135mm Elmarit numbers

[Susie]

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Hi all,

 

The recent discussion about the number of lenses we all have prompted me to go through my small collection and record the serial numbers etc., just in case something happened to them. I then went through the numbers on the lists in Wiki to get the date of manufacture.

 

The only one that did not match is my 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit. The serial number is 3642345. The lens was made in Canada.

 

The list only gives this entry:

3641826 3642125 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M 1993 300

3686631 3687030 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M 1995 400

 

Can I assume that the numbers for 1994, and hence my lens is in the missing year?

 

Comments welcome.

 

Best wishes,

 

Susie

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[UliWer]

Thiele's "Kleines Fabrikationshandbuch" gives the follwing numbers for the 2.8/135mm Elmarit-M (there is no "Tele" in the name - always difficult to keep them apart) for the year 1993:

 

3.615.401 - 3.615.500 1993 100

3.641.901 - 3.642.475 1993 575

 

According to this list the last number should have been the last lens of this type.

 

For your 3.686....-numders there is an entry: "3.380.401 - 3.688.900 - no information available".

 

Though you can never be sure about all those lists. There are many faults in them, and one author copies the faults of others. Their sources are insecure. Leitz/Leica used to give a certain sequel of numbers to a certain type of lens before production, so it was not sure if they were produced at all, or just a part of them and in many cases, early numbers were produced much later than the sequel seems to indicate.

[01af]

According to Erwin Puts' Leica Pocket Guide, the serial number 3642345 belongs to a batch of 250 Elmarit-R 135 mm lenses allotted in 1993. Yours is an Elmarit-M?

[Susie]

Hi,

 

Yes, an Elmarit-M 1:2.8/135 with goggles. I bought it from one of the auctions at Christies about 20 years ago, complete with the soft case.

 

Susie

[UliWer]

Summilux.net just gives an ? with the year 1993.

Summilux - Num

 

You can never be sure about all those lists... Though in this case Thiele doesn't seem to be wrong as one example in his sequel of 575 items from 1993 (3.641.901 - 3.642.475) exists. The actual year of production may have been later than 1993.