Thanks bykfixer for helping explain how rare smooth bezels are, and also the stuff about early E. Perhaps you're just explaining the ratio and not suggesting there are only 1000 E2e's out there without crenellations. Because I was under the impression Surefire changed from style to style, yearly or every 2 years or something, until they reached the rounds bodies. I have never seen an Executive sans Elite with crenellations unless they were stuck on the teardrops or smooth Executive heads with a teethy ring. If Surefire had military contracts, then I thought there would be hundreds of thousands of each type out there, mostly in drawers and forgotten, and same with the unpatented 3 flats Executive Elite with smooth bezel, and same each for the one, two, ?three, ?four, etc., patented 3 flats models with smooth bezels, until at some point the rounds bodies were introduced with crenellated bezels. I have no idea how I ever got that impression.
FWIW, tactical just means planned or calculated except, it seems, when used to describe a flashlight, in which case it also means used in conjunction with a firearm. I'm not sure how crenellations give anyone using a flashlight in conjunction with a firearm any advantage. Crenellations, for all intents and purposes, are weapons themselves. They are the teeth or bumps on a club to increase damage in strikes. I don't think there is anyway to know, but I would not be surprised if it turned out no one ever used them, ever.
Case in point, LEO carries all sorts of things, night stick, mace, eventually taser, and a firearm. Same with military, but also knives and grenades, etc. Why on earth would they use their expensive compact flashlight as a club? It is not at all like a many D Maglite in that leverage would be minimal. Maybe it'd be used more like a black jack. A just in case needed in an instant and happened to be in the hand, kind of like a bottle opener on something else.
That said, I must admit the shallow crenellations on the rounds incan E does help prevent major damage to the bezel in many drops, but I wonder if that was intended or a happy accident. For the most part though, I think crenellations are not entirely unlike racing stripes on a fast car, which I also have to admit, I like those, and cigarette lighters, which also do not really help a car go. A car is a more complicated tool, though. It's really a moving home, garage and control center. I don't mind Swiss Army knives, either. But I don't want bottle openers on my pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. It is interesting that firearms rarely have crenellations, usually called bayonets.