ARCA-SWISS was founded in 1926 by Alfred Oschwald in Zurich, Switzerland, as a camera repair business. After World War II, he partnered with Karl Koch to create the Sinar Norma and developed the first "behind-the-lens" Sinar shutter. In the early 1950s, Alfred’s son, Max, co-founded Oschwald Brothers, focusing on professional monorail cameras. The company gained recognition for its versatile "all-around cameras" under the ARCA brand and later rebranded as ARCA-SWISS.