Manufactured by the optical and camera company Leitz in Germany this miniature jig borer is intended for use in high-precision industries such as watch, clock and mechanical instrument repair.
Fitted with microscopes for precise centring on the vertical and horizontal axes, the Leitz has a built in rotary table and might be considered the ultimate development of the original Wolf Jahn type that was introduced during the 1880. The obvious usefulness and ease of operation of this machine led other companies to copy the design, notably Boley, Leinen & Boley & Leinen as their Models "80", "80a" and "BFL". Developed copies of later versions (the unit was subjected to a slow but steady improvements in features and mass) were also made in Britain and badged variously as Ultra, Excel, Sigma-Jones and BCA. Amazingly, its indirect successor, the BCA Mk. 3
The Leitz company, founded in 1876, is best known to the general public for its cameras - but that was only part of its business for it also manufactured a very wide range of high-precision microscopes and other high-class optical devices, cinema projectors, precision coordinate measurement equipment including optical comparators and surveying equipment, drawing instruments, slide rules, milling machines and even a range of small jig borers - such as the one here - intended for the watch-making industry.
If you have a machine tool by Leitz, the writer would be interested to hear about it.