my thoughts:
I also appreciate the dual symbolism of the glow lamp icon as part of the year designator.
My thought would be to keep oEo's, no-front-text suggestion #4, but in yellow on black (instead of the shown white on red) to more closely mimic the appearance of the instrumentation inspiration.
(perhaps a slightly larger font for the 2 and 9 also).
His proposal for the back view is ideal.
The issue is then: four color$, with yellow and black alignment somewhat critical....
Would there be consideration for glow coil versions with underwire support built into the loops?