As an owner of one, I would agree with your assessment of the shaving characteristics. This was meant to replace the Krona so Schick was not planning on issuing a more aggressive successor. Enjoy!
Thanks and if you spot any glaring mistakes in my attempt to place this razor in history please do let me know.
Second day with the Schick Platinum DE. Yesterday's shave was 2.5 days worth of growth and today's was obviously just 24 hours or so since my last shave. It was very interesting to note how much more mild the razor felt today. Obviously it had a lot less stubble to work its way through but even so it was very clear that this is indeed a razor on the mild side of things. Making up a "Mildness scale" on the fly where; "1" just a bit mild...bordering on neutral/normal and moving towards aggressive", and "10" is "Did I just shave anything or did it just slide over my face?" (So, the higher the number...the more mild) I would rate this razor 6 for now - something I might want to revise at the end of the week though. (Since this is highly subjective, other razors would, for me, rate; Gillette Slim on '1'-setting: 8 Gillette Blue Tip: 5 In the end, a good shave. Not completely stubble-free but passable.
Can't do it this week - one thing that I do is to not change the razor-blade combination during the week so that I get a consistent impression of the razors. I also try to use blades that I am familiar with from other razors so that the novelty of the blade itself doesn't have too much of an impact on how I perceive that the razor would work for me. I know, rules are boring but I think it's working ok for me so far
Today ends my week with the Schick Platinum DE. It was an interesting experience as I normally prefer, and use, heavier razors - there really isn't much of a weight to the one ounce Platinum. Overall I've had 'good' shaves all week. Some residual stubble (especially on the throat) and often found myself having to do a some clean-up passes. If I would sum it up in one sentence it would be "A mild (7/10) razor with an ok efficiency that even though it's very light comes across as feeling more substantial due to it's size and shape". It was a fun razor to shave with but I am pretty content with giving it just a week and move on to something else.
Solid test and review. I found that the original Krona design was slightly more aggressive that this later model and I preferred the Krona over this one.
Awesome writeup and history, I remember my father using one for a number of years before he started using straights, his schick had a black dial on top of the razor, don't know what model that would be!!
Yeah the two main problems with this razor is that; A) it's rare, and B) it s often not labeled as 'Platinum'. If you go into the 'sold' listings on eBay you do see a few listed as Platinum but to search for one to buy I can only suggest to search for 'Schick razor' and wade through them manually. I know, it's a pain
Sometimes they are hidden in lots.... See this photo: Far off in the lower left hand corner, this is hiding: With the rare metal twist wheel and original Platinum-case none the less.
I have decided it is not worth the trouble. Besides, I am spending to much money on all this and need to slow down. Maybe some more blades and a soap or two but other than that I need to stop. Besides, next year will be a sabbatical. So like i just stated blades and soap. Aftershave is cheap enough and local.
I got several from a Canadian seller a few years ago. It is an open question what the exposure, if any, to the US market was for this razor. It seems like it was clearly sold in Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands, all focus markets for Schick at the time.