Given the fact that what we today would call large format film was still very much a professional standard in the 1930s, it took an enterprising and slightly intolerant frame of mind to find the Leica camera excessively bulky – it itself was a miracle of miniaturization in its day – but if you wanted enterprising plus intolerant, Noel Pemberton Billing was your boy.

His design required a company with expertise in miniaturization of gear trains, and instead of working with a conventional camera manufacturer, he set up his own company in London – Compass Camera Ltd. – and contracted with LeCoultre & Cie to assist with engineering and manufacturing.