauties you've shared with us.

 

[Tom A]

Part of the reason for choosing the TTL body for the LHSA was that a/ it was the latest incarnation and b/ rather than using the diecast type top-plate - Leica was now CNC machining it out of brass. With the diecast plates they had to make a whole lot of top-plates in one go (usually several years supply) and once cast - it was set as to major engravings, changes etc. With the CNC'd brass they could do small batches (on demand) and incorporate the two versions of the rewind, special engravings etc just by running a different program.