Reserved
№ 735
Empire State Building, N.Y.
- Empire State Building
- Liberty State Park
- Plymouth Rock
Reserved
Since 1933
The Landmark Collection
Own an
American icon
Small, numbered releases of machines retired from landmark posts. For more than ninety years our viewers have stood at America's most storied places: the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore. Most never leave the fleet. A few at a time, as they come off duty, we restore them in Norwalk and release them into private hands, each with its original hand-written shop card and a lifetime warranty.
Professionally refurbished at our headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. Original shop card, lifetime warranty, and freight to the lower 48 included.
You're on the list. We'll write to you before Release № 3 opens in November.
Hand-written provenance
Where it stood, when, and what it watched, logged by hand on its shop card in Norwalk. The original card ships with the machine. No two alike.
A lifetime warranty
If your viewer ever needs service, the shop that has kept the fleet turning since 1933 will make it right. For life.
Shipped from Norwalk
Palletized freight from our Connecticut shop is included across the lower 48, with a current lead time of 4–5 weeks. White-glove installation is available anywhere in the country. Just ask.
Releases № 1 & № 2 sold out
Release № 2
Sold out. Five viewers, each one of one and each from a storied post, all five now spoken for.
Reserved
Sold
№ 964
Niagara Falls, N.Y.
- Niagara Falls
- Liberty State Park
Sold
Sold
№ 1167
Empire State Building, N.Y.
- Empire State Building
- Niagara Falls
Sold
Sold
№ 1834
Golden Gate Bridge, Calif.
- Golden Gate Bridge
Sold
Sold
№ 2350
Detroit Zoo, Mich.
- Detroit Zoo
- Cincinnati Zoo
Sold
Each machine ships with its original hand-written shop card.
Release № 1
Sold out. Four viewers, each one of one, all four now in private hands.
Sold
№ 507
Niagara Falls, N.Y.
- Niagara Falls
- Battery Park, Manhattan
- North Carolina Zoo
Sold
Sold
№ 1028
Niagara Falls, N.Y.
- Niagara Falls
- Garrett Mountain
- Memphis Zoo
- Cape May ferry
- Lookout Mountain Incline
Sold
Sold
№ 1939
Crazy Horse Memorial, S.D.
- Crazy Horse Memorial, 1989–2001
Sold
Sold
№ 1986
Empire State Building, N.Y.
- Empire State Building
- Louisville Zoo
- Rockefeller Center
Sold
Service histories summarized from each machine's shop cards; the original cards ship with the machine.
The view is the point. Whiteface summit, 4,867 feet over Lake Placid.
Adirondacks, N.Y.
Every machine has a story. Yours comes in writing.
Every Tower Optical viewer left the same Norwalk shop, built between 1933 and the final production run in the 1990s, and nearly all of them are still ours: placed, serviced, and kept on the company books their whole working lives. Only a handful have ever been sold. As the fleet converts to tap-to-pay, a few coin-era originals are stepping down; rather than warehouse history, we're letting them retire somewhere they'll be looked after.
Every machine we've ever placed has a shop card like this one in the Norwalk files. Typed headers, handwritten entries, one line per posting: where it went out, when it came back to the bench, and what the counter read when it did. Machine № 1986's card runs from the Empire State Building through Branson and the Louisville Zoo to Top of the Rock (55,388 views logged at Rockefeller Center alone) and on to Lake George Village.
Your machine ships with its original hand-written shop card: the posts it held, the years it held them, and its service history, kept by the same bench that will honor its warranty. No two alike.
Built like it's 1933
Cast iron and chrome-plated bronze, hand-assembled in Norwalk between 1933 and the last production run in the 1990s, and engineered to hold a rail in the weather for decades. These are not replicas. They're the originals, professionally refurbished in our shop before they arrive.
Features
- Binocular
- 10×42 prism binocular with manual focus and UV protection. The prism design virtually eliminates internal light scattering.
- Weatherproof components
- Materials chosen to stand the most severe weather, indoors or out, season after season.
- Safe, accessible design
- Textured step-ups give sure footing, and the compact head design allows full 360° turns.
- Viewing guide
- Direction disk and legend card locate and name the points worth finding.
- Coin mechanism
- Manually operated: no batteries, no power source. Factory preset for one or two quarters.
- Recording meter
- Tamper-proof usage meter, the same counter behind the readings on every shop card.
Specifications
Binocular
Magnification: 10× · Field of view @ 1,000 yd: 318 ft
Focus: manual · UV protection: yes
Materials
Housing: chrome-plated bronze casting
Yoke, pedestal, base, step-up: cast iron
Internal: bronze and stainless steel
Color
Housing: chrome · Yoke, pedestal, base: black
Rotational angles
Horizontal: 360° · Vertical tilt: ±45° up / ±45° down
Viewing time
Standard: ±1.5 minutes · Extended: ±2.5 minutes
Coin mechanism
Manually operated · Accepts 25¢ or 50¢ · Holds ±2,000 coins
Total weight
300 lb
Reserve yours
Offered for a limited time, in small releases. When they're gone, the release closes.
Sold out
Every machine is spoken for.
Every machine in this release has found an owner. We retire a small number of machines at a time, and the next release is offered the same way: history first, one machine to one owner.
Tell us what you're looking for and we'll come to you before the next release is public — the post, the era, the finish. We keep an eye out.
Configuration
Configured in Norwalk during refurbishment.
Reserve your machine with a $500 deposit on our secure Stripe checkout: card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or U.S. bank transfer (ACH). Your machine and configuration carry over automatically.
The deposit is fully refundable and applies to the price. We take your machine off the market for 14 days while we settle the balance by card, ACH, or wire — and if it doesn't come together, every dollar comes back.
You'll receive a reservation confirmation by email, and we'll contact you within one business day to arrange the balance and freight. Palletized freight to the lower 48 is included.
Rather talk it through first? Call (888) 780-4055 or email sales@toweropticalco.com.
Prefer to pay by ACH or wire? Leave your details and we'll send a formal invoice with remittance instructions (W-9 on request), and we're glad to talk through delivery timing and professional installation first. Same machine, same shop card, same lifetime warranty.
We reply within one business day. Or reach us directly:
Questions, answered
Can it go indoors?
Yes, a study, a lobby, or a game room all work. Plan for about 300 pounds and 63 inches of height on a 24-inch base. The base can be anchored, and we're glad to advise on floors and stairs.
And outdoors?
They were built for it. Every machine spent its working life on an exposed overlook, and the cast iron and chrome-plated bronze are made to take the weather season after season.
Does it need power?
No. There are no batteries, no wiring, and nothing to plug in. The optics are mechanical, and the coin mechanism, if you keep one, is too.
Does it still take quarters?
Your choice. We configure each machine free-use, coin-operated with the original quarter mechanism, or free-use with the mechanism left in place so it looks exactly as it served.
How does it get to me?
Palletized freight from our Norwalk shop is included anywhere in the lower 48, with a current lead time of 4–5 weeks from your deposit. White-glove installation is available nationwide; Alaska, Hawaii, and international shipments are quoted individually. Ask us if you'd like to collect it from Norwalk.
What comes with it?
The machine, professionally refurbished; its original hand-written shop card, recording the posts it held; and a lifetime warranty from the shop that has serviced the fleet since 1933.
How does the deposit work?
A $500 deposit takes your machine off the market for 14 days while we arrange the balance by card, ACH, or wire. It applies to the price, and it's fully refundable: if it doesn't come together, every dollar comes back.
Something else? Call (888) 780-4055 or email sales@toweropticalco.com.
- Freight & installation
- Every machine ships palletized from our Norwalk, Connecticut shop, and freight is included across the contiguous 48 states. Current lead time is 4–5 weeks from deposit. Alaska, Hawaii, and international shipments are quoted individually. White-glove installation, pedestal anchoring included, is available nationwide.
- Condition
- These are original machines retired from working overlooks, professionally refurbished in Norwalk before arrival: optics, mechanism, and hardware brought back to spec. Finishes carry the weather and the years. We wouldn't have it any other way.
- Configuration
- Every machine is offered free-use, coin-operated, or free-use with the original coin mechanism installed. Your choice is set in the shop during refurbishment.
- The warranty
- Lifetime coverage on the machine you buy, honored by the same shop that has serviced the fleet since 1933. If it ever needs us, call. We'll make it right.
- Payments & invoicing
- Reserve here with a refundable $500 deposit by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or ACH; we settle the balance with you by card, ACH, or wire. Sales tax is collected where required.