There are idiosyncrasies in what concerns naming of the models of the Rolleiflex Automat Original (see table). In my view the cameras are too similar to separate in different structural models, and thus tend to agree with Prochnow and consider them as models/types of the Rolleiflex Automat (Original). I see the point of Phillips though, that groups the first two models as the Rolleiflex Automat (1937) and the third as the Rolleiflex Automat Original (1939), as structurally the third model is more different than the other two. But I do not totally agree with naming the third model as the ‘Original’; although Phillips considered as a major advance the inclusion of double bayonet on viewing lens, it is obvious that the non-double bayoneted are already Automats and very similar, and if they are previous at least should be also named ‘Original’.

Not wishing to create any further idiosyncratic confusion (but I am sure I do…), I consider all these models as Rolleiflex Automat (Original), and further split them into 2 main groups (Models 1 and 2) based on the major structural contrasting feature: the double bayonet on viewing lens. The Model 1 can be split (following Prochnow) on Types 1 and 2 based on absence or presence of safety lock for shutter release. Model 2 is split based on ‘old’ character (Type 1 - grey inlay on dials, shutter mark below taking lens) and ‘new’ character (Type 2), a split also made by Parker. This is in my view the most logical way of classification, but obviously do not expect any changes in the way the cameras are referenced, even if already done so in different ways. 

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​Model 2 with double bayonet on the viewing lens (Model 3 of Prochnow, Models 2 and 3 of Parker and Original of Phillips) is the most variable within these early Automat models. It stayed stable until the end of the war, but in 1945 it emerged with a number of differences – the marks on the front were interchanged, Compur-Rapid now between both lenses and below the taking lens the camera brand. The aperture and shutter control dials had a black inlay instead of the previous grey. Note that in Ian Parkers Collector’s Guide the figures on pages 86 and 88 are swapped, this model is figured under Automat X and vice-versa. Parker is the only source that considers this 1945 model as the start of the new model 3. Prochnow on the other hand separates the formal variants of the Model 3 according to the brand of the lens, respectively Carl Zeiss Jena (East Germany), Carl Zeiss Opton (West Germany) and Schneider. According to Prochnow the factory reference for all these variants is K.4 Model 632, while Parker further refers a factory separation of B (1939-1945) and B2 (1945-1949).