Has anyone else added this to their rotation?
I was gifted a bottle of AV by a relative when I first started shaving c.1986, and used it until it ran out. By then I had procured "designer" fragrances and never even looked at another bottle of AV until about 6 months ago. I had been gladly wearing the current North American Aqua Velva from Combe, but I found the Williams version on some obscure Spanish website called Biuky for ~$6 before shipping and ordered some. Took forever and a day to get to me in California, but oh my goodness, as soon as I splashed it on it was like "AHA!!! THAT'S what I remember!". Comes in a sweet glass bottle with reducer, too.
Performance wise they're very similar, but I find the Williams version to be more subtle in aromatic composition than the Combe. They have the same basic aroma profile, they both smell like AV, but to my nose it seems like the Combe has had certain elements "jacked up", perhaps an attempt to be more in line with modern "X-treme!" US tastes. It's also much darker blue in color, almost a little purple. It stained my shaving towel a little once.
Now that I have the Williams I haven't reached for the Combe version one single time. I still wear Combe AV Musk on occasion, but I use the Williams AV at least twice a week. My wife absolutely adores it on me, calls it "The Manly" when I wear it. I love it so much I ordered several big 400ml bottles for backstock.
Anyone else have experience with both versions?