Lecia 24mm 24 number in red

[hutchinson14]

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I have just bought a Leica 24mm f2.8, the number 24 on the side is in red instead of yellow the lettering both on the lens hood and made in Germany are in white. Usually these are not painted. Can anyone shed light of this?

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[jdlaing]

The 24 is  red on the silver lens. I think it’s orange on the black version.

Edited December 10, 2020 by jdlaing

[hutchinson14]

This is the black version of the lens with the number 24mm in red.

[jdlaing]

6 hours ago, hutchinson14 said:

This is the black version of the lens with the number 24mm in red.

The only ones I’ve seen are orange. You may have a collector item.

[hutchinson14]

It’s also 6-bit and the serial number indicates it was made in 1997.

[adan]

It is trivially easy to repaint engraved numbers. I've done it myself to make my red-numbered Voigtlander lenses match my yellow-numbered M lenses. Or "refreshed" the Leica yellow-orange on older Leitz lenses.

Paint over the area with opaque acrylic artists' paint, then wipe off the surrounding excess while still wet, leaving the color only in the depressed engraving, covering the original color.

Liquitex 830 Cadmium Yellow Medium is a great "average" match for Leica's yellow, which has shifted a bit more orange since the 1970s.

https://www.liquitex.com/us/products/basics/range/colors/

Red-over-yellow is even easier than yellow-over-red.

Given this lens was already modified (to install 6-bit coding on a lens built 9 years before 6-bit coding existed), some previous owner was obviously perfectly happy to "desecrate the purity" of the lens as it came from the factory.

[evikne]

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7 hours ago, adan said:

then wipe off the surrounding excess while still wet, leaving the color only in the depressed engraving

Is there a safe and easy way to remove excess paint when it has dried? The paint on my 35mm Summilux probably dried more than 40 years ago. 😉

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[pgk]

On 12/10/2020 at 2:20 PM, hutchinson14 said:

I have just bought a Leica 24mm f2.8, the number 24 on the side is in red instead of yellow the lettering both on the lens hood and made in Germany are in white. Usually these are not painted. Can anyone shed light of this?

I'm sure that mistakes are made. Whoever paints the numbers may simply have selected the wrong brush and paint so it might just be human error. If they even noticed they might not have been bothered as its not a big deal and makes the lens a little 'special' although I'd doubt that it affects value to any significant extent. Might also be that an owner 'customised' the lettering!

[evikne]

On 12/12/2020 at 10:44 AM, evikne said:

Is there a safe and easy way to remove excess paint when it has dried? The paint on my 35mm Summilux probably dried more than 40 years ago. 😉

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Forget it. I sent the lens to Germany for a CLA, and got it back today. And WOW! the lens now looks like brand new! I actually had to check the SN twice, to make sure this was the same lens!

 

[graphlex]

On 12/10/2020 at 7:20 AM, hutchinson14 said:

I have just bought a Leica 24mm f2.8, the number 24 on the side is in red instead of yellow the lettering both on the lens hood and made in Germany are in white. Usually these are not painted. Can anyone shed light of this?

It’s a superb lens and the chrome ones are somewhat hard to find.