Posts Made By: Roy Dionne

Hi All,
What started with a curiosity to try to find what year my daughters Orange Tube C8 was made has turned into part time hobby.
First thing I found was that Celestron’s records don’t extend back to the earlier C8s.
Then I found someone who knew what the purchase date of his C8 was, a 1984 with a S/N in the 800,000 range. My daughter’s is in the 254,000. Several years later I found a 1973 with a known purchase date, S/N 4936 2. I thought once I found an older scope, I could extrapolate and come up with an approximate year. Didn’t work!
So now I’m cruising the net and bugging people. I apologize, but if I may bug you, what I have started is a database consisting of:
Serial Number
Serial Number Location (Fork Base, Secondary Mirror, Someplace else?)
Purchase Year (If Known)
Features (Sandcast Forks, Diecast Forks, Enhanced Optics Label, Anything else that may pinpoint it to an particular year.
If, in a couple of years, I can get enough numbers, a pattern might start to make sense. Then I'll see about getting it posted somewhere.
Please feel free to completely ignore me.
Thanks,
Roy

Hi Jim,
What started with a curiosity to try to find what year my daughters Orange Tube C8 was made has turned into part time hobby.
First thing I found was that Celestron?s records don?t extend back to the earlier C8s.
Then I found someone who knew what the purchase date of his C8 was, a 1984 with a S/N in the 800,000 range. My daughter?s is in the 254,000. Several years later I found a 1973 with a known purchase date, S/N 4936 2. I thought once I found an older scope, I could extrapolate and come up with an approximate year. Didn?t work!
So now I?m cruising the net and bugging people. I apologize, but if I may bug you, what I have started is a database consisting of:
Serial Number:
Serial Number Location: (Fork Base, Secondary Mirror, Someplace else?)
Purchase Year: (If Known)
Forks: (Sandcast or Diecast)See picture.
Paint: (Orange Peel, Smooth, Matte Burnt Orange, White)
Miscellaneous: {Optics (Enhanced Optics, Special Coatings, Starbright), Label (Celestron Pacific, Celestron International), Secondary Mirror (3 or 4 screws), AC Plug (Round, Oval, Side or Underneath), Anything else that may pinpoint it to an particular year.}
If, in a couple of years, I can get enough numbers, a pattern might start to make sense.
Please feel free to completely ignore me.
Thanks,
Roy

Hi Benjamin,
RE: Does anyone know how to determine approx. date of manufature of orange-tube C8s from the serial number?
Ran across your question while going through the archives.
I've started a database of serial numbers versus equiptment configuration. So far, with very limited information, it appears the numbering system changed as Celestron made changes but I might be able to fill in the blanks as the database grows.
One way to tell is by a date on the side of the motors (mm-yy) but I've found this can precede the C8 date by 3 to 8 months.
If there are any Orange Tube C8 owners out there that I haven't already been in contact with who are willing to add to my database drop me a note at [email protected] and I'll send out a questionnaire.
Roy