Glass country of origin??

The country of origin is less important than the quality level specified for a particular binocular by a certain customer. Each piece of glass in every specific place in the design requires a specific Abbe number. As far as I know every glass maker is capable of every level of quality. Not saying some places don't do better as a whole than others. But these days, technology transfer has pretty much occurred and company name quality levels that existed not so long ago are much less evident today. Some iconic glass makers, Schott for example, have their factories scattered all over the globe. So just because a piece of glass says Schott, does not make it German glass by default. Also there are likely several makers of glass responsible for various pieces of glass in different parts of the design. Swarovski, for example, might get their glass from Schott, Hoya, and O'Hara. The latter two are Japanese based companies. Hoya for example is a major supplier of the fine silicone sand used in the base of almost all glass type formulations. So I guess that might be construed to say that most of the glass is Japanese.

When a company like Vortex, for example or Leupold, who go to someone like the Japanese Optical Giant Kamakura, have several options. At one end of the spectrum they can present their own company specific designs to be made for them. At the other end is some outfit may come along and just buy a certain Kamakura design with their name being applied on the outside. There are many stops along this path to ultimately settle on what gets produced.

What really dictates the quality of the optics we buy is the quality of the design, the price level desired, the quality control levels required by the contract, the overall quality of the vision of the company ultimately selling the glass (they have to have a damned good idea of just what they want). So if we get a good design, and good quality control, and a good honest warranty, we get a good binocular. If not, we don't. Some bargain basement lines often cut enough corners the product is not what we might like. Any modern maker can make any quality level of glass. It depends on what levels were requested. That and how good of a contract they had with the maker. Glass counts, but so does everything else
 
For a low-power optic, such as for a lever-gun, I'm very impressed with the quality of the glass on my Weaver Classic 1-3x20mm which shows Made in the Phillipines on it. And... it took a big hit which bent the lip of the objective end.. and... after my shattered wrist finally healed back up... that scope was STILL ZEROED!

With the optics I happen to have that are from China... it's the little things. Like how long they last, before something like an eyecup has the adhesive fail, or there is goofy issues when turning an adjustment dial... like either being far more hard to turn than it should be, there being some slop that has to be taken up first before that adjustment ring will then begin to take hold, or the clickers not really having a very positive tactile click to them when you occasionally need to adjust them.
 
Well, you can claim they're built to spec, including the Chicom models, all you want to. It's not that cut and dried. If you think you can trust any Chicom company to do exactly what you tell them to then you're dreaming. My buddy here in W TX worked with the Chinese to develop an automated drilling rig, and to make a long story short, you can't trust a Chicom anything as far as you can throw them.
 
Well, you can claim they're built to spec, including the Chicom models, all you want to. It's not that cut and dried. If you think you can trust any Chicom company to do exactly what you tell them to then you're dreaming. My buddy here in W TX worked with the Chinese to develop an automated drilling rig, and to make a long story short, you can't trust a Chicom anything as far as you can throw them.
I actually agree with most of this, and I try to avoid China where I can. I once had a Swarovski rep at a show tell me he had no doubt China could duplicate the SV EL. However they are far more likely, in my experience, to play fast and loose with the contract. They may well cut corners where they think they can get away with it. Kind of hard for someone to place their own QC department in a factory in China. However the point I was making is the technology is there, whether they stole it or not. If they want to they can, if motivated they can. Yes there is more risk involved with Chinese stuff. But the OP was, as I read it about country of origin of the glass. The point remains the glass needs to be of a certain abbe number and quality level, and it is far easier to get that today than even 10 years ago. It also requires Sherlock Holmes level investigative ability to ferret out just where any particular piece inside any binocular came from. Probably has something to do with even Schott having production facilities in China. They are not alone either.

The point remains that it does not matter where a company goes for a binocular (and damn few produce their own) they will fail regardless of who they go to unless they have either a quility design of their own or a solid practical knowledge of just what it is they want. If you can't specify excellence, you won't get it.
 
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