These units, being assigned to the same Corps would likely have turned up together, not least because they would using the same logistical routes to travel.
The early Tiger Battalions (501-3) were two company battalions. 503. was complete by December 1942. 501 and 502 were not complete.
So from a certain point of view, 503
was the "very first battalion to be formed..." It was the first operational battalion; the other two existed in name only, the actual constituent parts operating as independent companies or in small parts (as 501's Tigers in Tunisia).
One shouldn't assume that 503 was understrength because of it's absorbtion of 502's 2.Kom, as from 5.3.1943 the sPzAbt were established at 14 Tigers per coy and 3 coys to the battalion. My reading of the situation is that the absorbtion of the company was part of in-field rationalisation towards the new ToE.
From Tiger
page.
"At first there were only two units, schwere Panzer-Kompanie 501 and 502. created as Heerestruppen (independent army units). These were incorporated into schwere Panzer-Abteilung 501, and two more units each with two companies were created, schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 (heavy tank battalion) and 503."
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