Vivitar serial numbers

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A multi-sourced collection of everything currently known about Viviar serial numbers.

Sources

This list should not be considered definitive. Vivitar never published any public documentation of their serial numbering system. In fact, no certain proof has yet been uncovered that Vivitar used an intentionally designed serial numbering system. Most of the information presented here is the result of individual research by lens collectors. Many variants of this list can be found online, sometimes with unsubtantiated claims that the list was provided by Vivitar insiders. The sources are cited as used but note that most are not authoritative. In any case, there are many documented exceptions to this numbering system, especially in lenses with very early or unusual badging (e.g. "P&B Vivitar" or "Vivitar Professional") and in lenses sold late in the history of Vivitar. The consensus seems to be that lenses sold in the 1960s did not use this system. There is also agreement among collectors that after 1990, this system fell into disuse or was completely abandoned.

Steevithak is actively researching this topic and frequently updates this page. We are particularly interested in communicating with anyone who worked for Ponder and Best and might be able to offer any comment on the subjects of serials numbers and manufacturers of Vivitar products.

Bill Swinyard was the Product Manager from 1969 through 1971 at Ponder and Best. He was involved in new product development, marketing, sales, and dealer communication. He has examined this list and made these comments:

"I don't know that P&B had direct input into designating the serial numbers. That wasn't my department; someone in P&B procurement might have known. In any case, we never used lens serial numbers as any marketing or inventory identifiers. They were only referred to by name; remember this all pre-dates the bar-code SKU systems in use today."[1]

Gordon Lewis, who worked at Vivitar in the 1970s and 1980s, was a Vivitar Product Specialist, handled consumer relations for Olympus OM products, and authored many Vivitar instruction manuals, lends some credence to the use of a serial numbering system:

"I don't know [that serial numbers represented manufacturers] for a fact but I can't imagine them not having manufacturer codes in the product serial numbers. As you know, Vivitar was primarily a marketing and distribution company, so if only for the sake of inventory management and quality assurance it would need to know which manufacturers were supplying which lenses, cameras, flashes, etc. I designed the product codes for Kiron and although in our case there was only one manufacturer (Kino), the numbering was by no means arbitrary."[2]

Serial Number System

The most common hypothesis about how a Vivitar serial number system worked involves breaking the serial number down into separate components that represent the manufacturers, year, week, and sequence number. Under this scheme the first two digits of the serial number identify the manufacturer. The third digit represents the last digit of the year of manufacture (e.g. a '4' could mean 1974 or 1984). The fourth and fifth digits represent the week number of manufacture. The remaining digits would be the actual manufacturing sequence number. There are many known exceptions to the year/month portion of the formula as well as exception to the entire system.

Serial Number Prefix Codes

References

  1. personal correspondence between Bill Swinyard and Steve Rainwater, 17 Feb, 2012
  2. personal correspondence between Gordon Lewis and Steve Rainwater, 14 Feb, 2012
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 Vivitar Serial Number List - Matt's Classic Cameras
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 Robert's Tech Media - Deciphering Vivitar Serial Numbers

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