Rotor-based cipher machine - wanted item

HX-63 was an electromechanical rotor-based cipher machine, introduced in 1964 by Crypto AG in Zug (Switzerland). It features nine electrically wired permutations wheels, or rotors, that have more contacts than the 26 letters of the alphabet. It was patented by Boris Hagelin, and uses an operating principle that is very similar to that of the – also patented – American AFSAM-7 (KL-7).

The image on the right shows the HX-63, which is housed in a molded plastic enclosure. At the front right is the keyboard. The 9 cipher wheels are visible through a narrow window at the top.

The machine was developed during the 1950s, and is mentioned in reports filed by NSA crypto­grapher William Friedman in 1955 and again in 1957 [2]. It is likely though, that it was not finished before 1963, and that it was first sold in 1964 [A]. The first and only customer was the French Army, who ordered 12 units [4]. It is very likely that no more than 15 init were ever made.

Apart from the TKG-35, a joint development of Boris Hagelin and Dr. Edgar Gretener, the HX-63 was first and only rotor-based cipher machine that was ever built by Crypto AG. Around 1964, Crypto AG made the transition to electronic shift-register-based designs, and moved away from (electro)mechanical cipher machines. In 1970, the HX-63 was succeeded by the electronic H-460.