For those who love Head Prestige Classic/Tour 600
事先聲明 Decliamer﹕The racquet I use the most is Wilson Prostaff 85, but I love PC600 & PT600 more due to it’s shape/attractive color, simply not as bored as PS85, one fact I must admit is that I can’t really control them as easy as PS85, so I am sort of a collector of these Prestige instead.
Finally, I got one of the most sought after version – Prestige Tour 600 (Made in Austria) yesterday, it completes my European version of Prestige Classic/Tour 600 collection.
From top to bottom in the picture:
1. Prestige Classic 600 (Design in Austria, TW final version)
2. Prestige Classic 600 (Design in Austria, body made in Austria)
3. Prestige Classic 600 (Made in Austria, 2nd edition, contains Twaron)
4. Prestige Tour 600 (Made in Austria, 2nd edition, contains Twaron)
Main difference between 1-3:
1. Made in Austria version contains Twaron, more better feel and control (flex may be?)
2. Made in Austria version body paint is darker and does have more metallic gold powder
3. Made in Austria version doesn’t have L7 on one size
4. Made in Austria version font is sharper than later version, I would say Solid is the word.
Main difference between PC600 & PT600:
1. PT600 has Suspension Grip on bottom, thus heaiver
2. PT600 is even more flex than PC600
3. PT600 doesn’t last long as PC600 due to Suspension Grip is made of plastic and it cracks with time
4. Balance pt is different between the two.
5. I noticed my 4. PT600 does not have cap installed, but 1-3 all have cap.
6. Recommended String tension on PT600 is 2kg lower than PC600
Some say the 1st edition of PC600/PT600 (Made in Austria) is too stiff to play with.
HEAD Prestige – 25 years of Absolute Precision
There is a really comprehensive report for Prestige Series (mid-size) on TT, a must read if you are one of the Prestige fan.
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=268388
In 1993 HEAD came out with the Prestige Tour 600 and the larger Prestige Tour 660. These racquets came with the suspension grip of the Discovery series of racquets. In the U.S. the racquet was marketed as the Trisys 300.
In the fall of 1993 HEAD came out with the Prestige Classic 600 (”Star Trek” font), made in Austria for Europe only.
In 1994 HEAD changed the marketing in the U.S. The Trisys 300 became the Prestige Tour 300.
In 1995 Johan Eliasch bought HEAD (HTM) and continues to run it today.
In 1995 HEAD changed the font in Europe from “Star Trek” to today’s font. The Star Trek font on the Prestige Classic 600 lasted from the fall of 1993 to the second half of 1995. Then the font changed and the Made in Austria was moved to above the grip.
In 1996 HEAD brought the Prestige Classic 600 to the U.S. In the U.S. it did not have 600 on it (“Mid”)
The first “Designed in Austria” was not completely manufactured in Kennelbach. In order to save costs Head produced the raw racquet in Kennelbach then ship the racquet to it’s Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic factory. In the Czech Republic the Prestige Classic 600 was painted, had the pallet, collar, butt-cap, leather grip, and CAP system grommets put on.
Made in Austria Prestige Classic 600 racquets are a darker red color than the Designed in Austria Prestige Classic 600 racquets.
Prestige Tour has a ‘Suspension Grip’ plastic handle. The Tour generally plays a little softer and feels more flexy – primarily because of the handle system. The Suspension Grip parts make the handle presumably a bit heavier. So as a result specs and balance of PT 600 is different from PC 600.
‘600′ on a frame usually means that it was intended for the European market (600 cm – 93 sq. in.).
Around 2000, Head introduced Classic Mid, a Prestige Classic for North America that could not wear the name ‘Prestige’ because of a legal conflict between Head and Wilson at that time (3 or 4 years ago).
300 is just the ‘Trisys’ name for the Prestige. The Prestige was also known as the Trisys 300; The Pro Tour was the Trisys 280, the Radical Tour was the Trisys 260, and I think the Lite Tour (green) was the Trisys 240, and so on.
The Prestige Classic 600 were always manufactured in Kennelbach, Austria. Head has yet to outsource the Prestige Classic 600 to China. The first Prestige to be made in China is the Flexpoint Prestige.
In 2001 i.Prestige came out. They were produced until 2004 in Austria.
In 2004 Liquidmetal Prestige came out in time for Australian Open. To my knowledge were made in Austria originally and then partially in Czech Republic.
Head Prestige Classic 600的版本鑒別
L7版本眾多，Classic系列，据我所知，分為歐版和美版兩大系列。其中比較易于識別的地方就在于那個拍喉的“600”字樣。歐版除了1999年版的“Classic mid”之外，都帶有600，也就是通常可以見到的“Head Prestige Classic 600”；美版均不帶“600”字樣，因此拍喉表示為“Head Prestige Classic”。
相關資料
其中歐版分為7代產品：
第一代奧地利產，實心斜體字的“Prestige Classic 600”字樣，拍喉正面沒有文字，拍喉側面表明“Made in Austria”
第二代奧地利產，空心斜體字的“Prestige Classic 600”字樣，拍喉正面標有文字“Made in Austria”
第三代奧地利產，空心斜體字的”Prestige Classic 600”字樣，拍喉正面標有文字“Designed in Austria”，底蓋為黑色，上面貼有標簽“Made in Austria”。這是最后一代奧產，為奧地利制作的分件在捷克工厂組裝完成
第一代捷克產，空心斜體字的“Prestige Classic 600”字樣，拍喉正面標有文字“Designed in Austria”，底蓋為銀色標簽
第二代捷克產，空心斜體字的”Classic mid”字樣，拍喉正面標有文字“Designed in Austria”，底蓋為銀色標簽。這代為1999年，如此命名是因為當時和Wilson的命名發生了版權沖突，因此不能用prestige字樣，頗有意思。
第三代捷克產，空心斜體字的“Prestige Classic 600”字樣，拍喉正面標有文字“Designed in Austria”，底蓋為黑色
第四代捷克產，空心斜體字的“Prestige Classic 600”字樣，拍喉正面標有文字“Designed in Austria”，底蓋為黑色，這代質量較差，為美國Tennis Warehouse從海德工厂定制的一批，印刷模糊，不建議收藏
美版分為4代產品
第一第二代同歐版，只是沒有600字樣，第三第四代同歐版第四第五代印刷。
Love this thread on the prestiges, I’m from England but live in the US and been looking into the tour and classic as I used them as a kid.
Thanks for dropping by, I’ve just sold all my 4 PC/PT 600 to a collector and we became good friends too.