Meopta was a Czechoslovak national holding company, producing various optical devices. The company was once well-known for its still and movie cameras, although it no longer manufactures such products. Meopta optika sro is a Czech Republic based company that manufactures various products mainly in the field of optics. The company was started in 1933 under name Optikotechna in Přerov with the intention of producing a limited range of lenses and condensers, however the production rapidly expanded to include enlargers, composite lenses, binoculars, rifle scopes, cameras and slide projectors. Meopta U.S.A., Inc. is a separate American company that manufactures and assembles optical and optomechanical systems for the Consumer, Industrial and Military Markets.
History
The company emerged as a fusion of two nationalized producers of optical devices: C. P. Göerz Bratislava and Optikotechna Přerov. In 1907 Vienna based company C. P. Göerz established its subsidiary in Bratislava for production of optical and mechanical devices. The company first produced military optical products used primarily by the artillery and partially by the navy of the Austria-Hungary military. After the World War I the production plan was shifted towards more civilian products such as movie cameras, binoculars, magnifying glasses, compasses, and field-glasses and also some other mechanical devices such as manometers, alarm clocks, speakers, refractometers. The company was renamed to Meopta in 1958. Meopta was nationalized in 1968. Optikotechna company was founded in 1933 in Přerov, Czechoslovakia. Originally established with the intention of producing a limited range of lenses and condensers, the company rapidly expanded the range of products to include enlargers, composite lenses, binoculars, riflescopes, cameras and slide projectors. Optikotechna enjoyed a thriving consumer goods business until the company was seized by German forces in 1939. Optikotechna was then forced to immediately cease consumer goods production in order to supply military optical equipment for the German army. From 1939 until the end of the war, the company produced nothing other than military optical equipment that included rangefinders, periscopes, binoculars and riflescopes. After 1935, Meopta optika became a subsidiary of Zbrojovka Brno and a major supplier of military optics for the Czechoslovak Army. Company retained its focus on military production when it was seized by Germans during the occupation of Czechoslovakia as well as after WW2, when it was nationalized and renamed as Meopta – an acronym for Mechanická optická výroba - mechanical optical manufacturing. Apart from military deliveries, the company became one of the world's major manufacturers of cinema projectors between 1947 and 1970. The abrupt halt of military demand after the dissolution of Warsaw pact forced the company to refocus mainly on civilian applications. Today, military production constitutes about 10% of company's production, with 20% of its turnover being generated mainly by optics for sports and hunting applications and 70% being generated by production of optics for cinema and other projectors, optical tools for microprocessors manufacturing quality control, as well as optics for healthcare which are used in various applications such as RTG or mammography. The company was privatized in 1992. Its majority owners are a Czech family that emigrated to the United States in 1946 amidst the rising power of communists in the Soviet Union liberated and dominated Czechoslovakia. During WW2 the three brothers had been - together with both their parents - active soldiers of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps and were decorated for their war duty. Meopta U.S.A., Inc. is a separate company that was founded by the same Czech-American family in New York in 1960 under the name Tyrolit Company, Inc. At that time, its main business was selling grinding wheels in US and Canada. Tyrolit gradually changed its focus to manufacturing various optical products and in 2005 was renamed to Meopta U.S.A., Inc.
Meopta is producing Binoculars, Telescopic sights, Red dot sights and Monoculars on the field of sport optics and caters hunters, birdwatchers and sport shooters. In 2019 the production includes the following series of products: Binoculars:
