[JJ_SO]

Thanks for some real information Klaus.

 

Maybe the highly paid polishers at Leica are the ones that can afford the Leica T...

 

I know it's pointless to tell you, just by looking at your first guess. Anyway, others read along, too.

 

Klaus' number is closer to probability than yours. But the real number only could be told by the production manager of Leica. It depends on

- Where in Germany (or somewhere else) this camera is manufactured? It can well be in Solms, but the bodies are polished somewhere else with lower costs.

- By men or women? Different salaries for the same work are still reality.

- if they are using their own workers or lean workers?

 

That "fashion" came over from the states and the result is that you can have the same work done and the worker gets 7-10€/hour or the double rate - and this double rate has to be mulitplied by 2 for the social costs like health insurance, longer holidays, insurance for unemployment, retirement

 

So, his guess is much closer - but it still is a guess. Only Leica can tell the real number, and they won't. That's the reason to put a very dull video of "Leicas are polished by hand" fairytale. But who knows, maybe the batch is that small that even an expensive polisher works cheaper than the appropriate machinery?

 

 

Calculating only the polisher's salary as a base of camera costs (I guess, you wanted to type 1500, not 150?) - now that is a weird thing to say. On the other side: How big the surprise would have been if Leica made a camera which is not the most expensive in it's class? As long as they have customers to pay, all other manufacturers could remain envy.