ad for American military binoculars made by Universal Camera Corp
Toronto. The premiere binoculars pre WW2 were brands like Leitz or Zeiss or Ross. When the war broke out export of the binoculars ceased and they became military assets.
This left the US struggling with its locally made products. Fortunately, when WW2 hit them, the mighty American industry quickly switched from consumers to military. A contract for binoculars was established with the Universal Camera Corporation as shown in the above summer 1943 ad that ran in Popular Mechanics. Before and after WW2, Universal were best known for their some what quirky cameras like the 1/2 frame 35mm Mercury still camera.
A big thank you goes to my good friend, George Dunbar, for finding and sharing this interesting piece of photographic history. Drop in to our Saturday, October 1, 2022 fair (Photographica-fair) at the Trident centre on Evans at Islington – who knows, you might even find a Mercury for your collection.
The name of this post is from a Hall and Oates song called Private Eyes. I first heard the song as a theme for the excellent Toronto based detective program of the same name featuring Cindy Sampson and Jason Priestley as the two ‘private eyes’.
