Service and repair

We provide professional and inexpensive service and repairs of your Curta by our specialists. Please contact us.

Buying and selling

Please get in contact if you want to sell your Curta or you are interested in buying one.

History and development

After the Greeks had used the abacus in the ancient world, in the 17^th century the time was ripe for the first calculating machine. In Germany, Mr. Wilhelm Schickard built 1623 the first mechanical calculator. It was able to add, subtract, multiply and divide but in the same year the machine burnt out. Charles Babbage advanced 1833 to brand-new dimensions with his "Analytical Engine" which anticipated the basic concept of any modern calculator: The programmability of any tasks. He used punch cards and his machine had already a memory, a control and an arithmetic unit.
How far Charles Babbage was ahead of the times became apparent in the forties of the 20th century as the computer era commenced. 1941 Konrad Zuse was nominated as the inventor of the computer, he realized his calculator with relays. One year later, in order of the US-Army, the development of the electronic calculator ENIAC was tackled. It was finished 1946.

Curta Type I	Curta Type Ia

CURTA calculator

In the middle of the thirties the Austrian Curt Herzstark considered the first time to build a small calculator. He had an almost ingenious approach for the development of a handy calculator which met the requirement of the market.
The concept of a machine with central relay rolls was available in 1936.
In the 1947 specially for this purpose built production facility in Mauren, Principality of Liechtenstein, began after a delay caused by the war and financially supported by the dynasty of princes the serial production. The CURTA celebrates the break through as the worldwide smallest calculator.

Curta Type II black	Curta Type II grey