Compound Shutters--Dating

[Two23]

I have a CZ Tessar 16.5cm with serial #273046, in compound. I've been trying to date it using the lens serial but it seems to fall into a gap. I estimate it to have been made in 1914. I had another thought of finding dates for Compound shutters and going by that. THe date on my lens's shutter is 259xxx. I buy a "new" lens of one sort or another almost every month, and it's fun to try to piece together their history.

Today I bought a very tiny Petzval, about 2 inches long and an inch in diameter. I'm hoping to have SK Grimes put it into an F-mount! I'll post photos when I get it, and disassemble to see if there's any info lurking within.


Kent in SD

[Ole Tjugen]

Focal length in cm rather than mm was more common during the time of the Weimar Republic, starting 1919.
I can't remember what Zeiss used before, or when they switched - if they did?

shutter dates are very unreliable, they seem to have made a batch of shutters to last for 20 years, then numbered then in arbitrary order? There are cases of older design shutters with later numbers that the later designs.

[Two23]

Lens actually says 16.5cm on the front. I was thinking the shutter serial might help, but maybe not. I'll stick to my guess of 1914. I got it fairly cheap and I really like the lens on my Chamonix 045n.


Kent in SD

[desertrat]

I can't find the link now, but I read that the smaller sizes of Compounds were discontinued when the Compur was introduced in 1912. I suspect a 16.5 cm Tessar would have been installed in a Compur after that date. I think a small lens in a small Compound shutter would date between 1902 and 1912 or maybe just a couple of years after that.