Speaking of rebranded electronic Nakajima typewriters, here are a few “Walthers” I neglected to mention in Letters from Nakajima Part 1.
Walther TW60 (Nakajima Ax60)
“Walther” TW80 (Nakajima AX80)
Walther was founded as a gunsmith in 1886 by Carl Walther in Zella-Mehlis, Thuringia (Central Germany) and is perhaps best known as the maker of the Walther PPK pistol …
Image courtesy of Thomas McNulty’s blog where you can read more about the history of James Bond and his Walther PPK
The Walther company manufactured weapons for hunting, sport, the police and the military, but after World War Two, Walther (or more specifically “Walther Office Machines GmbH”) began the manufacture of electro-mechanical adding machines. As far as I know, they never manufactured typewriters.
Unable to compete with cheaper Japanese imports, Walther GmbH declared bankruptcy in 1974, but re-invented themselves in 1979 as “Walther Electronic” and continued to sell electronic desk calculators and electronic typewriters …
However, these were made in Japan and sold in Germany under the established name “Walther”.
Okay, not as exciting as the pistol favoured by James Bond, but I did stumble upon this glamorous Walther-Typewriter connection…
The photo is reproduced with the permission of photographer Damien Lovegrove and is taken from his blog page: Hollywood Portraits Remastered With the Fujifilm X-Pro1.
The beautiful model is Helen Diaz and the typewriter is … oh to hell with the typewriter, let’s take another look at Helen…
… a woman beautiful enough to be a Bond Girl and so wonderfully curvaceous someone ought to name a cursive typeface after her. (Oh wait a minute, they already did!)
Gratuitous sex and (potential) gun violence in a typewriter blog. What more could you want?
8 responses to “Letters From Nakajima (Part 2): Walther”
Sex and gun violence in a typewriter blog? Sounds like a potential off-shoot blog!
Thanks Ted!
Hey, wanted you to know that ProfessorC has a bunch of Nakajima typewheels from his recent haul mentioned here:
http://munk.org/typecast/2014/06/07/update-professorcs-non-selectrics/
If you’re in the market, he wants rid of ’em – name your price (:
Hi John, yes you could be right. Triumph Adler-Royal would run a close second. 🙂
Walther is such an annoying brand name. You just want to say “Walter, it’s pronounced ‘Walter’”
I must confess Rob, I did not notice the fire at first, not until you pointed it out, it seems my attention span is short.
Steve, I too am amassing some of those Nakajima clones, this time it is a SCM 1300 model and I have at least one Olympia.
I am coming to the conclusion that Nakajima must have been the most prolific manufacturer in the last period from 1980 onwards, in both mechanical and electronic typewriters.
I’d like to say what an excellent incentive to further investigate the undoubted prowess of the Fuji X-Pro1, but I think we can leave the camera on the shelf along with the typewriters and the gun and concentrate instead on the great lighting and set design, especially the cleverly exposed flames in the fireplace.
Haha superb way to liven up a post about electronic typewriters! Helen diaz: freakin wow. I almost wish that if those pics ever get redone, we should have kate beckinsdale step in for helen.
A+++++++++ post!