Edit: also forgot - in the last picture, on the bottom, does that little slot have any significance? Part of the knocking system but wondered why they left it exposed. Seems like a good spot to gunk up the works. 
Jimmy has a great article about the barcodes:
If this was sold in America, and it’s in like-new condition, 2008 wouldn’t be out of the question?
That slot? I’m thinking it’s for disassembly access.
Thank you. I usually check nimrods blog first, but I missed this one.
Hi! The window is named the ‘Guard Sign Mechanism’ by Pentel. It allows you to check whether the tip of the pencil is retracted while it’s tucked into a shirt pocket. To be honest, it’s not very functional, but it’s a somewhat interesting mechanism.
Thank you. That is interesting
I love how the big boys try to brand everything!
There’s another window under the clip. I always chalked it up to a compromise vs making the pencil diameter larger.
I’ve disassembled a battered specimen I had of this one. I can’t find the pictures for it but I’ll see about taking some new ones.
