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The obvious issue here is how Nikon made and handled serial numbers on cameras of this period and earlier.

Nikon made the top covers and engraved them BEFORE they were cleaned or plated. This means that Nikon would get batches of top plates from suppliers, and then distribute them to benches for assembly. While the F was not a completely one-man-built camera, it did not travel down a long conveyer belt, supplied with serial numbered tops in perfect order. Tops were used in batches, and clearly at one point most serial numbers [not cameras] were given red dots. But someone had to pull tops and drill and paint them, at some point, before assembly, since the red dot meant the camera had been modified for the new finder.

The real question I would be asking, rather than if top plates were used in order (which clearly they were not), is if the dot was drilled Before or After the top was plated. Easy to discover, but a few red dots are going to have to have their paint removed to see if there is brass or chrome under the red paint.

Were 65 plates modified after chroming, were 66 plates that way from the beginning? From the list is sure appears that 65 plates were modified, thus the gaps.

It is pretty clear that the red dot represents a time of production, and actually has little to do with the numbers on top. If I had to guess, I would imagine that Nikon lost track of what they were doing -- and just realized it no longer made sense -- and quit, changing to 66 numbers, all with dots, thus no gaps.

Even by switching to 67, to end the dot marking, there must have been some confusion.

Why some 65 top plates were used later, most likely during the 67 period, is an interesting mystery, but most likely Nikon did not believe they would cause a problem, since most likely they were shipped with finders in place. After all if you got a camera with a finder in place then it fit.

If logic had prevailed all Nikons after the red dot started would have been marked, and clearly they were not.

Why did they quit marking? Did users misread the red dot as the film plane? (I have always been bothered by Nikon never actually mentioning in manuals that the film plane is at the top of the serial number line.)

Jim I am wondering if there is chrome below the paint, or brass.

Jim that kind of proves what I have always believed that the 65s were drilled after being completed and the 66 before. I think that the 65s are retrofits.

Thanks for the photo, I can actually see what you mean.

fred

Here is the photo enlarged and lightened to bring out the color of the dot