Hey Brock, your PM inbox is full. OT - do you have the 10x42 SE serial breakdown like for the 8x32?
Matt,
Since the 10x42 SE was first introduced in 1995, according to Nikon's history pdf, it was harder to obtain data on older models by the time I became interested in tracking serial #s.
The problem is that after about the third year of production, new old stock began to sit side by side on the shelf (in different stores) with new stock. Hard to believe SEs didn't sell like hotcakes, but apparently they didn't.
So as the years rolled on, SE buyers may have purchased old new stock or stock from the latest production run during the same year, making a serial #/year scheme difficult beyond the first three years.
This also applies to the 8x32 SE scheme. The data points for serial # and DOP would look like a diagonal line if graphed for 500xxx-503xxx. But after 503xxx, the data points start falling off the "main sequence" because of old stock remaining on shelves.
The 10x42 SE serial #s started with 000001. The 8x32 SE serial #s started with 500001.
Now here's the hitch in the giddy-yap and another reason why I think the third serial # coordinates with the YOM (or yearS since a production run could start in the middle of one year and go into the next, as they did with early Zeiss bins).
If the numbers were sequential production numbers, that is, Nikon didn't use a 001xxx until there were 1,000 units made, then today there would be more 10x42 SEs made than 8x32 models!
The 8x32 SE goes from 500xxx to 505xxx sequentially, then skips to 550xxx, which started popping up around 2007-2008. If these numbers represent consecutive production numbering, there were around 7,000 8x32 SEs made. 500xxx-505999 = almost 6K and 550xxx to 55999 brings us to a total of almost 7,000 units.
Does that sound about right? I have no idea. The 8x32 SE seemed like one of the most popular binoculars ever made, but according to a BF member who talked with several large camera dealers, they were slow movers. From reading the bubbly enthusiasm about this bin on BF, you wouldn't think that would be the case. But that's just binonuts like us.
Think of the many roofs that offer a WP/FP alternative to the SE at $499-$2,499.
For arguments sake, let's presume the consecutive production numbers proponents are correct, and there were around 7,000 8x32 SE made.
Here's why it's difficult to support that premise. The highest serial # I have seen listed for the 10x42 SE in both the third digit and fourth digit is 008940:
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=599166
In case it was a typo, I went back through the amart classifieds and found a 007541 10x42 SE (click on last photo):
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=708310:
From the 008 serial number, Nikon completely filled that production run, so that's 8,999 10x42 SEs. But wait! Then there's the 2007-2008 050xxx 10x42 SE series. Add another 1,000 to the total. So now we have a total of around 10,000 10x42 SEs made since 1995. Can that be right?
10,000 10x42 SEs but only 7,000 8x32 SEs? Does that make sense?
Don't
most birders buy 8x bins and use 10x as an adjunct if at all (many use spotting scopes for higher magnification)? Probably not the case with hunters, many of whom prefer 10x, but they need WP bins. There is no such thing as a "fair weather" hunter.
Bottom line, the numbers don't add up. An alternative explanation is that the third serial # represents the year or years of production (i.e., they could start in the middle of year or just go six months or four months, whatever time period it takes to knock out however many they plan to make that year, based, presumably on feedback on sales from stores who sell SEs from the prior year).
In this scenario, Nikon would not need to make 7,000 8x32 SEs or 10,000 10x42 SEs, but only as many as they needed for that production run to fill orders, from 000001-008xxx and then 050xxx.
There could have been two production runs in one year, if demand was high, but given that the SEs were slow movers, that seems less likely than they skipped a year or two and then resumed with the next consecutive third digit number for the next "run".
Or the improbable happened, there were 3,000
more 10x42 SEs made than 8x32 SEs, and Nikon just kept on pumping them out until they reached 10,000 and then stopped.
Brock