Instrument	:	Theodolite type T2
Manufacturer	:	Wild Heerbrugg
Country of origin	:	Switzerland
Manufacturing year	:	1962

I've obtained this theodolite in 2008. The instrument is of Swiss origin and was one of the best theodolites of its time. This state of the art instrument continued developing over the years, improving its accuracy time after time.

The T2 was one of the first theodolites to feature glass circles (90mm diameter horizontal and 70mm diameter vertical) and an optical reading system, after Heinrich Wild's Zeiss Th1. This 1962 model does not yet have a compensator for the vertical index, which was not featured until 1973. The latter model would have cost about €7,500.-, the price for the uncompensated T2 is not known.^[1]

The manufacturer, Wild Heerbrugg merged with the Cambridge Instrument Company plc creating the new Leica Holding B.V. group on April 2nd, 1990.^[2]

Both the horizontal and vertical circles of the instrument are divided in gon (400 divisions in a full circle) and can be read down to 0.0002 gon (0.6 arc seconds) and estimated one further digit. The other 9 years younger 1971 Wild T2 in my collection reads down to 0.0001gon (0.3 arc seconds).

For more information on Wild Heerbrugg, see the Swiss Wild Heerbrugg virtual archives.

[1]: http://www.vermessungsseiten.de/instrumente/t2-e.html
[2]: http://www.wild-heerbrugg.com/History.htm