What Resolve Optics does

Resolve Optics Limited is a privately held UK specialist in custom optical design, precision manufacturing, and consultancy, operating from its headquarters and production facility in Chesham, Buckinghamshire. Founded around the early 2000s and led by Managing Director Mark Pontin and Sales Manager Rob Watkinson, the company develops bespoke OEM lenses and optical modules for customers in nuclear monitoring, space and satellite imaging, military and defence, forensic investigation, machine vision, aerial surveillance, and harsh-environment industrial inspection. Its core technology stack combines 3D CAD-based optical design, cerium-doped (non-browning) glass formulations, athermalized optomechanical designs, and 25+ years of optically compensated zoom heritage, with in-house assembly in an ISO Class 6 / Class 1000 cleanroom, automated MTF test stations, and vibration and shock test facilities for harsh-environment qualification.

The company's product portfolio is organised into six lines: Zoom Lenses, Optical Modules, UV/IR/SWIR Lenses, Radiation-Resistant (Non-Browning) Lenses, Lens Adapters, and Other Lenses (including fixed focus, fisheye, high-temperature endoscope, image intensifier relay, and athermalized lenses), plus an OEM Design & Manufacturing service offering. It is certified to BS EN ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015. Resolve Optics sells exclusively on a direct, quote-based, relationship-driven OEM basis, with no resellers or e-commerce; revenue is generated from project-based custom design and contract manufacturing, recurring standard/catalogue lens sales, and upstream optical consultancy. End markets are global via export, though customer disclosures are limited to a handful of named OEM relationships (e.g., Beijing Huaan Xunchi Police Equipment, Sen, Channel Systems Inc., Ahlberg Cameras).

Name

Resolve Optics

Legal name

Resolve Optics Limited

Website

https://resolveoptics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Resolve Optics Limited designs and manufactures custom and standard optical lenses for harsh-environment OEM applications in nuclear, space, military, forensic, and machine-vision markets, serving global OEM customers from its UK facility in Chesham.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chesham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Custom OEM optical design and contract manufacturing: Primary revenue stream: bespoke optical design, prototyping, and low-to-medium volume OEM manufacturing of custom lenses for specific customer applications. Engagements are typically project-based, one-off design contracts with associated unit production.
2. Standard / catalogue lens product sales: Sale of standardized lens products alongside custom designs, providing recurring revenue from repeat OEM orders of established lens models.
3. Optical consultancy services: Consultancy and feasibility design services for customers developing challenging imaging applications, often leading into downstream design and manufacturing engagements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Resolve Optics Ltd designs, develops and manufactures custom optical systems and OEM-quantity special lenses for high-technology businesses. Its core offering covers bespoke optical design, prototyping and low-to-medium volume OEM manufacturing, complemented by application-optimised standard products in zoom lenses, radiation resistant (non-browning) lenses, UV/IR/SWIR lenses, optical modules, lens adapters, endoscopes, athermalized lenses, and image intensifier relay lenses. The company serves niche harsh-environment and non-standard wavelength applications in nuclear, space, defence, forensic, machine vision, aerial surveillance and industrial inspection markets.

Product overview

Resolve Optics offers a single, integrated custom optical design, manufacturing and consultancy service rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The portfolio is organised around six core product lines — Zoom Lenses, Optical Modules, UV/IR/SWIR Lenses, Radiation Resistant (Non-Browning) Lenses, Lens Adapters, and Other Lenses (including fixed focus, fisheye, high-temperature endoscope, image intensifier relay, and athermalized lenses) — supplemented by an OEM Design & Manufacturing service. Named standard products such as the Model 228 UV Forensic Lens, Model 200/357 Non-Browning Zoom Lenses, Model 363 SWIR Lens, Model 390/419 HD Radiation Resistant Lenses, Model 406-000 Optical Module, Model 408-000 Non-Browning Zoom Lens, Model 414 Non-Browning Lens, Model 287 Wide Angle Lens Adapter, M12 Fisheye Lenses, Z10-HDcf Compact Zoom Lens, and application-specific families (Space Ready Optics, Military Vision Lenses, Athermalized Lenses, Image Intensifier Relay Lenses, High-Temperature Endoscopes, Large Format Aerial Surveillance Lens) all sit within these six product lines. Together they serve applications in nuclear monitoring, space and satellite imaging, military/defence, forensic investigation, machine vision and material sorting, aerial surveillance, and harsh-environment industrial inspection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Custom and Standard Zoom Lenses Application-optimised fixed focus and zoom lenses combining compactness with high performance; design approaches include manual focus, motorised focus, tracking, and optically compensated zoom. Custom zoom lenses are a signature offering with over 20 years of design experience, supplied to broadcast, machine vision, military and OEM customers.
• Optical Modules Custom optical modules that perform functions beyond transmitting a single image — systems of optical components designed for applications such as interferometry, satellite camera mounting versatility and high-speed imaging.
• UV, IR and SWIR Lenses Application-optimised fixed focus and zoom lenses for the ultraviolet (200–400nm), infrared (8–14 micron) and short wavelength infrared (0.9–17µm) spectral regions. Applications include forensic investigation (RUVIS), battlefield monitoring, machine vision and material sorting.
• Radiation Resistant / Non-Browning Lenses Lenses made with cerium-doped glass that withstand up to 100,000,000 rad (1 MGy) of radiation exposure and temperatures up to 55°C without discoloration. Used in nuclear reprocessing, nuclear power plants, space, medical and synchrotron applications.
• Lens Adapters Specialist high-performance lens adapter designs that optimally change the field of view or image format of a specific lens while maintaining high resolution and distortion-free images, including the Model 287 wide angle adapter.
• Other Specialty Lenses (Fixed Focus, Fisheye, Endoscopes, Relay, Athermalized)

Quantifiable outcome

• 25+ years of zoom lens design experience enabling mature optically-compensated zoom optics.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Sen (London, UK)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSen is a London-based camera/imaging technology company that co-developed a custom optical module (designated 406-000) with Resolve Optics. The collaboration combined Sen's camera/sensor platform with Resolve Optics' custom lens design and manufacturing capability, resulting in an integrated imaging solution referenced as a customer/partner case study.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Excelitas Technologies (Qioptiq): Excelitas owns Qioptiq, a direct competitor in custom OEM optics for aerospace, defence, nuclear and harsh-environment applications. Comparable because both deliver application-engineered lens modules (including radiation-resistant and SWIR) to system integrators on a project basis.
• Sill Optics: German specialist in custom OEM optical lenses for laser, machine vision, defence and industrial imaging. Comparable to Resolve Optics because both serve OEMs with bespoke, low-to-medium volume custom lens designs in industrial/defence niches.
• Navitar: US-based custom optics and imaging solutions company providing engineered lens assemblies for machine vision, life sciences and industrial OEM customers. Comparable to Resolve Optics as a smaller-scale custom OEM optics specialist selling application-engineered lens modules.

Broad incumbents

• Jenoptik: Large German photonics group with a custom optical systems division serving defence, aerospace, semiconductor and industrial OEMs. Comparable because of overlap in custom OEM optics for harsh-environment industrial and defence applications, though Jenoptik is much broader and larger.
• Jos. Schneider Optische Werke (Schneider-Kreuznach): Established German optics manufacturer offering industrial, cinema and custom OEM lens systems, including ruggedised variants. Comparable to Resolve Optics in custom industrial/defence lens design heritage, but at significantly greater scale and product breadth.
• Edmund Optics: Global optics and photonics supplier with both a large catalogue business and a custom OEM manufacturing capability. Comparable to Resolve Optics in offering custom lens design and OEM production to industrial integrators, though Edmund's catalogue breadth and scale far exceed Resolve.
• Thorlabs: Major photonics and optomechanics supplier with custom OEM and OEM-quantity optics capabilities serving research, industrial and life-science OEMs. Comparable because both provide custom optical modules to OEM customers with engineering-driven specifications.
• Kowa Optimed (Kowa Company): Japanese optics maker with a strong presence in industrial, machine vision and medical OEM lens modules. Comparable to Resolve Optics in serving OEM integrators with engineered fixed-focus and zoom lens products, though Kowa operates at substantially larger scale.

Emerging players

• ResolveIR / Raptor Photonics: Niche scientific and SWIR imaging company supplying OEM camera and lens systems for low-light, scientific and industrial applications. Comparable to Resolve Optics as a smaller specialist serving SWIR, UV and harsh-environment imaging OEMs with application-tuned solutions.

Others

• Stemmer Imaging: European machine vision systems integrator and optics distributor. Comparable as an adjacent ecosystem participant that bundles industrial optics (including SWIR and ruggedised lenses) for OEM and end-user machine vision customers, though Stemmer is primarily a distributor/integrator rather than a custom lens manufacturer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@resolveoptics7180
• Facebookfacebook.com/resolveopticsltd
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/resolve-optics-limited
• Xx.com/ResolveOptics

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Resolve Optics