Vivitar 135 3.5 serial number

[drjs]

I am looking at a Vivitar auto 135 F/3.5 lens with serial number of 410xxxx. Since it doesn't follow the Vivitar Lens Manufacture's guide, can I assume the lens is made before 1970? It is in Pentax screw mount if that matters. Anyone have a guess who made this lens? Most of the 135 I have seen are 2.8 and this is not a chrome nose.



Vivitar Subcontracted Lens Makers

(1st two digits of serial number)

6 Olympus

9 Cosina

13 Schneider Optik

22 Kino (aka Kiron)

25 Ozone Optical

28 Komine

32 Makinon

33 Asanuma

37 Tokina

42 Bauer

44 Perkin Elmer (US)

47 Chinon

51 Tokyo Trading

56 Kyoe Schoji

75 Hoya Optical

81 Polar

[luisalegria]

Hi,
The Vivitar presets generally don't conform to the serial number code. They may be pre-1970, or the coding scheme may not have come into use uniformly if a product was already coded. I would guess some of both may apply.
The current thinking, I believe, is that the preset series was by Kino/Kiron. Some certainly were.
I don't know if that applies to all of the presets, but the family resemblances are strong across the range.