is a Japanese manufacturer of optical equipment for ophthalmology and surveying.
History
1930s TOPCON was established in September 1932 global.topcon.com, Annual Report 2015 , (PDF), retrieved 25 October 2020. based on the merger of the surveying instruments division of K. Hattori & Co., Ltd. (now known as Seiko Holdinge Corporation) in order to manufacture the optical instruments for the Japanese Army. Initially, the company produced surveying instruments, binoculars and cameras, as well as sniper scopes used mainly by the Army.
In April 1933, TOPCON built its head offices and main factory at 180, Shimura-motohasunuma-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo.
1940s In August 1945, TOPCON temporarily closed its factories after the end of World War II, but soon gained the authorization from the Tokyo Governor to convert the factory for production of civil products. By the end of the year, the factory reopened to manufacture binoculars and surveying instruments. They established Yamagata Kikai Kyogo Kabushikikaisha (currently Topcon Yamagata Co., Ltd.) in 1946 in Yamagata-shi, Yamagata Prefecture.
In December 1947, TOPCON started selling lens meters and an Ophthalmic and Medical Instruments business. In May of 1949, it listed its stock on Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges.
1957—released its first single-lens reflex camera, the Topcon R,kleinbildkamera.ch, 1963: Topcon RE Super, retrieved 25. Oktober 2020 (German). with semi-auto lens and an interchangeable finder.
March 1960—Became an affiliate of Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co., Ltd. (currently Toshiba Corporation).
May 1963—Released the first single-lens reflex camera with through the lens metering (TTL), the TOPCON RE Super.
October 1969—Established Tokyo Kogaku Seiki Kabushikikaisha (currently OPTONEXUS Co., Ltd.) in Tamura-gun, Fukushima Prefecture.
April 1970—Established Topcon Europe N.V.(currently Topcon Europe B.V.) in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
September 1970—Established Topcon Instrument Corporation of America (currently Topcon Medical Systems, Inc.)
January 1975—Established Topcon Sokki Co., Ltd. (currently Topcon Sales corporation), a surveying instrument sales company.
December 1976—Established Topcon Medical Japan Co., Ltd., a medical instrument sales company.
April 1978—Started selling an electric distance meter DM-C1 adopting a near-infrared.
October 1978—Started selling a refractometer RM-100 incorporating near-infrared beam and a television system.
March 1979—Established Topcon Singapore Pte. Ltd. in Singapore.
April 1986—Established Topcon Optical (H.K.) Ltd. in Hong Kong. September 1986, listed on First Sections of Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges.
April 1989—Changed its corporate name to TOPCON CORPORATION.
April 1991—Entry into electron beam business.
December 1991—Built an engineering center in corporate premises.
September 1994—Established Topcon Laser Systems, Inc. (currently Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc.) in California, U.S.A., acquired Advanced Grade Technology, advanced into machine control business.
October 1994—Delivered a nationwide GPS continuous observation system to Geographical Survey Institute, Ministry of Construction, Japanese Government.
July 2000—Acquired Javad Positioning Systems Inc. in the United States and started selling precision GPS receivers and related system products.
July 2001—Established Topcon America Corporation in New Jersey, U.S.A., as a holding company. Reorganized the subsidiaries in the United States dividing them into the ophthalmic and medical instrument business and the positioning business.
July 2002—Liquidated Topcon Singapore Pte. Ltd. and established Topcon South Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore.
February 2004—Established Topcon (Beijing) Opto-Electronics Corporation in Beijing, China.
July 2005—Reorganized sales subsidiaries in Europe and newly established two firms in the European market - one overseeing eye care business and the other overseeing positioning business - with Topcon Europe B.V. as the holding company.
July 2005—Transferred from part of the Hoya Corporation Vision Care Company's ophthalmic instruments segment in Japan.
April 2006—Implemented two-for-one stock split.
August 2006—Acquired ANKA Systems, Inc., in the United States for full-fledged entry into the ophthalmic network business in the United States.
October 2006—Acquired KEE Technologies Pty Ltd., in Australia for entry into field of agriculture.
April 2007—In order to build a global group and quick business expansion, Topcon adopted three business structures, Positioning Business Unit, Eye Care Business Unit and Finetech Business Unit.
May 2007—Business rights for mobile control (navigation systems, ITS and others) transferred to U.S. subsidiary from Javad Navigation Systems, Inc.
February 2008—Conducted a takeover bid for shares of Sokkia Co., Ltd. and made it a subsidiary to enhance competitiveness of the positioning business in the global market.
July 2008—Established in Turin (Italy) TIERRA SPA, a joint venture with Divitech spa entering in the Telematic and Remote Diagnostic market segments.
June 2009—Acquired shares of Italian wireless communications manufacturer DESTURA s.r.l. to strengthen operations in mobile communications, machine controls, and agricultural IT market segments.
October 2009—Established Topcon 3D Inspection Laboratories, Inc., a 3D inspection technology development/design company, in Canada. Entry into the 3D measurement and high-end print board fields.
March 2010—Acquired InlandGEO Holding S.L., the largest dealer in Spain, to enhance sales channels for precision agricultural systems in the European, Middle-Eastern, and African markets.
July 2010—Expanded Chinese subsidiary and established Topcon (Beijing) Opto-Electronics Development Corporation as a manufacturing base in the emerging Chinese market.
July 2010—Reorganized sales subsidiary in Singapore, established Topcon Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd. as a holding company. Established new Positioning and Eye Care sales companies.
August 2010—Established Topcon Medical Laser Systems, Inc. by acquiring retina and glaucoma business of OptiMedica (U.S.A) and entered therapeutic laser market.
January 2011—Established Topcon Positioning Middle East and Africa FZE to expand Positioning Business in Middle Eastern and African market.
November 2014—Acquired Wachendorff Elektronik GmbH and Wachendorff Electronics Inc.
September 2015—Toshiba sells its shares of Topcon.toshiba.co.jp 31 August 2015, Regarding the Sale of Certain Shares Held by Toshiba and a Subsidiary (PDF), retrieved 25 October 2020.
April 2018—Established Topcon Healthcare Solutions, Inc. a medical software company based in Oakland, New Jersey. Their primary focus is the eye-care industry.
July 2021—Topcon Corporation acquired VISIA Imaging S.r.l, an ophthalmic device manufacturer headquartered in suburban Florence, Italy.
March 2025—Topcon agreed to be taken private through a management buyout led by KKR & Co., which acquired a majority stake for approximately (US$1.7 billion) alongside investments from Japan Investment Corporation and Topcon's management, valuing the company at (US$2.3 billion) and resulting in its delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December.
Cameras Tokyo Kogaku produced cameras, beginning with a 6×4.5 cm medium format model, Lord in 1937. A 127 film camera followed the next year. The Primoflex I twin-lens reflex camera came out in 1951. The Topcon 35A was unveiled in 1953. In 1960 the company produced a 6x9 press camera on order from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. It initially used a Mamiya lens; civilian models became available with Topcon lenses.
35mm SLR cameras
The third 35mm SLR camera released in Japan was Tokyo Kogaku's Topcon R (1957), which features a "semi-automatic" aperture: the photographer composes the image, selects an aperture, presses a lever to charge a spring, and then presses the shutter release, which also releases the spring to stop down the aperture to the selection as the focal-plane shutter is opened. Because of this arrangement, the Auto-Topcor lenses have a triangular protrusion which overlaps the shutter release mounted on the front of the camera body. Topcon cameras put the shutter release under the photographer's right index finger, making the Topcor lenses incompatible with Exakta cameras, despite sharing the same mechanical bayonet mount. In the United States, the Charles Beseler Company sold the Topcon R as the Beseler Topcon B. Compared to its contemporary competitors, the Topcon R used a quick-return mirror, which allowed the photographer to recompose immediately after taking a picture, although this advantage was mostly lost as the lens remained stopped down, only returning to full aperture when the presetting lever was charged.
Tokyo Kogaku introduced the Topcon PR in 1959, which was the start of a lower-priced in-lens leaf shutter SLR line with a fixed Tessar-derived 50 mm lens; shutter speeds range from 1 to sec. Two front-mounted converter lenses were available, with a composite system focal lengths of 37 mm and 94 mm . It was succeeded by the PR II (1960), which had mostly minor cosmetic changes but added automatic diaphragm operation, and was accompanied by a third conversion lens with a focal length of 85 mm. Beseler imported this camera into the US as the Beseler Topcon A (although not marked as such), and it also was sold by DeJUR as the Dekon-SR. Later that year, the Topcon Wink Mirror was released, which incorporated a faster double Gauss lens, although still fixed, and a quick-return mirror. A new set of converter lenses were made available, for 35 mm and 80 mm . Also in 1960, Tokyo Kogaku released the Topcon R II or Automatic Topcon R, which added an automatic diaphragm function to the focal plane SLR line; Beseler sold this as the Beseler Topcon C.
1961 followed with the Wink Mirror E, which adds a selenium photocell light meter to the front of the Wink, but was otherwise unchanged; the lens incorporated a material that acts as an UV filter and so was renamed UV Topcor. The Wink Mirror E was similarly imported into the United States as the Beseler Topconette. In addition, the Topcon R III was introduced in 1961, partly in response to the Nikon F and Canon Canonflex (both 1959), although it was little changed compared with the R II: the most prominent difference is the presence of a front-mounted cold shoe just above the shutter release on the R III for a shutter speed-linked selenium meter. The R II was accompanied by a line of F.Auto-Topcor lenses, which dropped the triangular projection and used black-finished aluminum barrels. The focal plane Topcon R SLRs soon were followed by the short-lived Topcon RS (1962), which traded the selenium meter for one with a photoresistor.
Tokyo Kogaku updated its leaf-shutter SLR line with the Wink Mirror S in 1963, which added an interchangeable lens mount and a shutter-priority autoexposure mode. Lenses with the UV Topcor mount do not have an aperture control, which remained on the body. In Europe, the Wink Mirror S was sold as the Porst Reflex S. 1963 also brought the Topcon RE Super, which improved on the RS with full-aperture, through-the-lens metering; this was imported into the United States as the Beseler Topcon Super D and the UK/Australia/New Zealand as the Hanimex Topcon RE Super. Numerous minor changes were implemented while the RE Super was being sold. In addition, the Exakta-mount lens line was updated again with the RE.Auto-Topcor designation, carrying distinctive silver barrels. In about 1965, the US Navy tested cameras from several Japanese and German manufacturers (including the Nikon F). The Super D was the winner of this competition, and was used exclusively by the Navy until 1977.