Description
Prontor AGC Mechanical Timer Shutter Release Cable
This timer holds the shutter of a mechanical film camera open during the bulb from 2-32 seconds.
Gauthier is a German company founded in 1902 by Alfred Gauthier in Kalmbach in the Enz Valley, Black Forest. It made shutters like the Ibsor, Vario, Pronto and Prontor. Gauthier’s first shutter was the Koilos three-leaf shutter with leather brake, introduced in 1904. The company logo shows a half-open three-leaf shutter with the letters AGC, the abbreviation for Alfred Gauthier Kalmbach. In 1908 the ISBO shutter was introduced, the first with a remote cable release thread and speeds down to 1 sec. In 1909 the company added machine construction to its portfolio. In 1931 Zeiss took over shares of the company. In 1935 a shutter with faster speeds was offered, the Prontor. After WWII, the company was requisitioned by the military government of the French zone of occupied Germany.
In 1948 the company restarted making machines and shutters. In 1964 the company began making optical production machinery. In 1969 it started making medical technology. In 1976 the whole production of shutters of the West-German Zeiss group was given to Gauthier. In 1999 the company started making optical devices for the production of microelectronic chips. Nowadays the company is named Prontor.
