Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

      

Microscope 398 (Wild Heerbrugg; microscope M20; 1960s)

 

A close-up of a microscope Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope Description automatically generated

Wild had its origins in 1921, when three Swiss men (Heinrich Wild, Jacob Schmidheiny, and Robert Helbling) founded the company Heinrich Wild, Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Optik in Heerbrugg. The first major product was the Theodolite Wild T2. In the early 1930s, Wild left the company and moved to Zurich. His old firm became Wild Heerbrugg in 1937. In 1987, the company merged with the optical firm Ernst Leitz GmbH of Wetzlar and was renamed Wild-Leitz AG in 1989. In 1990, the company became part of the Leica holding company. From 1996, Leica was divided gradually again into smaller units. Leica Camera AG was developed in 1996, Leica Geosystems AG in 1997, and Leica Microsystems AG in 1998. Microscope 398 is engraved with “WILD HEERBRUGG”, “WILD M20” and “MADE IN SWITZERLAND”. The instrument should be dated to the 1960s.

Note: this instrument was kindly donated by Dave Levell (Pembrokeshire, Wales) in May 2023.

A black and white drawing of a microscope Description automatically generated

Figure 1. WILD M20 microscope as featured in a 1962 manual of the firm.