Contarex Bullseye year of manufacture?

My father and I are amateurs. He is 82 now and gave me use of his

Contarex system, which he has owned for more than 30 years. The S/N

in the body is Z17670. Can I find the year of manufacture from that

serial number? (I have tried the Internet for some days without

success).

Hello Julio. Here is the info you need. It is by Bernd K Otto, and is translated from his german language website.

Sets of numbers of A - G

The first series of the Contarex was manufactured with an edition of 10.000 pieces under the set of numbers T 85001 - 95000 of September 1959 until November 1960 (Contarex A) . In order to bring little clarity into the Contarex family, it is said that to the set of numbers stated above further 5000 under Y 6001-11000, 5000 under Z 16001-21000 and 5000 under Z 46001-50404 was added (Contarex b) . For Zeiss Fanatiker it is mentioned that starting from the No. Y 10661 a firm rueckspulknopf and starting from Z 19101 noise suppression and a light limiter bolting device were introduced.

Later one manufactured three further Contarex remarks. The Contarex D under D 20501-21096 and D 21101-23604 by November 1963 until September 1964 one built. With these series one introduced the replaceable picture disk and the inscription mechanism. The following model Contarex e does not differ outwardly from the D-type E 12001 - 15000 and E 92001 - 94500 built Zeiss Ikon of July 1964 until November 1965. Within the two e-series internal construction changes are present. The curtain axle II was made adjustable.

The Contarex g type, which was planned by October 1965 until October 1966 with G 30501 - 35000, but delivered only to G 33500, made the conclusion. This last type had the switch for the lightning objectives, was however on the Beli not effective. Besides it is noticed that a small number of black painted Contarex cameras of Zeiss Ikon in the customer order were manufactured.

By September 1959 until October 1966 5 Contarex remarks (A/B/D/E/G) with a total number of items of 36004 were thus built.

Oh, I forgot to link the actual website.

<a href="http://www.photodeal.de/allgemein/contarex-prototypen.htm/">Here it is</a>

Many thanks Leonid! Now I know this body is a Contarex b and that it was probably made between November 1960 and November 1963. My father bought the camera with little use in (I think) late 1964 or early 1965, so these dates agree.

Hope somebody comes up with a closer range. Thanks for the translation and the reference.