What does my serial number mean?

[electromage]

There are quite a few "serial number registry" threads here, and many collectible/valuable lights have serial numbers. What I'm wondering is, what is the significance of the numbers themselves? Let's get this information together so that people can understand what their SN means.

I know this will vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even between products, but I'd like to compile a "registry" of how each company formats their serials.

For instance, some manufacturers will start or end their SNs with a letter, number, or date code. Sometimes they count up, but start at 10001 instead of 00001, for instance. Is my 6PD with SN A293738 the 293,738th 6PD made? 6P? P series? What does the A represent?

If you are a builder/manufacturer, can you shed some light on how you format your SNs? Where do you start? Do you serialize prototypes? For collectors, have you noticed any patterns in lights? Maybe this information will help us collectors tell when or where their particular light was made.

 

[abarth_1200]

Serial numbers are a good idea of when the torch was made and possibly what run it was from, which would lead to where it was made, look at Novatac for example, I had 2 from their 33xxx run, both of which felt cheaper, werent as reliable, flickeredetc, I also had 2 fomr the 10xxx run, these were I beleive the days when Henry worked with Novatac, this one was way better, it felt better quality didnt have any contact issues, newer isnt always better.

I couldnt tell about the numbers and letter on Surefire torches as I was wondering the same thing but I do hvae a haunch that the long line of numbers is the amount made, I have a 6P with A464xxx, which would put it around the half a million made mark. I have also just bought a C2-HA over at the marketplace with a low serial number, 007499, I think these are meant to be older models.

EDIT, serial numbers to some people also mean something, I noticed a while back that one of the Moderators (Username DM51) has a Ti RA Clicky with serial number 10051 or something to like, which matches his username, now is that luck, I dont know, serial numbers arent usually things you specify when buying torches which makes it all the more meaningfull.

 

[nanomu]

I know in the case of Surefire, A denotates a production run, while X indicates that the light was part of the first run or a prototype. It goes without saying the X models are special, with a few CPFers having some X00001s in their collections. Also, the SN is not always an indicator of the order of the light made, although something like A365784 will be more recent than A008562.

Maglites are reportedly more sequential, with D and C prefixes being more recent, and unlettered SNs being an older style. I don't completely recall the details of this, though, but I do remember it corresponded with a slight design change.

 

[electromage]

Thanks for the replies, that's a good start. I like the NovaTac example, I have #13167, and it's amazingly well built. I've carried it for years, taken it swimming, it's been from Alaska to Mexico, and it works as flawlessly as the first moment I first switched it on.

So are the 10xxx and 13xxx from the same run? What changed between mine and your earlier model and the 33xxx run that you've had problems with? Maybe Henry would know that.

For the SureFire lights, does anyone know if the serials are sequential through sub-series? For instance, the Sure-Fire 6P, 6P original, 6P defender, 6P LED, 6P Defender LED... are these bodies different runs using the same sequence of SNs, or does each specific model have it's own series of SNs?

 

[angelofwar]

I'm pretty psoitive SF serials are sequential. I bought 2 C2's over here and my buddy bought a third. The one I sold to Arbath was A007449, my buddys was A007502 and mine was A007501. I'm guessing once the get to 999,999 or 99,999, they'll start a B-Series, or when the body style changes???

But, on the KL5's, they added an A to the end of the model when they went from Lux-V's to Seouls, so they are now KL5A's, while when the U2 went from a Lux-V to a Seoul, they added B's to the end of there serials numbers and left the model number alone.

Let's get to the center of this Tootsie Roll lollipop!!! :candle:

 

[abarth_1200]

I think the main differences between the older and newer Novatacs is the fit and finish, the HAIII coating on the older NT was a lot better, and the knurling wasnt as harsh, also the newer models came with a positive spring in the head as opposed to that rubber washer in the tail, I felt like the spring was about snap in 2, it just felt cheap