ID M2

In the "No Words" forum there is a thread called "Cameras You've Seen Along the Way". Toward the bottom there is picture of an M2, but with a battery compartment. What might that be?

Can't see the bottom, but it looks like the M 2 with Leicavit winder. There is a lever that you can use with your left hand to rewind fast- some say 2 fps. These were designed (pre motor) mostly for the press "back in the day". Always wanted one - closest I ever came was a Ricoh with a slightly different setup. That given as a gift and long gone!

The battery cover is on the front where the self-timer would be.

In the "No Words" forum there is a thread called "Cameras You've Seen Along the Way". Toward the bottom there is picture of an M2, but with a battery compartment. What might that be?

This was one of the many "FrankenLeicas" I've built over the years. This one was an M6 modified with an M2 topcover. The Leicavit is the M version, which connected to the winder mechanism of the M6.

I imagine there must be a lot more to it than just swapping the top cover?

From the top of my head, the rewind and the film counter are quite different between the two models.

I also recall that many years ago, I was annoyed by the rough edges of the LeicaMeter cut-out on the shutter speed dial of my M4, and hoped just to replace it with a M6 dial. Late Tom Abrahamsson told med that a direct swap wasn't possible - I don't recall why - but I'd assume the opposite swap would also cause problems?

I imagine there must be a lot more to it than just swapping the top cover?

From the top of my head, the rewind and the film counter are quite different between the two models.

I also recall that many years ago, I was annoyed by the rough edges of the LeicaMeter cut-out on the shutter speed dial of my M4, and hoped just to replace it with a M6 dial. Late Tom Abrahamsson told med that a direct swap wasn't possible - I don't recall why - but I'd assume the opposite swap would also cause problems?

Yes, it's a major change. Most technicians won't even attempt it.

 

And the shutter dials between an M3/2/4 and M6 can indeed be swapped out, but the M3/2/4 dial needs to be modified; the M6 has a different screw placement. No one should be surprised at this as Leica is famous for making changes such as this from model-to-model. The same thing goes with replacing the hot shoe with a cold shoe (screw placements are slightly different)!