Leica R7 serial number discrepency

[nanthor]

I know this is mainly a rangefinder forum but I also know that there are a few folks who know their Leicas, be them RF's or other. I just sold an R7 and the gentleman who purchased has a question about the serial number which is 20085xx. The number places this camera squarely in the middle of a 1000 piece run of chrome bodies, yet this body is most assuredly black chrome, never been painted nor tampered with, I can tell. Having checked Wiki and the Cameraquest site, they both agree that this should be a chrome model. Does anyone have any insight into this? Did Leica make it a habit to change the finish and not change the records? The year of build for the R7 is 1994, by the way. Thanks in advance for any info on this, Bob Nancarrow.

 

[jajong]

Hi Bob, I would not worry too much. I discovered that my 70-210 zoom, released in 1984, has a serial number 3273xxx, which should be on a lens from 1983. From that I gather that they did not use all the numbers allotted to 1983 and put it on a 1984 lens. I think the same has happened with the chrome serial numbers: they didn't produce exactly 1000 chrome bodies and used a "chrome" number for a black one.
Cheers,
Jan

 

[angelopartemi]

My M6's serial number, 19919xx, places it in the chrome run, but it is clearly black with no signs of ever being tampered with. I wouldn't worry about it.