KAHLES Family

KARL ROBERT KAHLES,

founded the company KAHLES in 1898. Far beyond the borders, Karl Robert Kahles was a highly respected optics manufacturer who brought together two traditional Viennese optics enterprises into a high-end optics pioneer company. 

ERNST UND KARL KAHLES,

both sons of Karl Robert Kahles, continued developing the company into the leading optics manufacturer of the Austrian Empire.  The technical capabilities of Karl and the management skills of Ernst made the KAHLES products appreciated and well-known all over the world.

ELISABETH KAHLES,

widow of Karl Kahles, rebuilt the destroyed company after it had suffered serious damage during the Second World War and resumed operation with a lot of competence and passion.

FRIEDRICH KAHLES,

son of Elisabeth Kahles, an experienced physicist and graduate engineer, then led the company to a new level of success. His passion for future-oriented production and his awareness of social responsibility within the company were always in line with the long-standing family tradition. Some of his technical achievements, such as the riflescope design and the coating technology, are immovable milestones in the field of optics construction to this day. 

After the end of the long Kahles family dynasty, the company became part of the KAHLES Ges.m.b.H. with a state-of-the-art facility in Guntramsdorf near Vienna, where, until today, tradition and perfection in the production of optical products are kept up.