Leica M body overhaul

I have one of the earliest M4's made and it is in dire need of help.

I remember hearing about a summer special refurbishment done by Leica in NJ years ago. Has anyone ever had there camera body reworked by Leica or have any info on cost of such an undertaking.

Thanks, Bill Groff

Bill:

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I had a pair of M3's gone through two years ago. The rangefinders

were cleaned and both were converted from double to single stroke.

It cost me about $550.00 each, including shipping. They had the

cameras for about 6 weeks, and the work was very good.

I had a Leitz M6 CLA/ RF repaired Nov '01, by Leica USA, NJ. They did

a great job. I set the whole thing up by e-mail, and they stayed in

touch every step of the way. So first step, e-mail them and see what

they say. One other thing, it was accutually cheaper than their

estimate.

Apparantly they haven't done the Spring Cleaning special for about 3

years. They do do good work and when they cleaned my M3 they replaced

the flash sync covers that I had taken off for transit.

I wanted to add that I lost my Leitz Red Dot. They replaced it with a

Leica Red Dot which now make my camera look as silly as everyone

elses. But, afterall, I wanted to turn this piece into a "user" and

not a collectors item.

They did not lose you Leitz red dot. The red dot is an access

cover for the rangefinder vertical alignment. It is replaced as a

matter of course during an adjustment or CLA. They ran out of

ones that say Leitz long ago.

While this is not an exact answer to your question, maybe it will

give you an idea. Leica Denmark charged me around 350$ (less parts)

about a year ago when my M4 was in need of a overhaul. Parts were

about 125$ including new shuttercurtains. The turnaround time was

about 4 weeks. I understand from comments in this forum that Leica NJ

wants around 300$ + parts for a similar service.

My M4 went overboard last Fall in saltwater. Nothing worked. I

figured it was dead. Called Leica NJ, and they said send it in.

They did a complete overhaul with new shuttercurtains, etc. for

around $500 which included parts. I'm glad I dropped it now, as the

camera works like it just came out of the box.