Wild Heerbrugg

On 26 April 1921 the company Heinrich Wild, Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Optik was founded in Heerbrugg by three Swiss men; the surveyor and inventor Heinrich Wild from Glarus, the investor Jacob Schmidheiny from Balgach, and the geologist Dr. Robert Helbling from Flums.

Heinrich Wild (1877–1951), a leading designer of geodetic and astronomical instruments, was born in Switzerland and began his career as an apprentice surveyor.

In 1921, with the help of Swiss financiers, he established a Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Optik in Heerbrugg, in the Rhine Valley.

[3] In the early 1930s, having recognized that he was not cut out to be a factory manager, Wild moved to Zurich, severed his connections with the firm in Heerbrugg, and designed instruments for Kern & Co in Aarau.

Leica Geosystems produced, in continuation of Wild Heerbrugg, the geodetic instruments and is the global market leader in this sector as part of the new parent company Hexagon AB.