Company Information
Ganymedes Optical Instruments was founded in February 1974 by Dirk and Jan Jongkind. The brothers still sold fries at the time. In the current building of Ganymedes, the snack bar where Dirk was located was first. Jan was in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel just after the bridge over the Amstel.
Dirk first sold telescopes from home and later above the snack bar when a place became available there. But that was not easy, baking chips and at the same time helping a customer for a telescope, that was not possible. Then they decided together to close the snack bar in Amstelveen and start a shop with optical instruments. They kept the snack car in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel for another year.
It was a big step in those days but luck was on their side because there was a Teleac course on television. They were allowed to add an insert with a price list of telescopes to the teaching material. A golden opportunity, the first course had been on television, the teaching material was bought and the first stock of telescopes had been sold on a Saturday.
Binoculars and spotting scopes were then largely added to Ganymedes range, with the usual brands in the bird world but also less common brands such as Celestron and Vixen. But a very good quality / price ratio. A short time later the microscopes and magnifiers also followed. A wide range of optical instruments.
In the year 2000 the sons joined, Peter the son of Dirk and Jeroen the son of Jan, who learned the intricacies of the instruments. Ultimately, the sons took over the company completely in 2005.
With the arrival of the new website, we have started to focus more on astrophotography and all its inscrutable possibilities. A new era is upon us in this hobby where electronics and gadgets have an increasingly important influence. Computer control and having everything run remotely are the wishes of customers.
In order to be able to advise our customers properly, we have brought in an astrophotographer. One that is very good at the ICT world and that is gradually making its mark in the astrophotography world. Together with Paul, we as Ganymedes have taken a new path, a path full of innovations in the astrophotography world, as well as in terms of content.
Enormous changes within Ganymedes with a major challenge, but we are accepting it. Our goal is to assist all customers from A to Z in the world of astronomy. For the children, for the beginners, for the experienced amateur and the professional amateurs.
Jeroen, Paul and Peter