What is your earliest Touchtone phone?

[Dave F]

You guys have me beat by a longshot!  My earliest one is a red 2500 made in 1977.  I even entered it in the January 2015 Find of the Month contest.  It only got two votes, mine and probably one from a guy who just likes red phones.

Any early TT set is going to have a 10-button dial.  I guess you should add a red 1500 to your wish-list!

DF

[Dave F]

Check all your old TT sets.  Let's see if we can find some even earlier.

...and later, too.

I looked at several 25A-type dials and found:

  10-65 - date on rear, WE logo on front (gray plastic), silkscreen info, (common switch cover missing), triangles.

  3-66 - date on front, WE logo, no silkscreen info, common switch cover, triangles.

So, apparently the various characteristics were phased out on different dates.  We may have to look at a lot of dials to nail them all down.

It was also interesting to note the dates on the coil covers.  Several dials that had been refurbed had the original date on one cover and a refurb date on the other one.

Paul,  all the TT dials I have seen with slotted coils and no molded logo on the front have been dated 1963.  I would be interested to learn of a later dial with those attributes.  It appears that very early on they determined that the triangular tuning holes were a superior way to go.

DF

Edit:  Also, the ferrite coil covers are actually two pieces glued together during manufacture and before the coil is tuned.  The early type 25 dials had problems with the glue, and it is not particularly rare to find a 1500 set with half a ferrite shell rattling around inside the phone.  This might explain the need to replace just one coil during refurb, and would account for the different dates on each of the two coils.

DF

[paul-f]

The first TT dials in production were the 22-type dials in 1961 or so!

Does anyone have a 568HT telephone?

This set was a key set with a No. 22 touch-tone dial, and it had 12 buttons, the positions of the * and # were used for Priority and Special Grade.

Yes.  And it qualifies as an earlier production touch tone set.   

  http://www.paul-f.com/we500typ.htm#568HT

  http://www.paul-f.com/we568.html

[Dave F]

The first TT dials in production were the 22-type dials in 1961 or so!

Does anyone have a 568HT telephone?

This set was a key set with a No. 22 touch-tone dial, and it had 12 buttons, the positions of the * and # were used for Priority and Special Grade.

Yes.  And it qualifies as an earlier production touch tone set.   

  http://www.paul-f.com/we500typ.htm#568HT

  http://www.paul-f.com/we568.html

Nice, Paul!!  (Got a spare?)

[persido]

The earliest touchtone telephone I have is a 1967 yellow.
This is the only touchtone I have.

[podor]

The earliest I have is a '70 2500. Not that it's old, but it's the only 12 button I've seen with the curved "operator" instead of a straight "oper" on the 0 button. Is there any documentation on when that changed?

[WEBellSystemChristian]

The earliest touchtone telephone I have is a 1967 yellow.
This is the only touchtone I have.

I have always thought that the colors on a yellow 1500/2500 remind me of a banana! The faceplate looks like the inside and the rest of the plastic looks like the skin!

That being said, I have always wanted a yellow 1500 with the lighter-colored faceplate!