Walter is a precision engineering business founded by Josef Walter in Prague in 1911. Initially the company produced motorcycles, but in 1913 added motorcars to their line. Walter cars look from the pictures to have a certain style and class. Car production ended in 1954.

In 1923 Walter started producing aero-engines, and continue to do so, albeit as a part of the huge GE conglomerate, to this day.

I know little about Walter cycle components - I have certainly seen derailleurs and chainsets branded as Walter. The Walter derailleur in this collection is clearly derivative of the Favorit Special, although it is constructed to a higher standard - as one might expect from an aero-engine manufacturer. A correspondent has told me that Walter used high quality West German plastic.

The same correspondent said that Walter derailleurs were produced up to 1991. I can confirm that Walter mentioned bicycle parts in a Czech trademark application filed in 1990, but did not do so in the equivalent US trademark application filed in 1991.