There has been at least 3 different series of 3-9X Kahles scopes. Is it the 3-9X42 AH, KX, or CL model?
Either way, they are very nice scopes, among some of the best 1" tube scopes ever made IMO. They are optically as good as just about any scope made. I have 4 Kahles scopes, and won't part with them.
Kahles is owned by Swarovski, but operated as a totally separate company that competes with Swaro. For a long time, they were imported into the US by Swarovski Optik North America (SONA), and all service work in the US was done by SONA. They have always had a somewhat hostile relationship with Swaro, though, and finally severed ties with SONA about 3 years ago. For a short time, importation and customer service was handled (or more accurately, mishandled) by Legacy Sports. That relationship didn't last very long and for about a year afterward, no Kahles scopes were being imported into the US. At about this time, Kahles discontinued all of their 1" tube scopes. They have also evidently discontinued their binoculars, as evidenced by the fact they can be bought online at a significant discount and Kahles no longer shows them on their website.
At last year's SHOT show, Kahles announced that US importation and customer service will now be handled by GAMO USA, the air gun folks, who curiously also own BSA. This is a very strange relationship IMO, because the only similarity between BSA and Kahles scopes are that they both look like scopes and are called such. Kahles is super high end, and BSA... well...
I talked to the Kahles rep at SHOT 2010, and he said Kahles had no plans to produce any more 1" tube scopes, because the US market is already saturated with 1" scopes at prices they aren't willing to try to compete at, and 1" scopes aren't nearly as popular in the rest of the world. The upside to that is you can get some really good deals on their 1" scopes now and get very high end optics at a midrange price. Today, they offer only their CSX and K series 30mm scopes.
It is my understanding that Gamo will not actually repair any Kahles scopes; they are only importing them, unlike SONA, who did Kahles repair and service work onsite in Rhode Island. GAMO will send any scopes needing repair or other work back to Kahles in Austria. So, turnaround will probably be slow.
As far as value of the scope, a lot depends on which version it is and whether it has the Multi-Zero turret. If it has Multi-Zero, it is the CL and also has side focus. Those scopes can be found for around $650, which is a good deal, since the original MSRP was over $1K. The KX model doesn't have side focus and can be found used at around $500 or so. The AH model is worth maybe $100 less than the KX.
Rest assured, any Kahles scope is super high quality, but if you need service, I would not expect a rapid turnaround. I don't say this to discourage you from buying one, as I'm sure you'd be very happy with any of them. They didn't make any bad scopes. I didn't think their binoculars were anywhere near up to the standards they set with their scopes, but their scopes were comparable to anything available in the world.
