-Gillettes-Finest-

Around 1933. As ads for low priced British sets are basically nonexistent, patents can give some hints. "Plain" LC-s could have been produced from 1929, British "Goodwills" have patent 142772, republished on 8th July 1930. Patent stamped LC heads have patent 363892, accepted 31st December 1931. No 77/88-s first appears in ads from 1933.
There is a German ad for the No 10 London set, but I lost it. As it's a Gillette anniversary ad, it can give an exact date for that "hybrid" design.

Adam

 

very cool,that's awesome.i was wondering why the plain lc was dropped in england but continued in the u.s and canada..were the 77/88/44- 3 piece a result of the rothbart purchase? i believe the flat bottom new design came from the 7 oclock,but wondered where the rfb design originated..

 

Yes and no. The first ads for slotted Rotbart Mond-Extras appeared in July 1932, a year earlier than 77/88. What most likely happened, is Roth&Büchner wanted to produce long stem razors (god bless them), but the original Gillette LC design doesn't have enough space around the slot for a proper crimp.
I made a "hybrid", because I wanted one. As it's hopefully visible, the original style of the bottom raised portion is not wide enough for a crimp. This is a rotbart neck, it would be even worse with a Gillette neck.

To achive a proper fit of neck and plate, a wider raised bottom section is needed > Rfb design.
So either Gillette copied Roth&Büchner, or both came to the same conclusion.
7 o'clock is a different story. It was an Autostrop brand producing SE razors founded in ~1913. After the merger the name was used to market cheaper DE blades and razor sets to kill competition in the lower segments without "spoiling" Gillettes name.
The first 7 o'clock sets were Probak blades with rebranded Rotbart (rfb) razors, the flat bottom design came later, basically a rebranded Gillette.

The first Gillette flat bottom, which can be dated, is the King George jubilee set from 1935, but the flat bottom design was also used in the No 10 London set, so it could be much earlier.

It's unclear why the different factories went different ways, but it looks like they were pretty independent from each other, with their own decisions. Maybe US/Canada didn't liked the long stem design, or wanted to keep it for high end sets (De luxe), while England and Germany preferred the long stems.

Bit similar to British gold plated Gen 2-3 Aristocrats exclusively sold in South America.

Adam

 

that's a cool razor.nice work.this info answers a lot of my questions.thank you.the majority of my collection is 30's to mid 50s brit gillettes,some french, some canadian and a few u.s ones.70 +,not a lot compared to some others here,but i picked the ones i have for obvious reasons,i also have an obsession for collecting odd tech razors as well.there isn't a lot of history around for the brit gillettes.i am grateful for your help. Gary..

 

The British local archives should contain plenty of information, but they are hard access from abroad.
England had some pretty fancy designs still unkown to the public.

Adam

 

very cool.thank you.

 

Yes we've previously discussed how South America production of the Short Comb provides a clue to their Autostrop pedigree.

Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk

 

Gillette New LC / Kai blade

Sent from my SM-T387V using Tapatalk

 

Gillette‌ ‌'54‌ ‌Z1‌ ‌‌Flare-Tip Super-Speed‌ ‌Set (1st Flare-Tip)

​

 

awesome Jim.

 

Thanks Gary

 

Gillette Fatboy / Polsilver super iridium

Sent from my SM-T387V using Tapatalk

 

Gillette ‘41 Ranger Tech Set​

​

 

awesome gillettes gents..

 

Thanks Gary

 

Gillette Red Tip / Nacet blade

Sent from my SM-T387V using Tapatalk

 

1939 popular..

 

Gillette ‘59 E1 Red Flare-Tip Super-Speed

​

 

New razor to me. I guess Otto Roth is counted in the Gillette family, but I don't know much about them.
My neighbor gave this to me yesterday. He found it at a military gun show.

 

thats awesome.one of the very first new long combs, non goodwill i believe..cool score..i could be wrong,.