It literally says Revs Per Minute on the bottom, R.P.M. With that out of the way, it looks like a 1920-30's tach judging from the diameter and the logo. May even be marine or motorcycle. With no markings or serial numbers, it's just going to be a guessing game unfortunately. I would run it if it works.
Agree and I should have said, doesn’t say RPM above the center of the needle where the comparators I have found do.
Roger. See if you can compare it to the 8k one I gave Jeremy years ago. It's the same style and needle. I think it still has numbers on the back. Late 40's early 50's as I recall.
As I said before. The 30’s to the 50’s. They started making gauges for the non-passenger market in the 30’s, and they stopped using that needle in most gauges in 1948 and pretty sure all gauges by mid 50’s. But what do I know?
Yes, Alchemy hit the nail on the head. If there are any numbers on the back, you can tell the year made from the letter/number code. Here's a dating chart & some other old ephemera that you might be interested in seeing. Also, those tachs came in various ratios, as they were used for industry, as well as motor vehicles. Most for the cups had a little plate with the ratio stamped on it...2:1 for tach drive hookup...1:1 for crank hub or generator hookup, etc.