I stumbled over this camera, an AkArelle I from the mid-1950s, while looking for spare parts for my Arette BN. Little did I know about the German company AkA Apparate und Kamerabau Gmbh, which was founded in 1946 by the brothers Dr. Eugen Armbruster and Dr. Max Armbruster. They started manufacturing in a disused hotel in Wildbach, a town in the Black Forest.
Over time, the company grew considerably and eventually settled down in a former preschool for aviation technics at the beautiful Lake Constance, producing my little camera. If you are interested in the history of AkA as well as all the series and models which have been produced, I kindly invite you to visit Martin Kohler’s website.
The AkArelle has an enjoyable and smooth form. The upper, lower, and front parts are chrome-plated. Unfortunately, the front cover easily wears off over time, so you will see the brass shining through. Nonetheless, my sample is overall in good shape and, after CLA, working as expected.
When it comes to the camera’s specialities, it is the support for interchangeable lenses, backwards compatibility with AkaRette, the (uncoupled) viewfinder with bright frames, indicating the focal lengths for 50/75/90mm and the combined film advance and shutter cocking feature - something that not that usual back in those times.
The CLA was relatively straightforward, with the Prontor SVS shutter being accessible from the front and the relevant mechanics being easily accessible by removing 4 screws exposed behind the chrome-plated front elements. Unfortunately, I could not wholly CLA the film advance mechanism as there was a screw I did not manage to remove and I did not want to ruin anything. However, I’ve managed to take off the old and sticky grease. The top and bottom covers are held by screws, with the top cover requiring to remove rewind knob and film advance lever. No special tools are needed :-)
See my journey in the pictures below, and as usual, reach out to me with the contact form should you have questions about the CLA process.
