Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson to join more than 40 rare and exceptional objects in (RED) Auction at Sotheby’s New York

Apple’s Jony Ive and Marc Newson design special edition Leica M

The special-edition Leica Digital Rangefinder camera, designed by Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of design at Apple, and industrial designer Marc Newson, is one of those items that is at once exceptional and one of a kind.

Bound for the block at Sotheby’s as part of the (RED) Auction (November 23; 7 P.M.), which will benefit the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (theglobalfund.org), the one-off camera features a full-format CMOS image sensor, a high-performance processor and Leica’s new super-high-resolution APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH lens. Made from a custom-engineered alloy and featuring a laser-machined aluminum body, it required more than 725 hours to manufacture and nearly 1,000 prototype parts.

The piece is expected to fetch between $500,000 and $750,000 at auction, where it will join more than 40 other exclusive items, including a Steinway & Sons grand piano, a rouge calfskin Hermès saddle and a Takashi Murakami¬designed Louis Vuitton trunk. (sothebys.com)

By departures.com