They have been part of our landscape for decades and stand as a marker of old tourist sites. A bit outdated, they sit sometimes facing the sea, sometimes facing the mountain or sometimes even on the edge of a precipice. Will they fall? Not impossible. Today, they are suffering terribly and are clearly threatened with extinction, without anyone being upset. Who ? Panoramic telescopes, obviously! These twins that France, and even a good part of the world, has known since childhood are in real danger. The reason ? Not many people dare to slip in a one or two euro coin for a minute or two of pleasure. Behind these machines, however, there is a real story that 20 minutes will tell you.
Legend has it that it was a certain Mr. Winkles who had the idea, in the 1960s, of equipping the European coastline with tourist telescopes allowing all Sunday visitors not equipped with binoculars to observe the boats. or wildlife. The man then launched his company, offering to municipalities to install a telescope without them having to pay a cent, and even charging a small fee. To get paid, his company installed coin boxes on each of the devices, forcing tourists to pay 1 or 2 francs to enjoy the view.
“Dad, you wouldn’t have a euro”
Sixty years later, visitors must pay in euros. Do they still do it? “Less and less, we must admit, but it depends on the place. Telescopes have an outdated and archaic side but they continue to be used. They are part of the landscape,” assures Mélanie Juanola, manager of the company Wika-Dimo which operates a few hundred of them in France.
To verify his statements, we walked on the ramparts of Saint-Malo, where there are still around ten telescopes of different shapes. Here, a concession between the city and the company has existed for a long time but has never been renewed. No matter the contract, the twins are still there. And on this sunny day, it is clear that all the children passing by cannot help but climb on the step, before turning to their parents to beg. “Dad, you wouldn’t have a euro. ” Do you know the answer. “If it was free, I would have said yes to them! I did it when I was a kid and I have fond memories of it. But I find it expensive. Paying one or two euros just to watch is a bit exaggerated,” says Laurent, who stood firm in front of his children.
Morgane didn’t have the same strength. “A mother who is too permissive,” her husband teases. To please her son Antoine, the kind mother slipped a euro into the slot to offer the boy a minute of pleasure. The question burns on our lips. But what did he see? “I looked at the people kayaking, the islands and the buildings across the way [les villas de Dinard]. I liked it but it went by quickly. » His mother took a look too. “Honestly, no one pays anymore, do they? Maybe I’m the only one. »
Not quite. “We clearly have sites that don’t work, I’m not going to deny that. But those at the Eiffel Tower are a hit! », assures the manager of the Wika-Dimo company, while recognizing that the golden age of its machines has undoubtedly passed. Five years ago, his company based in Alsace operated 300 telescopes but the figure drops from year to year. “We sometimes have departmental or regional councils who ask us to remove them. Sometimes they are removed because they are no longer profitable. » By interviewing English and American tourists, we learned that telescopes were disappearing among them too.
And when the machine doesn’t work?
The question that torments us is how many coins fall into the piggy bank of the remaining devices? We won’t know, for security reasons. We will simply learn that to be “profitable”, the devices must bring in 1,200 euros per year. That’s roughly three customers per day. “On the Eiffel Tower, we do more than five times that,” she slips.
That’s for devices that work. Because for a certain number of them, the mechanism can sometimes malfunction, generating the anger of those who have just lost a euro for nothing. This is the case of Philippe and Gabrielle, who ended up giving in by slipping a euro into the coin mechanism of a beautiful privateer spyglass placed on the ramparts. “We had a big crisis earlier because the children wanted to stop at each twin. They play pirates, they laugh. We ended up giving in. » The problem is that it doesn’t work. “I already found it expensive…”, grumbles Gabrielle. The company that operates them, however, invites its customers to call them in order to report any malfunction and offer compensation. “We always respond and we send technicians to do maintenance,” promises Mélanie Juanola.
“I just pressed the button and it worked”
There are also good sides to dysfunction. By fiddling with a pair of binoculars, Maxence managed to unlock them. And without offending them, let’s make it clear: “It was all dark. I just pressed the gold button there. And it works, look. » Thanks to the stubbornness of this 11-year-old boy, I was able for the first time to benefit from this experience that I asked for so much (my parents never gave in, I think). And thus observe the walkers going to the Grand Bé and the cormorants drying off. A nice moment, let’s admit it. “It’s really nice that they can enjoy it for longer without being cut off after a minute.” That’s kind of the point of binoculars, right? », rejoices his father, quite proud to see his son tame the slot machine.
This opinion is shared by Bernard Fernandez. Owner of the Visimaxi company, the man has worked in the field for over thirty years. To believe it, he would have installed telescopes almost everywhere in France and around the world. Even today, he has requests from communities or museums who want to equip themselves. But in general, these are models without a coin mechanism. “Because it doesn’t make much money. Frankly, I don’t recommend it. For me, binoculars must be contemplative, they must allow you to sit down to take a good look, to search,” assures the professional. To conclude, we can specify that this equipment has a significant cost. Allow at least 5,000 euros for a model placed on a stand. At this price, you will have to swallow a few coins to make it profitable.