Shutter curtain brake

[Dez]

I am looking at two very nice old Leicas, a III from 1934, and a IIIA from 1936. I had thought that the only difference in these cameras was the addition of the 1/1000 shutter speed, but that seems not to be true.

While the IIIA has the normal leading curtain brake under the baseplate, with the hairpin spring and the brake cam that can be drilled to fit into a synchronizing baseplate, the model III appears to have no brake and a quite different cam.

Also, I see that the III does not have click stops in the slow speed dial. This is not broken; I dismantled it to see, and there are no grooves in the back of the dial.

While I have played with a lot of IIIA's, this is the only model III I have examined very thoroughly, so I need to ask a question that I am sure would be a no brainer for any certified Leicaphile. Were these changes a difference between the III and IIIA, or just a running change between 1934 and 1936 that got applied to both models?

Cheers,
Dez

 

[colyn]

Nothing wrong. Early III's did not have the brake spring. Later III's had the spring added.

As you have already noticed the slow speed dial does not have click stops.