1918: The company Pignons SA in the Swiss Jura mountains is founded. In accordance with local tradition, the company initially concentrates on the manufacture of parts for the watch-making industry.

1944: Pignons SA introduces its first camera: the “ALPA-Reflex, Model C”. Continuous development leads to technical masterpieces such as the Model 9d, among the first cameras in the world with an exposure meter behind the lens.

1965: Production of the ALPA reaches 1,300 cameras per year which record is then followed by an initially slow but later increasingly steep decline.

1990: The company can no longer compete with manufacturers from outside Europe. The fatal blow however is delivered by problems within the company. Pignons SA declares bankruptcy. The last ALPA model produced by Pignons SA is the ALPA 11.

1996: Capaul & Weber, Zurich, at long last acquire the world-wide rights to the brand-name ALPA. The new owners aim is to continue the tradition of quality established with the classic 35-mm ALPA reflex cameras and to enter into the field of medium-format cameras.

1998: At the Photokina 98 the first two ALPA 12 models are shown. Both were for medium-format: ALPA 12 WA (Wide Angle) and ALPA 12 SWA (Shift Wide Angle).

2000: The uncompromising search for the highest possible precision begins to pay off. The appearance of digital backs in professional quality requires minimal mechanical tolerances – and the ALPA 12 cameras are engineered from the beginning for precisely this.

2004: ALPA adjustable digital adapters introduced.

2005: ALPA introduces the small ALPA 12 TC (Travel Compact) and the contours of a connected platform become visible. It becomes clear that the ALPA consists not just of one or two models but is conceived as a complete modular system.

2006: The ALPA platform is extended with the ALPA 12 XY. With this exclusively tripod-mounted camera, settings of a precision are feasible that had simply not been possible with other constructions.

2007: ALPA 12 METRIC, designed for photogrammetry is introduced – a specialized camera on the basis of the ALPA 12 WA. It is produced exclusively on request. Short Barrel concept introduced.

2008: The “gap” between the ALPA 12 SWA and the ALPA 12 XY is closed by the new ALPA 12 MAX which combines many of the technical features of the XY with a hand-holding facility through reduced weight and smaller dimensions.

2010: Introduction of the ALPA 12 STC, the HPF rings and iPhone holder plus App.

… to be continued