Could a Junior owner help me with picking out the date of manufacture from this serial number? (I hope the picture shows up!).

My 4+ year old (current vintage) D1 rotary Junior has a clearly recognizable date on the undertray label, however the label on my 1995 vintage vibe machine is dateless (like yours).

I'm sure that there is a way to tell from the information on that label the date of manufacture, however I am unfortunately not able to do so. It is possible that your local Cimbali dealer, Bravo Coffee in New Westminster (with whom I am very well acquainted; they are great people) could give you specific information.

If you could post a picture of the machine, especially a frontal view, I'd be happy to hazard a guess. There have been changes in the appearance of the machines, such things as presence or absence of a sight glass, shape of the plastic steaming and boiler draining knobs --- that might give me some idea as to the vintage.

ken

ADDENDUM: My older (vibe) machine was manufactured in 1995; I know this because it was a special order item (in brass) and after waiting several months after the order was placed, I received it towards the end of 1995. The number given on the label (similar to the one you showed) is 402872. Here's an old picture of this machine, taken before I did any of its modifications:



The newer machine, a current design D1 rotary machine, has a different label with a UL marking on it. The date of manufacture is clearly stated as 11-2002. Also on this label is given the "Fabrication Number," which is 529224. There is a difference of 126,352 in these two numbers. I sincerely doubt that Cimbali produced 126 thousand Junior espresso machines in that 7 year period, so most probably that reflects at least the production of all espresso machines and perhaps also such things as grinders.

There is a difference of almost 35 thousand between the number on the label on your photo and the number on my older machine, made in 1995. Based on the above discussion, I would hazard a guess that your machine was made 1-3 years before mine, e.g. in the 1992 to 1994 time frame. It probably more or less resembles the picture I posted above.

Thanks Ken. That was helpful. I now own the beast that I was enquiring about. It is a DT with a vibe pump. It has no tank and has volumetric water dosing. I don't really know the age of the machine, but there is no rust on the frame, no leaks and everything seems to work. I'm pretty excited to get it all plumbed in. I will be scouring this and other web pages to learn important stuff about maintenance, brewing and steaming (currently has a 4 hole tip). Sorry for the cell-phone quality pic.