Have you ever wondered what all the writing on the inside of the temple of your spectacle frames mean? Have you actually ever noticed all the numbers and codes imprinted on both, the right and the left temples?

Typically you can find all or some of the following information about the frame you are wearing printed inside the temples:

• Manufacturer
• Modelname or Modelnumber
• Size
• Colour
• Length of the temple

So, in the example below we can see what is printed in the left temple. On the top you can see the manufactures name in form of their website address (www.orgreen.dk). Underneath is the modelname (HAWKEYE), followed by the material the frame is made of (Titanium) and the colour code (28M/2M).

In the right temple, you can see the logo of the designer (Orgreen) and where the frame was designed (Denmark) followed by the size of the frame (57 ? 17). In the second line you can see where the frame was made and the two letters CE which is an abbreviation used throughout the European Union as a certification of safety and/or quality for products not actually manufactured in Europe.

The size notation requires some more explanation. As you can see in this example, the size of this Orgreen frame is 57  ? 17. Some manufacturers would write this as 57-17 or 57/17. The two numbers refer to the lens size and the bridge size respectively. The lens size is the largest width of the lens mount on the horizontal. The bridge size is the narrowest width between the two lenses.

In terms of the temple size (which is not noted in this particular example), this is the actual length of the temple measdured from the center of the hinge to the end of the temple, disregarding any temple covers or temple tips. Mostly you will find a number like 130, 135 or 140 imprinted.