Long story short, Strong Man and Datacomp were linked. It's all complicated, and I imagine that the variations in these switches arose in part from finding alternative (cheaper?) metal parts factories.
Prominent high companies maintain complex part number systems to track revisions. For example, while tall cream Alps is model SKCCAF, the type I bought was SKCCAF002A. The additional digits will most likely be revision codes, as the design did change with time.
At the other end of the spectrum, Taiwanese companies would be more likely to lump everything together, using the same model number for everything. I don't know if AK-CN2 followed AK-CN or AK-CN1, as CN/CN1 could be the old types (chiefly alps.tw Type OA2). A fluent Chinese speaker needs to talk to Himake and attempt to get more information — they don't speak much English.
I would not be surprised if AK-CN2/DN2 covers everything with the larger movable contact designs (T1, T4, OA2, OA4 etc) and AK-C5/D5 covers the designs with the smaller movable contact (T5 and T8). The only difference between AK-CN2/DN2 and AK-C5/D5 (aside from lifetime) is the size of the "contact blade": big (CN2/DN2) or small (C5/D5). All types have a small "spring blade"; I don't know what this is, but the click leaf is called a "click blade" and I wonder if that's what they meant, as indeed all the switches ended up using a narrow click leaf.
I took "contact blade" to be the stationary contact (since these also come in distinct sizes), but in fact it makes more sense if it's what the specifications describe as "movable blade".
So that would indeed suggest that T5/T8 are AK-C5/D5.
As for the discovery, you can have co-credit, since the variant was discovered, but you provided better photos that allowed the variant to be properly identified.
Right now, we have confirmation that Monterey bought from Himake. Other prominent users of these switches were Focus and Strong Man; Strong Man is long gone, and Focus seem to be gone too. The only other major user of these switches was Ortek, and they're around but refuse to respond — this is another company that needs to be approached by a Chinese speaker.
One reason I'm hesitant to jump to a conclusion is the apparent idea of shared/communal tooling in the Far East, with the suggestion that more than one company could have used the shell moulds. My feeling is that most of these four-tab clone types are all Himake, but I need at least one other manufacturer's confirmation (preferably of a T5 or T8 or something like OA4) before I feel we can finally declare them all Himake. Curiously, the photo Himake sent me of AK-CN2 is different again!
