How can I determine when my Lensatic Compass was manufactured?
The manufactured date can be found on the inside of the compass cover next to the sight wire. In most cases it will be displayed as a series of 3 pairs of numbers: ## ## ## This format stands for the year, month, and lot number. For example: If the compass was made in January of 2004 the date would be displayed 04 01 77. The lot number 77 is a generic number for compasses made outside of a government contract. On some compasses, the date would be displayed as the year followed by the Julian date. The Julian date is simply the number of days that has passed in a given year 1-365. This would be displayed as a single number followed by three numbers: # ### For example: If a compass was made on the first of January, 1994 the date would be displayed as 4 001.
