Wilky confusion

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Straight Arrow, Jul 10, 2007.

  1. Straight Arrow

    Straight Arrow Active Member

    Until recently I thought the German Wilkinsons had a white card showing on the blade pack and the English ones had a black card. Now I've found a dollar store stockpile of Wilks that say Made in Germany on the back of the package but they have a black card in the blade pack just like the English ones. Could they actually be English Wilks? I'm going to do a comparison test to see if there is a difference in the shave.
     
  2. Smedley

    Smedley New Member

    I'm confused too.

    I now have two local sources of Wilkinsons. One comes in a black and white cardboard package and the package is clearly marked "Made In Germany". The second source comes in a yellow and white package and just says "Imported by Foo Bros., Scarborough, ON" (well, not really the Foo Bros., but I'm too lazy to dig up a package and read it for the real importer name). No country of manufacture anywhere.

    The card in both packs is identical, black text on a white background.

    I've been shaving with one of the German ones in my open comb Otto Roth and liking it a lot. These are the blades I started out with, and returning to them after six months is a pleasure. I am going to rotate one of the "yellow" Wilkies into my Roth and see how that compares.

    Also, I found the first place I bought the yellow Wilkies at was doubling the price compared to other drug stores. :mad: Hope they enjoyed that one and only sale they made to me...
     
  3. Bronco

    Bronco Mac Daddy

    I think (there I go again and anyone may correct me) that the word Classic has something to do with it. I've had both the made in England and the made in Germany Classics and they are triple coated with Wilkinson's famous coating process of chromium to resist corrosion, ceramic for added durability, and PTFE for less irritation. The German blades have a white label and the English blades have a black label. The newer made in UK has a white label but doesn't say Classic. I'm wondering what their coatings are? I did a search but didn't find a complete description. I only have the blade package and not the pillar box of the newer UK's.
     
  4. There are several versions of Wilkinson blades.

    Yellow card with black or white packet = German

    Blue, white & grey card with black or white packet = German or English (must say MADE IN ENGLAND to be English Wilks)

    Wilkinson double edge pillar white packet with Gold lettering = Made in England or Solingen, Germany is only printed on the outer cardboard pack.
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    Paul
     
  5. qhsdoitall

    qhsdoitall Wilbur

    Thanks for the info Paul.
     
  6. Straight Arrow

    Straight Arrow Active Member




    Hey Paul can you help me identify this one?

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    I've been researching it with moderate success but no firm conclusions. I even emailed the folks at Wilkinson Sword. Here is my email and their response:

    Dear Stewart,
    I'm in the US and I bought these at a little ethnic (middle eastern) grocery store in Atlantic City . They had been torn off of a display card and the guy was selling them from a plastic bag that he keeps behind the counter. What baffles me is the packaging. I have used Wilkinsons extensively and am familiar with the Classic brand and the way it is packaged. The packaging on these (more pictures below) is unique. I've never seen Wilks with this style of packaging. The blades themselves also look different than the Classic blades with the printing saying "Imported Steel". What baffles me the most, and you can't see this in the pictures, is that on the side of the package it says "Wilkinson Sword & Crossed Swords device is a Trademark of The Gillette Company, USA ". To my knowledge Wilkinson was never owned by Gillette. In fact I always thought they were competitors. Some of my friends on an online shaving forum suggested that these were counterfeit blades possibly pirated and sold as the real thing. Whatever they are they are very good, sharp and smooth shaving blades, better in my opinion than the Wilkinson Classic brand. Any more information you can give me is appreciated.

    Regards,
    Rich




    Wilkinson's response:

    Dear Rich,

    Thanks for your response. Your email now provides me a clearer idea and I should be able to now provide some more clarity. I don’t know if you are aware, but in the US Wilkinson Sword are known as Schick. This goes back to the 1950’s when the two businesses merged to become Schick-Wilkinson Sword. The current business is owned by Energizer Holdings.
    The Wilkinson Sword name in the US is owned by Gillette. I don’t know when this goes back to, but it is true. Therefore these are in-fact Gillette blades. To find out more details about the history of this product you are best asking Gillette. I thought these were WS blades, but now as you have mentioned it, these are Gillette.

    Thanks

    Stewart



    I tried to email Gillette but had difficulty with their website. Any thoughts?
     
  7. At some point Gillette owned a share in a company who owned Wilkinson sword, they tried to finish them but the competition authorities made them sell there shares. From this period bits of Wilks were sold of, I believe Wilkinson sword India are owned by Gillette & they make Gillette 7 o'clock platinum. So these may well be Indian blades or old stock. There was a guy on ebay selling these with arabic writing on the outer carton, so they could be made for the Arab market also. How do they shave?
     
  8. Straight Arrow

    Straight Arrow Active Member

    They shave quite well and are every bit as good as the current German Wilks, that is, if you like the Germans, which I do.
     
  9. Leisureguy

    Leisureguy Read My Blog

    For me, I find the German WS blades slightly better than the UK version. YMMV.
     
  10. TraderJoe

    TraderJoe Pink Floid

    Final Chapter:

    http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2123
     
  11. Pauldog

    Pauldog New Member

    This doesn't sound quite right to me. I'm pretty sure that Schick and Wilkinson didn't merge until many decades after the 1950's. In the 50's, Schick was owned by Eversharp, the pen maker, hence the razor brands Eversharp Schick, Lady Eversharp, etc.

    It's true that Energizer now owns both Schick and Wilkinson.

    My understanding is that Gillette owns the Wilkinson brand name in India (NOT in the USA), and that would explain the variant Wilkinson blades.



     
  12. jbcohen

    jbcohen New Member

    Ok, here is what know and my source is Giovanni at Razor and Brush. Up until recently Wilkinson, a division of Phizer Pharaceuticals, was producing the blades in England. Production was moved recently to germany becuase of cheaper labor rates. There is still quite a stock out there of english wilkinson's which will take a qhile to work through. I believe there are other english made blades if you are intent on having english made blades.
     
  13. Pauldog

    Pauldog New Member

    Speaking of English blades, I've heard a lot of good things about the Tesco store brand blades.
     
  14. zippersmith

    zippersmith New Member

    Tesco store brand blades are nice!
     

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