Barn Find: Swift Navigator Mk1 7x50s (1 Viewer)

[dozercsx]

Greetings!
My wife and I visited a local thrift shop this morning where, in the glass case, my trained bino-eye was drawn to a pair of binoculars hidden behind a china doll. I immediately saw that it was a pair of Swifts! Upon closer inspection, these were a pair of Swift Navigator Mk1 fully coated 7x50s. I ran outside to check 'em... Perfectly collimated optics, super rare for thrift shop porro prisms (usually been dropped). All four lens caps in place, only dust on the lenses, and practically perfect body.
The sticker? $8.00 WHAAAT?!?
I snatched them up and am now the proud owner of this pristine pair!
First statistic to jump out at me from online checks was a 525 foot field of view! That's over 10 degrees, an impossibly wide FOV for a pair of 7x50s; leave it to Swift to do the impossible! A quick switch when I got home to the unused Swift neck strap from my Audubons and voila! A thrift shop gem for the ages! I'll try 'em out tonight on Orion to dance in the Star fields of 10 degree bins, will let you know how it goes...!

p.s. any idea on how to pinpoint the age of these Navigators? They have the SN, the Japan sticker, but no paper, no case, nothing else. Any ideas welcome. Elkub, help!

 

[dozercsx]

Just took her for a spin, some thoughts:

- The weight of this beast, plus it's near perfect hand position and the 7x magnification, creates an uncanny stability, sort of like an "analog Canon IS". It's very heavy, and made for big hands and big biceps, but for as long as you can hold it, it just stays eerily steady.

- the jeweled and slow Japanese focuser mechanisms create a "scalpel" effect, where micro movements of the focuser allows the eye to relax, and change the focus within inches at a distance, it's crazy...

- the 10+ degree FOV is enormous, with the "head in a barrel" feeling. It makes it surprisingly easy to cover terrain for bird finding, and following. Unfortunately, this big guy has little eye relief, not really for glass wearers.

- if you've ever held a vintage Swift in your hands, with the grey pebbled one piece body cover, it's a real treat. My Audubons have the identical covering and it's like hand magic - grippy yet leathery at the same time.

- This Navigator has a superpower: the combination of monster primaries, low magnification, slow focusing, great color and quality glass let this thing cut through shadow for identification like few glasses I've experienced. Picking birds out of tree shade is eerily easy in both identification and detail. I'm betting it trades some distance for time and detail in the late afternoon, I'll give it a go at dusk soon and see if that holds.

- I think I got lucky again, the center field resolution is pretty capable for such a wide field glass. Gotta love those Japanese, they really sweat the details! It's no Audubon, but it is excellent, better than several of my current big porros.

Superb, easy to use all arounders, with jeweled focusers and noticeable quality. I had forgotten how easy using 7x field glasses is. Even the crazy white on black "Swift marketing words" around the inside of the primary housings are just so darn charming.

More on astronomy performance when I get the chance...

 

[dozercsx]

Hunting through this site, I did find one clue:

These binoculars have a "J-B56" stamped into the metal on the front bridge - it points to the Hiyoshi Optical Company of Japan as the builders. So that's the "Who"! Still working on the "When"...

 

[dozercsx]

Here's the definitive Japanese translated list of Japanese builders and the Japanese test inspection sticker:

http://www.amateurastronomie.com/klassiker/pics/japantelescope_code.pdf

 

[dozercsx]

Found another clue: The Swift serial number for binoculars contains the last two digits of the build year as the first two numbers of the serial number! The first two digits of my Navigator SN are "98" which says these babies were built in 1998 - Woohoo!

Still I'm a bit shaky about this as all the Swifts I have seen with white embossed words on the inner rim of the objective mounts seem to be older than this. And Mk1 swifts would also appear to be older, especially with only fully coated lenses and not multi coated lenses. Still, more to come...

 

[elkcub]

Found another clue: The Swift serial number for binoculars contains the last two digits of the build year as the first two numbers of the serial number! The first two digits of my Navigator SN are "98" which says these babies were built in 1998 - Woohoo!

Still I'm a bit shaky about this as all the Swifts I have seen with white embossed words on the inner rim of the objective mounts seem to be older than this. And Mk1 swifts would also appear to be older, especially with only fully coated lenses and not multi coated lenses. Still, more to come...

Hello Larry,

Really nice find! You are correct, the s/n suggests your specimen was born in 1998, which it was not! I have no explanation other than it could have been changed during a servicing.

Factually, the 7x50 Navigator model was made between (approx.) 1972 and 1978 with what appear to be few if any changes during that period. See more info. in the attachment.

Hope that helps. Use them in good health,
Ed