All,

New guy here again with a XX Twenty question. Found a little bit about this around the net but nothing conclusive so i thought I would turn to OR!

The XX Twenty has two markings on the inside of the nosebridge, "XX" & "XX Twenty". I think I understand its a timeline thing where one gave way to the other and, if I am correct, the "XX Twenty" was first and the just "XX". Am I right or is it the other way around? Regardless, does anyone know when the change happened?

If its not a change within the generation, does anyone know what the change was about? was it specific to just certain colorways? I have several Twenty frames but no duplicates so I can't verify on my own.

If anyone knows, please reply. I would be grateful. Thanks.

I'll have to check mine, but I believe the term 'Twenty' cause a trademark issue which is why the other names are Tens, Fives, but then XX. There have been numerous marking changes to glasses during their lifetimes, like the Monster Dog, and Eye Jacket, so I suppose this would fall into that category. I'll see what I have on mine, and then the approximate dates.

That would be great. Just one of those things I can't seem to find anywhere. Thanks.

Actually, are you referring to the original XX or the one that came out a few years ago.

The original Gen1 from 2000 to 2011. Since Gen2 had such a short production run, I don't think there was any time (or interest) for anyone to want to make changes before it was pulled (at least I haven't noticed any). With the Gen1 though, I have observed two small changes so far in their long run, the second being the removal of "Oakley" from the nosebridge. I belive that was the most recent, 2010 if i'm not mistaken, and not limited to just the Twenty.

The other one has me stumped a I tried to solve it on my own. I mean, how hard could it be right? (LOLZ!)

I thought I could solve it by lining up the SKU #s earliest-to-latest, excluding collegiate which all use the SKU prefix 13. My Emerald frame, 04-282, and black frame 04-283 have "Twenty XX" while my Mid/24k 04-291 and Pol/Al 04-298 both have simply "XX". Since the black frame is the only one I have seen with both markings and Emerald was one of the first releases (and axed early on) this implies that "Twenty XX" came first. But not knowing the Month/Year when each colorway was released (or ended) complicated things a bit. And not knowing for sure which black frame was 283 or 355 made that find practically irrelevant.

It seems like "Twenty XX" came first but I am not 100% sure. I also have a feeling that the change took place around 2003. That is based on the collegiates which are their own animal and which all seem to have just "XX". Not that any of them don't have "Twenty XX", just that I haven't seen any yet.

Unfortunately this marking is in a spot that is not only one of the last places people think to photograph but when they do it generally isn't a very good pic. Can't say I blame them - it took me over twenty minutes of moving around and retaking before I got one good, clear shot.

My only original XX is a Collegiate, but I know I got that for Christmas 2005, and they were released within that previous year. They just have the 'XX' logo on the back of the bridge. I'd say you're right in assuming the XX Twenty is the earlier, but I'd be interested in seeing if anyone else can provide some input.

I will try to remember to look the next time I dig mine out

I should know this, but I don't know with certainty. I'm pretty confident in saying the early XX lenses (yellow boxes) were different than the later run of lenses (white boxes). The lenses original to the yellow boxes are cut slightly better/smaller and install with more ease than the white box lenses which are bigger and take some more force to install (which could chip FMJ frames, ask me how I know, haha). I feel like the mold of the frames also followed this pattern where the later versions had slightly bigger orbitals (unnoticeable until changing lenses), but I never paid attention if the frames I had the issue with had the XX or Twenty XX on the backside of the nose.

Of my pairs, the FMJ frame had the Twenty XX logo, and the rootbeer and blood skull frames just had the XX logo.

Asked another and he said both 2004 era pairs had XX Twenty

I have a "X" ten that has both on it an I think I bought them around 2000

Godd info all. I appreciate everyones help on this. Just one of those little annoying things that drives me nuts until I can find some info or a solution. I'll keep on this (as I am still hunting for Twenty anyway) especially with colorway release dates and if anyone is interested i'll post for the archive if I find definitive stuff (with admin blessing of course).

Think this might be useful as age starts catching up with the Twenty and more Foakleys appear. Have only seen a few fake Twenty myself and fakes usually have other attributes that easily give it away. But fakers occasionally make a good one and all you need is one thing out of place.

BTW, Adrian, excellent info! That was something I ran into as well. A couple months ago I used a set of iridium from one set of frames to hold up the orbitals in another set until the lenses arrived. Imagine my surprise when I noticed a small gap! Not very big at all, just a tiny one in the corner by each temple, but it was there. That is usually what I expected to see with aftermarket lenses, not OEM. I figured maybe because these frames are old or all the parts settled and aged together. But didn't consider dimention changes within a generation. Definitely something new to look out for. Thanks.

In that era, there was also a large difference between the FMJ frames and normal colors. The FMJ coating wasn't as refined, and it was a bit thicker. So much that the replacement lenses per colorway actually specified if the host frame was going to be FMJ or not.

I have no idea about the release date of mine, but my XX blood skull has XX inside the nosebridge.

I just checked, my Jet Black/ Black Iridium pair purchased in August of 2000 has Twenty XX on the nose bridge. The FMJ/ Ice Iridium purchased about a year and a half later only has the XX

If there was a naming conflict, which I believe there was, I imagine it would have happened early on like the Time Tank.

Okay, I posed the question on the Enthusiasts group, and member Dave came up with an answer as close as I figure we will ever get. Looks like the change happened between March 2000, and October 2001 based on these boxes.




You can also see the October box is 'Revision C', so unless we find a Revision B box, I think it's safe to assume this date range. Like I thought, it was early on. Also of note, the logo went from a regular Trademark, to a Registered Trademark.

Hmmm, one more thing I need to go an document with all my boxes.

Wow, that early, huh? That is pretty sweet, Dann. Just the kind of thing I was looking for. Now as long as Oakley didn't run these two concurrently for some weird reason (and I certainly wouldn't put it past them) then it will be much easier to date my frames, at least the older ones anyway.

I'm still trying to see if I can make colorway timelines just for a goof. Think it will be kind of futile since most companies debut products with a bang, but phase them out with a whimper.

I think i'll tear through some catalogues ...

It's possible for sure. I do try to track them when I can in the database, and even made some headway recently on the very early models. Philip Barber even made some great progress on the Juliet's too. I just looked at my Splice boxes and saw the same Revision notations, but for different years, so I assume it's unique per model.

That did cross my mind at one point but the only way that would make sense to me is if Oakley had linear assembly lines where the molding, sanding, assembly and finishing were all done in contained stations that didn't bleed over into others. That would allow one particular colorway to retain this feature and not accidentally show up on others. It would be a logistical hassle with a monetary and labor cost that most other companies wouldn't see necessary. But it would also be that singular quintessential feature you would only see on Oakley's. The only function it would serve (besides cosmetic) would be to guarantee you had genuine frames.

On the Sub Zeros and Zeros, we did see a fair amount of part swapping, where the logo went from the boxy 'O' to the oval 'O', but didn't happen consisently on both the stems and lens etching. This led to some pairs having an old and new logo at the same time.

I was researching XXs a few months ago and GRF remembered this thread. I just wanted to add these boxes for two Ice ones I have. Seems the lens color changed names too.

Good stuff. Love seeing little changes to specific models through time.

Another example of Oakley re-using the same parts # but slightly modifying the label is the 12-580 Twenty. The regular release is Polished Black/Ruby Iridium. The variant is a "Canadian Exclusive" from 2001 that had a label of Jet Black for the frame rather than polished. I don't have a pic of the box but the dealer form lists it as follows:

Interesting. And it either makes the Blue Iridium situation more confusing, or adds some clarity. Around that time we had the Ichiro Juliets with Blue and OO Blue, and then the normal ones with Ice. 90's started with a yellow/amber base, then moved to a bronze/maroon base later in the decade. I've always like the more brilliant iridium vs Ice. Nice find.