Clean, Lubricate and Adjust (CLA) is to a Leica what a routine service is to a car (or “fuck it’s stopped working, throw it away” is to an older digital camera). Every so often your mechanical marvel needs to be opened up and given a good clean, some drops of lubricant in the right places, and a check that shutter speeds and the rangefinder (if it has one) are working to specification. Prices are typically $150 and up; and of course if you are sending it out of Thailand you have the costs of courier services and the likelihood of an argument with customs who will want to charge you duty when it arrives back.
Fortunately, AVCamera in Bangkok offer a CLA service, and very good it is too. A couple of months ago they performed a CLA on my 1951 Leica IIIC and it came back factory fresh. So next it was the turn of a 1931 Leica I which, reflecting its age, was more in need of attention. As might be expected for something so ancient, the shutter sounded overly metallic and the slow shutter speeds sounded slower than they should have done; both signs of a camera in need of service. Of course there was no record of when this eighty four year old device had last had any attention (1933?); but the great thing about old Leica’s is that they almost always can be revived with a bit of love.
Unfortunately, one of probably several previous owners had managed to bend the rewind mechanism. It still worked OK, but didn’t look so good and the Leica precision feel was absent when operating the wonky knob. So I asked if that could be fixed, rather doubting that it could. There was also a dent in the bottom plate which was cosmetically ugly but of no other consequence; so I didn’t even mention it when I sent it in for service.
The camera returned this morning. Not only were the mechanisms pleasurably smooth and crisp; but the rewind knob was straightened and the dent in bottom had disappeared, instantly increasing the value of the camera substantially (both of these defects had contributed to the comparatively low acquisition price). And the cost? 2,100 baht, including courier service to my door. Something of a bargain.
It is now loaded with film and I look forward to seeing the results. Thank you AVCamera.
Comments 🔗
2015-04-21| ivo saysAnd they did not build in a iphone 7? Cameras, wifes and motorbikes need TLC once & while. Even CLA sometimes. Thai are actually masters in reusing and in that way also in fixing things (if they feel the need for it).
2015-04-21| ChristianPFC saysWouldn’t it be better to service the camera yourself? Would save money and worries about damage or loss during shipping or at the shop. If you have previous experience with a shop it’s ok, but I wouldn’t give anything of value to a Thai person.
Even in Germany you can have disappointments, personal experience with an old typewriter that came back with a new paint, but still had mechanical problems.
And when I got a new battery for my watch at a watch repair shop on the street in Bangkok, he applied oil to my watch, and I thought “Oh my god! I assume you know what you are doing, even if it doesn’t look so.”.
2015-04-22| Andrew saysthe wives seem seem to need more of the “A” in the CLA than either of the other ones most of the time….
2015-04-22| Andrew says“Oh my god! I assume you know what you are doing, even if it doesn’t look so.”….that pretty much covers most of what we encounter in life day to day I would say…
2015-04-22| Spike says“I wouldn’t give anything of value to a Thai person.” Congratulations. You just won the racist of the week award. Do you also say “I wouldn’t trust a black person to….”?
Personally I have trusted Thai doctors with my life more than once, and I trust my Thai wife with my heart and good deal more besides. And Thai technicians to fix my car and mend assorted broken household items.
As for servicing a Leica myself, you must be fucking joking. They are incredibly complex machines and I am not going to subject a valuable piece of history to my inept attempts. There are a very limited number of people in the world that are capable of servicing these cameras; it must really challenge your twisted worldview to accept that one of these people is Thai.
2015-04-22| Grant saysWell said.
2015-05-01| ChristianPFC saysI once left some stuff with a Thai friend to pick it up at my following holiday. In the meantime, he moved and lost or forgot my stuff. To be fair to the Thais: different friend, different time, I left stuff and got everything back when I returned to Thailand.
2015-05-02| Spike saysI fear you are just digging a bigger bigotry hole for yourself. A friend lost/forgot some of your stuff. And? What does his nationality have to do with it; it’s just human nature to fuck up on occasions. And then another friend didn’t lose your stuff. It’s not much of a story.
Ian of Patttayadaze lent me his treasured film camera and lenses. In the process of tidying up my condo for sale, I lost all of his gear. He might reasonably have thought “what a dope, won’t lend him stuff again”, but he certainly didn’t think “can’t trust Englishmen to look after things”. (On a happier note, I found all his camera gear a month later).
However, to balance your perception that you can’t trust Thais with your stuff; when I ended up unconscious with a broken back after rolling my car on the Bangkok-Pattaya motorway, the attending policeman took my wallet and my phone and kept them safe, with money untouched, until my wife collected them.
2015-05-02| Grant saysWell said. What is ‘shovel’ in German…?
2015-05-02| Chang Noi saysGood to hear I am not the only one that rolls of a road with his car …. it was a very nice head of the local school who saw it happen and was first at the scene … I was walking next to the car when he cleverly reminded me that a car could get on fire after a accident like that, he was the guy calling the police and insurance. He was the guy checking that I was OK (and not drunk). He was the guy buying drink & food for me. And …. yes it was in Thailand.
So Ian’s stuff was in the box labeled “pussy cat”?
2015-05-02| Spike saysAs I recall, it was in a bag courtesy of Tesco.
2015-05-03| ChristianPFC saysNow I recall, a German friend once misplaced stuff I left at his place, i.e. it was gone when I came to pick it up.
What I wanted to say is that the general level of scientific-technical education in Thailand is lower than in the West, and therefore it must be more difficult to find someone who can clean a Leica.
I have little personal experience in working with Thais (and that was ok, moving from with hired car and driver worked well, installing internet by landline in my room worked well), but what I read and see (Beach Road less than one year after construction sand under pavement washed out) shows lower level of scientific-technical education.
I wouldn’t give anything valuable or delicate to a Thai for storing or repairing (unless I have positive feedback from friends), but wouldn’t hesitate to go to Thai doctor, how can I explain this? (Rhetorical question.) I am not talking about honesty, the internet is full of stories about honest and un-honest Thai people, I talk about them losing or breaking my stuff.
Question implied in my comments: did you use this shop before to get cameras maintained and did you know they know how to maintain Leicas? Reading post again, it must be at least your second Leica serviced there. But before you send your first old camera, did you inquire (and make sure) if they have experience?
2015-05-03| Spike says“I wouldn’t give anything valuable or delicate to a Thai for storing or repairing”. Do you know how bad that sounds? Here, try a variation: “I wouldn’t give anything valuable or delicate to a black man for storing or repairing”. Sound racist? Yes. Both statements.
I wouldn’t give anything valuable or delicate to someone unless I thought they would take care of them; their nationality is of no relevance.
As for the question that was not implied in your comments. I have been dealing with AV Camera for years. They are a proper camera shop, not just a store that happens to have cameras on the shelves. I have met with the owner, Khun Mana, several times and I trust him. Someone I know has had modern Leica lenses repaired there; so I asked Khun Mana if they could also service an old Leica and he said he could; and he did.
When I sent him a mail thanking him for a job well done, I received the reply: “It’s our pleasure to service this kind of a precious camera and it’s even more pleasure to see a customer so fond of our services and his camera!” Top company.
You probably trust a doctor because he is a qualified professional. You won’t find many of those hanging around beach road, but there are plenty to be found. I spent five years working in an oil company in Bangkok which was 95% staffed by Thais, many of whom were professionals (civil/electrical/mechanical/petroleum engineers, accountants, software engineers etc.) and they were all hard working intelligent people, many of whom ended being posted around the world and holding their own with others of the same discipline. My best friend is a Thai who is currently working in Singapore as an IT manager for a Middle-East oil company.
So basically, fuck off with your petty racism. I have never banned anyone on this site; but you are very close to being the first.
2015-05-04| Grant says
2015-05-07| ChristianPFC saysExcuse me for bringing this up again, but I feel misunderstood and the thought of you or your readers thinking I’m racist deprives me of sleep. (Whereas when someone tells me on a forum or on my blog that I’m boring, I just shrug my shoulders and think “Go somewhere else or complain at the United Nations Human Rights Court!”.) I did not want to denigrate Thai people in general or you camera shop in particular. 🔗
What I wanted to say is that I would be wary to give something of value to store or something delicate to repair to anyone without previous experience in dealing with that person/shop or referral by a friend. 🔗
Due to poor experiences about punctuality and commitment when dating Thai people (statistics, not racism!), I let “Thai” slip in. But that’s a different subject. 🔗
When reading your post, I had the mental image of you going to any camera shop (could be anywhere in the world) and getting the Leica back in a state worse than before (as it has happened to me with a mechanical typewriter over 15 years ago in Germany). But as I have never knowingly seen a Leica and my dealings with camera shops is limited to one purchases of a camera in my entire life, I am not qualified to judge. 🔗
I like (someone more emotional would say “love”) Thailand and Thai people (sometimes for, sometimes despite cultural differences), want to spend and time in Thailand and hope to find a Thai partner. During my frequent travels all over Thailand, I have many cheerful contacts with locals (speaking Thai helps a lot). 🔗
I hope this clears the confusion.
2015-06-15| Parry saysI once gave my Thai wife £100k. I will never trust a woman again whether she’s from Dorset, Mars or Soi 6.