Company	:	Société des Lunetiers
Location	:	Ligny-en-Barrois
Country	:	France
Founded	:	1849

Société des Lunetiers was founded in 1849 and consisted of a number of instrumentmakers who started to work together in order to bundle their skills. According to the label on the theodolite and old catalogues they had their head office in Paris on 6 Rue Pastourelle.

They still exist today and are now known as Essilor, a manufacturer known of spectacle lenses, especially the Varilux, the first progressive lens ever conceived (1959). Essilor was founded in 1972, merged from Essel and Silor. The forerunner of Essel was the Fraternal Association of Ophthalmic Spectacle Makers, founded in 1849. They relied on a group of small Paris workshops until the end of the 1860s. The business developed by buying up workshops and factories whose owners then became "members" of Société des Lunetiers.

The instrument was manufactured in their manufacturing plant called "La Compasserie", located in the east of France in Ligny-en-Barrois. The building is still part of the Essilor Group as its instruments manufacturing unit.

Historic details: Essilor website and their Public Relations department.
Postcards: Private collection.