Beautiful Behind the Scenes Film Shows the Making of the Leica M10

This beautifully-shot film from 2017 has been making the rounds again this morning, showing the making/assembly of the Leica M10. And like all “making of” videos that take us inside a camera or lens factory, it offers a mesmerizing look at the attention to detail that goes into assembling each digital rangefinder that Leica makes.

The video, published under the very Leica-esque title “A masterpiece in the making,” takes you inside Leica’s factory in Wetzlar, Germany to see how each Leica M10 is hand-assembled.

There’s no talk track or explanations during the video, just a quick 4-minute peek at the assembly process, starting with the chipset assembly and ending with the careful placement of the iconic “red dot” Leica logo.

“The assembly process spans from connecting the roller-lever with the rangefinder, to calibrating the sensor and image board, all the way to attaching the rear shell and top plate,” writes Leica on the webpage that accompanies this video. “More than 50 adjustment steps are required to build a camera with the utmost mechanical and optical precision such as the M10. It encompasses around 1,100 single components – including 30 that have been milled from brass, 126 screws and 17 optical elements.”

Check out the full video up top, and if you enjoy this sort of thing, you can find many more factory tours and behind-the-scenes videos in our archives.