Unitron History Project

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Unitron48 United States of America
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Unitron History Project

#1

Post by Unitron48 »


This thread is intended to be an ongoing effort that details my interest and research in the Unitron Company of the 1950's-early 1990's.

Since acquiring my first Unitron (a Model 114, 60mm, f/15 on an alt-az mount) in 1959, I added several models up to the Model 510 (125mm, f/16, photo-equatorial). In 2014 I also took on as a retirement project the research and documentation of Unitron USA and its Japanese supplier, Nihon Seiko. Included in this effort was the documentation of the larger 5 inch and 6 inch models. That effort is documented on this website: https://www.unitronhistory.com/.

Lots more to come!

Dave
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Unitron 114_First Light.jpg
Unitron Family.jpg
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

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Re: Unitron History Project

#2

Post by Unitron48 »


As part of my ongoing research into the history of Nihon Seiko and Unitron/Polarex scopes, I visited the current Unitron facility on Long Island, NY. The Unitron Company, and now also Accu-Scope Inc, has been located at 73 Mall Drive in Commack, NY since 2008. By that year, Unitron was dealing solely with microscopes.

The purpose of the visit was twofold: (1) seek out any additional information on Unitron and Nihon Seiko, and (2) gift them one of the two 3 inch Unitron refractors that I acquired from Lawrence Fine's son, Phillip, several years ago. I'll be making several posts to cover the details of the visit.

Dave
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Unitron_09CN.jpg
Unitron_02CN.jpg
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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Re: Unitron History Project

#3

Post by Unitron48 »


Those of you who followed my Unitron History thread on AF might recall the telescope I "passed along" to Unitron was acquired when I visited Philip Fine at their Summer home on Cape Cod. The telescope was one of two (along with other Unitron accessories) "gifted" me by Lawrence Fine's children. At the time of the visit I presented Philip a bound set of Sky and Telescope magazines from 1955-56. Included was the December 1955 issue that featured Philip and his sister Karen in a Unitron advertisement for the Model 160, 4 inch Photo-equatorial refractor.

Dave
Attachments
DSCN4845v1.jpg
DSCN4838v1.jpg
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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Re: Unitron History Project

#4

Post by helicon »


Really cool Dave!
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
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Re: Unitron History Project

#5

Post by Lady Fraktor »


Beautiful telescopes and a wonderful read and resource Dave.
Thank you for all of the effort you have put into this.
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
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Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
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Re: Unitron History Project

#6

Post by j.gardavsky »


Hello Dave,

your great Unitron hands-on legacy comes at the right time!

The Unitron 80mm spotting and astronomy scopes with a turret for the eyepieces used to be quite popular in Germany as a bigger aperture alternative to the Carl Zeiss Jena Asiola. I have just missed one of these Unitrons on the eBay.
The Eschenbach optics company in Nuernberg used to be the dealer for these scopes, later Unitron has rebranded them as "Eschenbach" to increase the market shares with a German brand name.
The boss of Eschenbach is my neighbour across the fence, but he lets today to manufacture the Eschenbach optics in Far East,
as many other German optics companies.

Thank you for sharing,
JG
6" F/5 Sky-Watcher achro, 2" BBHS Star Diagonal, 2" zenith prism, 1.25" Takahashi prism
Leica 82mm APO Televid
Eyepieces: Docter UWA; Leica B WW and WW Asph. Zoom; Leica HC Plan S and L, monocentric; Pentax SMC XW, O-, XO; Tak MC O, Carl Zeiss B WW, and Pl, E-Pl, S-Pl, W-Pl;
Swarovski SW; Baader Symmetric Diascope Edition; Nikon NAV SW, ; TMB supermonocentric; Rodenstock; Vixen HR; TV Delos
Filters: Astrodon, Astronomik, Baader, Balzers, Zeiss West and East, Lumicon
Binoculars (7x42 up to 15x85): Docter Nobilem, Leica Ultravid, Nikon Astroluxe, Swarovski EL Swarovision; BA8 (Kunming Optical)
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Re: Unitron History Project

#7

Post by Unitron48 »


Hi JG! I have a 1987 Eschenbach catalog on my website: https://www.unitronhistory.com/wp-conte ... enbach.pdf.

Would love for you to translate sometime!

Dave
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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Re: Unitron History Project

#8

Post by Unitron48 »


j.gardavsky wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:13 pm Hello Dave,

your great Unitron hands-on legacy comes at the right time!

The Unitron 80mm spotting and astronomy scopes with a turret for the eyepieces used to be quite popular in Germany as a bigger aperture alternative to the Carl Zeiss Jena Asiola. I have just missed one of these Unitrons on the eBay.
The Eschenbach optics company in Nuernberg used to be the dealer for these scopes, later Unitron has rebranded them as "Eschenbach" to increase the market shares with a German brand name.
The boss of Eschenbach is my neighbour across the fence, but he lets today to manufacture the Eschenbach optics in Far East,
as many other German optics companies.

Thank you for sharing,
JG
I don't have any of the Unitron/Polarex spotting scopes in my personal collection. I do have a collection of photos of the Polarex Branded spotting scopes (50mm, 60mm, and 80mm) posted: https://www.unitronhistory.com/models/p ... ng-scopes/

Dave
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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Re: Unitron History Project

#9

Post by j.gardavsky »


Unitron48 wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:18 am Hi JG! I have a 1987 Eschenbach catalog on my website: https://www.unitronhistory.com/wp-conte ... enbach.pdf.

Would love for you to translate sometime!

Dave
Hello Dave,

I can make a search if there are any English writings on Unitron in Germany. As everything with me, it can take time.

Best,
JG
6" F/5 Sky-Watcher achro, 2" BBHS Star Diagonal, 2" zenith prism, 1.25" Takahashi prism
Leica 82mm APO Televid
Eyepieces: Docter UWA; Leica B WW and WW Asph. Zoom; Leica HC Plan S and L, monocentric; Pentax SMC XW, O-, XO; Tak MC O, Carl Zeiss B WW, and Pl, E-Pl, S-Pl, W-Pl;
Swarovski SW; Baader Symmetric Diascope Edition; Nikon NAV SW, ; TMB supermonocentric; Rodenstock; Vixen HR; TV Delos
Filters: Astrodon, Astronomik, Baader, Balzers, Zeiss West and East, Lumicon
Binoculars (7x42 up to 15x85): Docter Nobilem, Leica Ultravid, Nikon Astroluxe, Swarovski EL Swarovision; BA8 (Kunming Optical)
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Re: Unitron History Project

#10

Post by JCINGA »


Very cool stuff and a fantastic amount of work put into that - thank you for sharing - beautiful scopes!
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Televue: 17mmNAG, 55mmPL, 2Xpowermate, Ex.SCi 4.7mm, Orion Strat 13mm
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Re: Unitron History Project

#11

Post by Richard »


Lovely scopes nice for sharing one day when its for sale here in RSA I would love any one
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Refractors None
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Re: Unitron History Project

#12

Post by John Baars »


Hello Dave,
Great telescopes and a great project!
Your project has been and still is a joyful resource of reading and inspiration for me and many other amateurs.
By your directions I was able to visit the restoration of the only 9 inch Unitron in the world.
I sincerely hope that like the owner of the nine incher, all Unitron and Polarex owners in the world are well aware of the historic value of their possessions and legacy. Your project certainly contributes to that.
Thanks!
John
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Re: Unitron History Project

#13

Post by Unitron48 »


Thanks to all! Appreciate the support for the project and the nice comments.

Dave
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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Re: Unitron History Project

#14

Post by Unitron48 »


John Baars wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 5:20 pm Hello Dave,
Great telescopes and a great project!
Your project has been and still is a joyful resource of reading and inspiration for me and many other amateurs.
By your directions I was able to visit the restoration of the only 9 inch Unitron in the world.
I sincerely hope that like the owner of the nine incher, all Unitron and Polarex owners in the world are well aware of the historic value of their possessions and legacy. Your project certainly contributes to that.
Thanks!
John
Here are some photos of the Polarex/Unitron Model 900 that John is referring to. There is a lot more on that very rare scope on my website: https://www.unitronhistory.com/user-sto ... model-900/. The story behind its discovery is truly amazing. Although Nihon Seiko advertised refractors up to 10 inch aperture. This is the only one discovered that is larger than 6 inch aperture.

Dave
Attachments
telescope1.JPG
telescope2.JPG
telescope7.JPG
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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Re: Unitron History Project

#15

Post by Unitron48 »


As I stated in the introduction to this thread, a secondary objective of my research effort was the documentation of the rare larger aperture (5 inch or larger) Polarex/Unitron refractors. There are less than 20 of each in existence....most in private collections. To date I have visited 3 of the 4 complete Unitron Model 620's open for public viewing: Castleton University in Vermont, Ferris State University in Michigan, and University of North Texas, Texas. Information about these scopes is available on my website.

Five of us rented the Model 620 at UNT for the night. What a thrill that was :)

Dave
Attachments
Castleton_01.jpg
FerrisState_01.jpg
UNT_01.jpg
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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