The ongoing development of optical measuring instruments at the end of the 19th century played a key role in the increasing international success of ZEISS. Carl Pulfrich joined Carl Zeiss in 1890. In order to promote the development of optical systems for chemical analysis, he founded and became head of the Optical Measuring Instruments division.
After World War II and the partition of Germany, Carl Zeiss was also separated. In addition to the site in Jena, there was now a new company in Oberkochen. It was not until 1952 that the Optical Measuring Instruments division was able to offer the entire pre-war product line again. Initially, the whole range of optical metrology instruments was offered both in Jena and Oberkochen. In 1994, after reunification of the two companies, large parts of the Optical Metrology division were sold off. The remaining department, which specialized primarily in process analytics, was part of the Microscopy business group until 2015 and was moved to the newly formed Carl Zeiss Spectroscopy GmbH on 1 July 2015.