A WORLD IN A GRAIN OF SAND

There are plenty of brands with Leica’s prestige, though none of them make cameras. From car manufacturers to clothiers, haute-horlogerie marques to architectural sights, there are labels that transcend product. Yes, Leica may make cameras — this has a tangible basis in fact — but some brands garner a congregation to whom they feel spiritually bound, and Leica is one of them.

To provide a more elevated analogy, think of churches. They may be places of worship — a pew is a pew, a psalm a psalm. But some churches are assigned awe and wonder, and there you’ll often find clergymen of impressive rank whose