- Written by ApplianceWorth Editorial Team
- Technically reviewed by Victor — appliance technician
- Applies to Bosch appliances
- Date formats covered 1
- Sources Manufacturer service documentation, field-repair experience and owner-confirmed serial numbers · Methodology · Report a correction
How Bosch serial numbers encode the date
Bosch does not print the manufacture date in plain text on most units — it is encoded into the serial number. The decoder recognises one format for this brand:
FD production code
The FD number is four digits: the 1st is the decade, the 2nd is the year within that decade, and the last two are the calendar month (01–12).
The decade digit counts ten-year blocks from 1920, so 0 is the 1920s, 9 is the 2010s, and it then starts again — 0 also means the 2020s. The month is a real month, so this format gives an exact date rather than an approximation.
| Year code | Means |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1920 · 2020 |
| 1 | 1930 |
| 2 | 1940 |
| 3 | 1950 |
| 4 | 1960 |
| 5 | 1970 |
| 6 | 1980 |
| 7 | 1990 |
| 8 | 2000 |
| 9 | 2010 |
Worked examples
Each example below is decoded by the same engine that powers the tool on this page, so what you see here is exactly what you would get by typing it in.
This tool returns November 2011 · high confidence
A dishwasher from Bosch's own worked example: decade digit 9 (the 2010s), year 1, month 11 — November 2011. Exact, with no week-to-month approximation involved.
This tool returns July 2024 · high confidence
A 2020s code. The decade digit has wrapped back round to 0, which is why a rule that read these first two digits as a plain year got current appliances so badly wrong.
Where to find the Bosch serial number
The serial number is printed on the rating label, usually alongside the model number. Depending on the appliance it may be inside the door frame, under the lid, behind a drawer or on the rear panel. Our label location guide shows where to look for each appliance type.
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