Sears
Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building in L.A. image by Mark Peacock (Image rights) |
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Tower 120 Flash Picture by John Kratz (Image rights) |
Tower 57 Picture by Jimmy Smith (Image rights) |
Tower Snappy Picture by Eduardo Urdangaray (Image rights) |
Tower Camflash 127 Picture by John Kratz (Image rights) |
Tower Flash 120 made by Bilora. Picture by Inspiredphotos (Image rights) |
Tower 44B Picture by rebollo_fr (Image rights) |
Tower Hide Away picture by Carrie Little (Image rights) |
Sears car picture by Uwe Kulick (Image rights) |
Sears is the most famous mail order house in the world since its Chicago building Sears Tower was the highest in the world for a certain period. In the U.S.A. it was the greatest mail-order and retail vendor of consumer goods. It was founded by Richard W. Sears in 1886, starting as a reseller of watches in North Redwood, Minnesota. In 1887 Sears moved to Chicago and employed Alvah C. Roebuck as watch- and toolmaker. In 1893 Roebuck became partner in the company which then was renamed Sears, Roebuck & Co.. Like other great mail-order houses Sears had a house-brand for cameras, the Tower cameras which were all OEM products, made by different renowned camera makers of several countries. Some cameras were sold branded Sears, and a few under their original manufacturers.
Several Tower cameras were also made by Bilora. Sears lenses for SLRs were made by Ricoh. Conley was a partner of Sears & Roebuck. In 1924 Conley was owned by Sears, and bought Seneca. But the Seneca brand disappeared in 1926. In 1980 Sears, Roebuck and Co. was restructured and rebranded to Sears Merchandise Group.
Distributed cameras
Sears name | Description | Original camera/manufacturer |
Ansco Marvel S-20 brownie type box | Made for and sold by Sears as an Ansco | Ansco |
Marvel-flex | 6×6 TLR, c.1941 | Ciro-flex A |
Sears 126 TLS Reflex | 126 film SLR | Ricoh 126c-Flex TLS |
Sears 3A | box camera 3.25x5.25 Kodak V122 film | Conley Kewpie No. 3A |
Sears 32B | SLR, Exakta-mount interchangeable lenses, c.1961 aka Tower 32B | Mamiya Prismat NP |
Sears 35rf | 35mm rangefinder | Ricoh 500 RF |
Sears 35|RF | 35mm rangefinder | Ricoh 500 G |
Sears Auto 35TL | 35mm SLR | Mamiya 528TL |
Sears Auto CS 1000MX | 35mm SLR | Mamiya NC 1000 |
Sears Auto CS 1000MXB | 35mm SLR, black body | Mamiya NC 1000 |
Sears Easi-Load FC 600 | 126 cartridges flash cube Instamatic | Ricoh 126C Automatic |
Sears FF35 | 35mm viewfinder | Haking Halina Speedy 33 |
Sears KS | 35mm SLR | Ricoh XR-2 |
Sears KS Auto | 35mm SLR | Ricoh XR-2s |
Sears KS-1 | 35mm SLR | Ricoh XR-6 |
Sears KS Super | 35mm SLR, KS-1 with slower speed (1/500s) | Ricoh XR-6 |
Sears KS Super II | 35mm SLR, KS Super without Bulb | Ricoh XR-6 |
Sears KS-2 | 35mm SLR | Ricoh XR-7 |
Sears KS-1000 | 35mm SLR | Ricoh XR-1s |
Sears KS-500 | 35mm SLR | Ricoh KR-5 / XR-500 |
Sears KSX-1000 | 35mm SLR | Ricoh KR-5 Super |
Sears KSX | 35mm SLR | Ricoh KR-10 / XR-1000s |
Sears KSX Super | 35mm SLR | Ricoh KR-10 Super / XR-2000 |
Sears KSX-P | 35mm SLR (Dual2 Program) | Chinon CP-5 |
Sears M35af | 35mm AF compact | Ricoh AF-2? |
Sears M35 Autofocus | 35mm AF compact | Ricoh AF-5? |
Sears Model 65 | 35mm viewfinder | Halina Paulette |
Sears Model 65 RF | Halinar 45mm f2.8 lens | Halina |
Sears RF 5 | Ricoh | |
Sears RF 7 | 35mm rangefinder | Ricoh |
Sears SL-9 | 35mm SLR, leaf shutter | Ricoh 35 Flex |
Sears SL-11 | 35mm SLR | |
Sears TLS | 35mm SLR | Ricoh Singlex TLS |
Sears TLS 500 MX | 35mm SLR | Ricoh SLX 500 |
Sears TLS 1000 MX | 35mm SLR | Mamiya MSX 1000 |
Seroco Junior | 4×5 | Conley Model VII |
Tower No. 1 | Pseudo TLR | unknown |
Tower 5 | 127 film | Bilora Bella |
Tower 7 | 120 film Brownie type box | Germany (Bilora) |
Tower 8 | box camera | Mfr? Germany |
Tower 10A | 35mm range finder, 48mm f/2.8 coated | Mamiya 35 Ruby |
Tower 10B | 35mm range finder | Mamiya 4B RF |
Tower 14 | pseudo-TLR box | Bilora Bonita 66 |
Tower 16 | 16mm submini spy cam | Mamiya 16 |
Tower 18 | 4.2cm f/2.8 | Olympus 35-S |
Tower 18A | 35mm rangefinder f/1.9 | Mamiya 35 Ruby |
Tower 18B | 35mm rangefinder | Mamiya Ruby Standard |
Tower 19 | 35mm interchangeable lens rangefinder | Olympus Ace E |
Tower 20 | Olympus Wide-E? | |
Tower 20B | RF 48mm f/1.7 | Mamiya |
Tower 22 | SLR | Asahiflex IIA |
Tower 23 | SLR | Asahiflex IA and Asahiflex IIB |
Tower 24 | SLR | Asahiflex IIB |
Tower 25 | TLR | Airesflex (Nikkor lens) |
Tower 26 | 35mm SLR | Asahi Pentax (original) and Pentax S |
Tower 29 | 35mm SLR | Asahi Pentax K |
Tower Reflex I or Tower 120 Flash | pseudo TLR | Ising Pucky I |
Tower Reflex II | pseudo TLR | Photina from Photavit-Werk GmbH, Nurnberg, Germany |
Tower Reflex III | pseudo TLR | Photina II from Photavit-Werk GmbH, Nurnberg, Germany |
Tower Reflex 30 | TLR | Photina Reflex IIIb from Photavit-Werk GmbH, Nurnberg, Germany |
Tower 32A | SLR, Exakta/Topcon mount, Mamiya-Sekor f/1.7 lens, (c.1963) | Mamiya Prismat NP |
Tower 32B | SLR new rev 32A, split image focus screen, shoe | Mamiya Prismat NP |
Tower 33 Reflex | SLR | Braun Paxette Reflex |
Tower 34 | box camera (?) | Ansco |
Tower 34 Reflex | 35mm SLR | Braun |
Tower 35 | 35mm rangefinder | Nicca III-S |
Tower 37 | 35mm SLR, leaf shutter | Mamiya Prismat PH |
Tower 37A | 35mm SLR, budget Sears 32A but with 1/500 shutter and f/2.8 lens | Mamiya Prismat NP |
Tower 37B | 35mm SLR | Mamiya |
Tower 39 | (c.1961) odd horizontal design with flash reflector; autoexposure. Tower 41 similar. |
Mamiya Automatic 35 EEF |
Tower 41 | 1962 | Mamiya |
Tower 42 | 1954 | Nicca |
Tower 43 | 1954 | Nicca |
Tower 44 | TLR | Toyoca-44 |
Tower 44B Super Matic | TLR | Halma 44 |
Tower 45 | 35mm range finder, f/2 lens | Nicca 5L |
Tower 46 | f/1.4 | Nicca |
Tower 50 | 35mm viewfinder | Iloca Quick-L / Quick-R, Vero Shutter, Cassar lens |
Tower 50 | 120 folding | Rollex 20 ca. 1950 USC |
Tower 51 | 120 folding | Conley Camera Company 1955 |
Tower 51 | (not folding 120, but 35mm) LH film advance. Also RH film advance model, also knob advance version all called Tower 51 | Iloca Rapid B Steinheil Cassar lens 50mm f/2.8 made in Germany by Kamerawerke Wilhelm Witt, Hamburg, Germany |
Tower 52 | 35mm | Iloca Rapid IIL |
Tower 53 | Iloca, 1955 | |
Tower 53B | Iloca, 1955 | |
Tower 54 | Olympus | |
Tower 55 | 35mm, two versions, later one with bigger viewfinder | Rippa (Yamato) |
Tower 55B | Color Luna Lens 45mm f3.5 | Pax Jr (Yamato) |
Tower 57 | 35mm | Samoca 35 M-28 (AKA Hanimex A35) |
Tower 57A | 35mm rangefinder | Samoca LE |
Tower 60 | 120 folder | Dacora I |
Tower Reflex 64 | TLR Tower Reflex no meter | Walz |
Tower Reflex 65 | TLR Tower Reflex with meter | Walz |
Tower Flash 120 | 120 | Bilora box |
Tower 127 | Mamiya ?? | |
Tower Press Camera | 4×5 | Busch 4x5 Pressman |
Tower Automatic 35 | Mamiya ??? | |
Tower Automatic 127 | 4×4 autoexposure | Electric Eye 127 from USC |
Tower 127 Automatic II | 4×4 autoexposure | USC |
Tower Camflash 127 | also Camflash II 127 | Comet 127 from USC |
Tower Colorette | Rangefinder | Braun Super Colorette |
Tower Companion | 1960 | Imperial, similar to Debonair |
Tower Hide Away | same as Imperial Mark 27 | |
Tower Phantom | ||
Tower Pixie 127 | plastic 4×4 cm | same as Imperial Lark |
Tower Pixie II 127 | plastic 4×4 cm | |
Tower Reflex 1 | box camera 120 | Probably Bilora |
Tower Skipper | 127 brownie box size, made in USA | Mercury Satellite 127 |
Tower Snappy | 620 plastic box | Imperial Savoy |
Tower Stereo | Stereo | Iloca Stereo |
Tower Synchroflash | Bilora Bella | |
Tower Type 3 | Nicca III | |
Tower Type 3S | Nicca, Leotax? | |
Trumpfreflex | 6x6 TLR | Reflecta (Richter Reflecta) |
Links
Seroco Camera image by realbruts! (Image rights) |
- Sears Cameras at www.collection-appareils.fr
- Sears camera manuals at www.orphancameras.com
- Tower Cameras at www.craigcamera.com
- blog about Seroco Cameras at blogspot.de
Companies of Chicago (Illinois) |
Adams & Westlake | Central Camera Co. | American Advertising and Research Co. | Bernard | Burke & James | Busch | Calumet | Candid | Chicago Aerial | Chicago Camera Co. | Chicago Ferrotype Company | Deardorff | De Vry | Drucker | Galter | Geiss | Herold | Imperial | Kemper | Lennor Engineering Co. | Metropolitan Industries | Monarch | Montgomery Ward | Pho-Tak | QRS Company | Rolls | Sans & Streiffe | Sears | Seymour | Spartus | The Camera Man | United States Camera Co. | Western Camera Manufacturing Co. | Yale | Zar | Zenith |
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