Gauthier

Gauthier leaf shutter, closed and open image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)

Gauthier logo image by AWCam (Image rights)

Gauthier is a German company, founded in 1902 by craftsman Alfred Gauthier in Calmbach in the Enz Valley, Black Forest. It made shutters like the Ibsor, Vario, Pronto and Prontor. Gauthier's first shutter was the Koilos three-leaf shutter with leather brake, introduced in 1904. The company logo shows a half open three-leaf shutter with the letters AGC, the abbreviation for Alfred Gauthier Calmbach. In 1908 the ISBO shutter was introduced, the first with a remote cable release thread and speeds down to 1 sec. In 1909 the company added machine construction to its portfolio. In 1931 Zeiss took over shares of the company. In 1935 a shutter with faster speeds was offered, the Prontor. After WWII the company was requisitioned by the military government of the French zone of occupied Germany. In 1948 the company could restart making machines and shutters. In 1964 the company began making optical production machinery. In 1969 it started making medical technology. In 1976 the whole production of shutters of the West-German Zeiss group was given to Gauthier. In 1999 the company started making optical devices for the production of micro-electronic chips. Nowadays the company is named Prontor.

Gauthier Shutters

• Koilos
• Ibso
• Derval
• Singlo
• Eo
• Embezet
• Acro
• Perco
• Vario

Prontor Cable Release image by Hans Kerensky (Image rights)

• Pronto
• Peri
• Ebusch
• Klio
• Ibsor
• Telma
• Vero
• Prontor
• Robot
• Spezial
• Velio

Links

• Up and Down with Compur (German version) (includes relevant information about Gauthier's shutters), by Klaus-Eckard Riess in his camera site
• AGC shutters at UKCamera.com (archived)
• Hittech Prontor's company homepage
• Alfred Gauthier Calmbach page on the German Wikipedia