Hi Jan,
Well that’s an interesting development, though not necessarily a totally unexpected one . . .
As I’ve noted before, the main form of dating that specified both the year and week of manufacture seemed to create unnecessary anxiety for some intending purchasers
And it must have on occasion been a nuisance for retailers: along the lines of ‘Hey this one’s 2 (or 4 or 6 or whatever) months old. Can’t you get me a new one?
Also, from September 1991 Swarovski used 2 forms of numbering (as explained below)
And finally, a modification - and limitation - to the consecutive numbering component was introduced in 2011 (again see below)
So revising the pattern of the numbering is an opportunity to address the above
- - - -
I’ve previously posted in detail about Swarovski’s current numbering practices - at least as they were until the the end of August 2020
So rather than going into a lot of detail, I’ll attempt to provide just enough information to make sense of the new numbering
History
Alpha-Numeric numbering (as opposed to purely numeric numbering) was:
• Introduced in 1985 on a limited basis, in various forms
• From January 1991 adopted on all product lines in the form of A+7 (one letter followed by 7 digits), and
• From September 1991 changed to A+9, and an alternative form of AA+7 was added
Previous Alpha-Numeric Components
Swarovski includes various types of information in it’s serial numbering
All A-N numbering has a minimum of 3 components:
- a product or product line identifier (a letter)
- a dating component (it always identifies the year of production, and often also the week of the year), and
- a sequential number component
Additionally, since October 2011 there’s been a 4th component:
- the use of limited number ranges depending on the product type
There were 3 different ones for binoculars and 1 each for hand held electronics, telescopes and telescopic sights
e.g. from 40,000 to 49,999 for full size roof prism binoculars and from 20,000 to 29,999 for telescopes
The ranges distinguished between different product types that had the same starting letter e.g. 'A' was used for both Habicht CF Porro binoculars and NL x42 roof prism ones
Finally, the alternate form of AA+7 was used to distinguish:
- units made in Austria but assemble by SONA/ Swarovski Optik North America (which to date have been certain lines of telscopic sights), and
- units where during servicing SONA replaced the part with the original serial number
Now after 29 years, from September 2020 there is a new form of numbering: AA+7+A
New Numbering - Examples
Jan has provided the following examples (I asked him to send me the full details of the other 2 units on hand):
• EL 10x42: KD10 10130A (vs K9007 47700: dating from February - the 7th week; of 2020 - add 1930; and being the 7,700th unit in a sequence starting from 40,000)
• EL 8x32: FD10 10121A (vs F8910 40146: with a unit sequence also starting from 40,000)
• ATX module: HA10 10198A (vs H9009 28906: with a unit sequence starting from 20,000)
Likely Construction? - ‘PTyy nnnnnL’
So taking into account what Swarovski wants to accomplish with it’s serial numbering - and on the basis of the information available at this stage -
it seems likely the numbering pattern is as follows:
P = product/ product line (the same as was previously used e.g. K for EL x42, F for EL x32, and H for X series telescope modules)
T = type of product (the use of a letter instead of a restricted number range e.g. now D for full size roof prism binoculars and A for telescopes)
yy = year of production (add 2010)
nnnnn = consecutive number (likely an unrestricted sequence from 10,000 on)
L = location of manufacture, or assembly or numbered component replacement (A for Absam/ Austria, and another letter or letters for SONA)
Things should rapidly become more certain when we see serial numbers for other products
John
