ELMAR f=5cm 2.8

[anthonym3]

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Reference material indicates this lens serial number 1453607 was made in 1956 however on a different forum a member disputed this and stated that it was made in 1957. I am puzzled by the members assertion. Can anyone validate the date 1956?

[otto.f]

Why would that be lifesaving?

According to Summilux.net it’s 1956. 

http://www.summilux.net/numeros/index.php

Edited August 2, 2023 by otto.f

[UliWer]

Well, you often find differing „dates of production“ in many lists or other publications about many lenses.

It might be reasonable to think about the sources on which these lists etc. rely. In most cases they don‘t tell you. There are different sources:

First of all Leitz/Leica  (as many other producers) assigned and still assigns a certain batch of numbers to a certain type of products (here: lenses) before they were or are produced. These assignments were/are perhaps made some weeks before the production began, though there are cases when it took years. As long as you don‘t know the time span between the assignment of certain numbers and the actual production, number sequences don’t tell you much about production dates.

Much more reliant are delivery registers. They give the exact dates when a certain item with a certain number was delivered anywhere - in general to a shop which sold the items to customers. Though you don‘t know how long it took for a certain item to be delivered after it was produced. Nowadays Leica avoids storing their products in the factory, they want to deliver „just in time“. This was different in the 50s: there were large stores in the factory. So especially for older products you cannot equal delivery with production.

As far as I know the 1:2.8/5cm Elmar was introduced to the market only in 1957. Though do we know anything about the precise time when the first 1:2.8/5cm Elmars were delivered? May be spring, may be autumn. One may assume - though this is only an assumption which might be falsified - that Leitz produced quite a large quantity of the lenses before they were delivered. If the first were delivered early in the year 1957, you may assume - another assumption which may be falsified - that they were produced in 1956. If the first were delivered later  during 1957 it is probable that some were produced in 1956 but others in 1957. 

So if those lists etc seem to be very clear about production dates this conceals many incertainties. Of course if you would ask the Leica Arkive about the exact date of delivery of your lens and they would tell you that it was delivered during the year of 1956 you can be sure that it was not produced later. But if they told you that it was delivered in 1957 you cannot be sure about 1956 of 1957.