Leica IIIf, red dial, selftimer

The camera appeared on the market in 1950.The Leica IIIf cameras are known as either Black Dial or Red Dial depending on the color of the engraved numbers on the syncronization dial. The original IIIf had black numbers. In 1952 or 1953, an upgrade to the shutter and flash sync system was carried out and the numbers were changed to red to indicate the new version. On the Red Dial version, the camera included better, more reliable shutter and had an improved flash sync speed of 1/50 of a second vs 1/30 of a second on the Black Dial versions. It was further upgraded with the addition of a self-timer in 1954. Serial number range: BD 525,001 - 611,000. RD 615,001 - 685,000. RD-ST 685,001 - 825,000. A total of 5,367 cameras were assembled in Ontario, Canada.[1]