The Kern company was established by Jakob Kern (1790-1867) in the Swiss Canton of Aargau in 1819. Over the years it was involved in the design and manufacturing of drawing tools, surveying instruments, binoculars, army optics, and camera optics.

The start of the First World War was problematic for Kern because it put a strain on the procurement of lenses and prisms for use in surveying instruments. The parts were sourced entirely from abroad, and so Kern decided to establish their own optics production. At the same time the company was looking for products to expand beyond surveying equipment, which ultimately lead to the choice to develop cameras, binoculars, and associated optics. After the war there was growing competition from new surveying instruments producer Wild Heerbrugg (Heerbrugg, SG).

The foray into lenses was spear-headed by Walther Zschokke (1870-1951). Born in Gontenschwil, Aargau, he started as an optician’s apprentice at the Steinheil company in Munich in 1888. In 1895 together with Max Loehr he founded Steinheil’s branch workshop in Paris, and in 1901 he moved to the Goerz company, Berlin-Friedenau where he developed lenses such as the wide-angle Hypergon and the Goerz Dagor. From 1914 to 1918, Zschokke ran the “Sendlinger optical glassworks” founded by Rudolf Steilheil, and then 1919 returned to work for Kern, developing their first lenses. He left the company in 1925.

In 1923 the company also began manufacturing “plate” cameras, with the first model being the “Bijou”. They followed this with roll-film cameras, a 35mm stereo camera. The company was also involved in making 3rd-party lenses, e.g. to equip the wooden cameras from the Swiss company Frey & Co.

The first cinematic and projection lenses appeared in the late 1920s, particularly for the Bolex film cameras (designed by Jacques Bogopolsky of ALPA fame). After the takeover of Bol S.A. in 1930 by Paillard S.A., there was close cooperation between the two companies. In 1937 Paillard developed the 8mm Bolex which would have a substantial impact on lens development. Kern would supply the Paillard-Bolex cameras with lenses with brand names such as Switar (high aperture), Pizar (cheaper lenses), and Vario-Switar. In 1946 Kern and Paillard jointly founded the company Yvar in Geneva to produce the Yvar cinema lenses. A lot of cinema lenses were produced over the years including the Switar 5.5mm f/1.8 (a 8/4 design by Hans Schlumpf), and the 13mm f/0.9 (a 10/5 design also by Schlumpf).

Kern also built a whole series of varifocal lenses. The first was made for the Bolex 16mm in 1955 by Dr. Raimond Stettler – it was the Vario-Switar 21-75mm f/2.8. There were no computers at the time, so he calculated the complicated optics by hand using logarithmic tables. This lens was not produced, however provided research for the first mass-produced Vario lens – the Vario-Switar 18-86mm f/2.5. This lens was the first computer calculated lens, designed by Dr. Stettler and Walter Zuercher, and released in 1960. By 1964 one million lenses had been produced in the Aarau and Yvar S.A. factories. Paillard S.A. was responsible for this success as most Bolex film cameras were equipped with Switar lenses for 8mm, Super-8mm and 16mm formats.

Kern only really made one focal length of 35mm lens, and typically only for one company – ALPA. At the end of the 1940s, Pignons S.A. approached Kern regarding lenses for its ALPA series cameras. Of course during this period there was a lot of competition from both German and French optical companies. Hans Schlumpf, who had achieved remarkable things with his cinema-Switars, created the Photo-Switar in 1950, followed in 1960 by the Macro-Switar, both 7-element lens, and in 1968 the improved 8-element Macro-Switar. These lenses were only made for ALPA, with production continuing until 1970, however the supply was so good that some ALPA cameras produced in the 1980s still came equipped with the lens.

• 50mm f/1.8 Photo-Switar Apochromat
• 50mm f/1.8 Kern Macro-Switar Apochromat (7-element)
• 50mm f/1.9 Kern Macro-Switar Apochromat (8-element)

On Monday 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. This was the first time Kern had supplied lenses to NASA. It was lenses made by Kern that captured the descent of the Eagle module which took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the moon. There were four data acquisition cameras (Maurer 16mm data acquisition camera) used to collect data. Mounted both on the command module and on the lunar module, the 16mm cameras recorded the events for later evaluation. The lenses for these cameras were supplied by Kern: 180mm f/4.5 (2 pieces), 75mm f/2.2 (21 pieces), 18mm f/0.9 (21 pieces), 10mm f/1.6 (33 pieces).

In 1988 it became part of the Wild Leitz Group and the Aarau factory closed in 1991.

Notable lenses: Switar 50mm f/1.8

Further reading:

• Swiss Technology on the Moon, Swiss National Museum (2019)
• A Study of Kern Aarau (in German)
• Kern & Co. AG, Aarau, ein Stück Schweizer Optik-Industriegeschichte, Photographica Cabinett (2003) (in German)
• Kern-Objektive für das Apollo-Raumfahrtprogramm der NASA, Photographica Cabinett (2016) (in German)