The company was established in 1936 as a joint-venture between the Romanian industrialists Nicolae Malaxa and Max Auschnitt, engineer Petre Carp (Romania), with participation from the French companies Optique & Précision de Levallois and Bernard-Turnne.
In 1941, when Romania entered the war alongside Germany, IOR was militarised and was tasked to produce mainly for the Romanian army.