When I acquired a beautiful Hoffritz slant razor I ran into a complete brick wall in trying to determine its vintage due to the lack of serial numbers and paucity of reliable information online. Dovo, which owns Merkur, seems to have published nothing which would help the Merkur collector. Having now a acquired a lovely gold Progress I'm looking at that same brick wall and hoping for some help in knocking it down. Here's what I know: According to Dovo staff, the Progress was introduced in 1955. As can be seen from this 1956 catalog entry, the early Progress featured a plastic guard plate matching the cream plastic knob. I don't know how long this version was produced, or when distribution by Hoffritz may have begun. Here is a Hoffritz version spotted in the wild a few years ago. What I know is by 1978, and perhaps substantially earlier, the plastic guard plate was lost, while the rest of the design appears unchanged. This is the version I have. It weighs 81.5g According to Dovo, this version was produced through 1985, when "Germany" was replaced by "West Germany". The simple font was also changed. Prior to this time the instructions for the razor indicated "Made in West Germany" but not the razor itself. As a matter of related interest, it was also in 1985 that Merkur production of the Futur began. Presumably, following unification from 1990 the printing was again changed to say "Germany". Hoffritz ceased distribution of Merkur in 1992. The current version of the Progress, no longer available in gold or nickel, features another modified font, unpainted numbers, and a smaller Merkur logo now contained in a circle. The shaft within the handle is now all metal, replacing plastic at some point in the razor's evolution. Most recently, new molds were produced and minor cosmetic changes introduced to the alignment indicators. That my friend is all I've got. If anyone has a Progress of any vintage predating the current version I would love to see photos, and any help in filling in dating info would benefit all Progress collectors going forward. Thanks. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Nice writeup. The Progress is a fine razor. I used one for several years until I loaned it to my son and picked up a Futur. I didn't realize they made them for so long and they predated the Fatboy.
And the Toggle. Not a completely original design, clear inspiration for the Progress came from the Apollo Mikron which preceded it by more than a decade. https://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/apollo-mikron-v-merkur-progress/ Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Well Leisure Guy and I both got this wrong. The origin of the Progress design is 100% with the Walbusch B-5 adjustable slant. I can't find any definitive date but 30s is generally accepted. Merkur hardly changed a thing in the basic design. http://rasurkultur.blogspot.com/2011/07/walbusch-b5-de-restauration-german-this.html Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk Was discussed here: http://theshaveden.com/forums/index.php?threads/47494/
Oh ok. You stated it's no longer available in gold or nickel .. is the current version chrome? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think we saw the same one. I was surprised to even see one. It'd be cool, but I could never pay that
Few other tidbits earlier ones the knobs are a more whitish ivory color while the later ones become more yellow in color. Earlier knobs have dots between the numbers, later ones have lines. Also on the knobs far as I know all the earlier ones had the dots and numbers painted red, later ones with lines and numbers came first painted in red then the lines and numbers were not colored at all.
Another tidbit on how to tell apart the modern looking ones made from the molds used prior to 2016 and the ones made afterwards. The ones 2016 and prior use this triangle design on the base as the alignment mark for the cap. The ones post 2016 use a different triangle design.
This is part of why I've kept my original Progress instead of investing in a Mergress. There's just something nostalgic about that plastic knob that I don't want to get rid of.
For a razor produced as long as the Merkur Progress has been it gets very little fanfare. Frankly I can't think of any razor that has as long of a production run as the Progress. like the past 10 or so years most guys I would surmise cut their teeth on a Merkur razor when they first got into or back into DE shaving.