In 1994, the club earned three promotions in quick succession under coach, Ingo Kahlisch, and reached Germany's 3rd tier, enjoying a three-season spell at that level competing against the likes of FC Union Berlin and Dynamo Dresden.

The current day club claims its origins in the reemergence in December 1950 of the former VfL out of SG as BSG Mechanik Rathenow.

[2] On 10 February 1990, following German reunification, the club took on the name Sportverein Optik based on a sponsorship arrangement with a local optical firm.

The team advanced to fourth-tier competition in 1992 following a championship in the Verbandsliga Brandenburg (V) and continued its string of successes by winning promotion in qualification play for the Regionalliga Nordost (III) as part of the restructuring of German football in 1994.

During their 2014 Regionalliga season, the club won the Brandenburg Cup, beating SV Babelsberg 3–1, thus securing a historic first-round appearance in the DFB Pokal.