Steve H....After checking the ones on ebay and other places, I too noticed that it is different with the black handwheel. I've looked closely at it and it seems to be very much original, so don't know what's up with that. No way to reference a date of manufacture that I know of. The needle seems to be original, and replacements seem costly on ebay, do you know if they would be available easily or since I'm mostly just displaying it to leave that issue alone? Thanks for your help.