Hoffritz N.Y. Germany

[fito_n]

Hello fellas,
I came across these 2 Hoffritz slants, cleaned them up, they came up nice. Don’t have much info on them except that they look vintage to me but I could be wrong.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Nice looking razors. Congrats.

 

[Edgelord]

They look like rebranded Merkur.

 

[kingfisher]

They look like rebranded Merkur.

The Merkur was actually a rebranded Hoffritz.

I'm not an expert on these, but they probably date from the mid-60s to maybe the mid-70's. Nice shavers. Congrats on the find.

 

[BigJ]

Nice!!

 

[Edgelord]

The Merkur was actually a rebranded Hoffritz.

I'm not an expert on these, but they probably date from the mid-60s to maybe the mid-70's. Nice shavers. Congrats on the find.

I don’t think so.

I think that all of their products, even the knives (their main product), were rebrands from the Solingen area (Victorinox, Wenger, Precise International…). On top of the German products, they also sold rebranded Simpsons brushes and mid level products from Pakistan (bandage scissors…).

I don’t think they ever manufactured anything.

 

[efsk]

The Merkur was actually a rebranded Hoffritz.

I'm not an expert on these, but they probably date from the mid-60s to maybe the mid-70's. Nice shavers. Congrats on the find.

Wrogn. Hoffritz, most Pomco, Coles, Brumml, some others were all rebranded Merkur. The Solingen area produced a lot of products for these resellers. Not just razors, but cutlery as well. And for razors, Merkur was the place to go.

 

[kingfisher]

Wrogn. Hoffritz, most Pomco, Coles, Brumml, some others were all rebranded Merkur. The Solingen area produced a lot of products for these resellers. Not just razors, but cutlery as well. And for razors, Merkur was the place to go.

Happy to be corrected.

My turn to correct you. It's wrong, not wrogn. (j/k, I know it was a typo.)

 

[efsk]

My turn to correct you. It's wrong, not wrogn. (j/k, I know it was a typo.)

Not a typo at all Among other things I like Punk music. In 1986, Dutch band B.G.K. released an album called "Nothing can go wrogn!" I've spelled it like that ever since.

 

[fito_n]

Hello again everyone,

I just shaved for the first time with one of these 2, and it felt pretty similar if not the same as my Merkur 39c

 

[Ingolfur]

Hello again everyone,

I just shaved for the first time with one of these 2, and it felt pretty similar if not the same as my Merkur 39c

Hello fito_n,
I heard a gentleman on YouTube mention that the vintage Hoffritz is more aggressive than the modern Merkur head.
Do you still find the two to be very similar?

 

[Old Hippie]

Hello fito_n,
I heard a gentleman on YouTube mention that the vintage Hoffritz is more aggressive than the modern Merkur head.

There is an assumption that the vintage (pre-1970) production has a little more aggressiveness than the more modern product. Casting moulds wear over time, and Merkur has rebooted their line a few times. For razors it looks like they only make two heads; a normal and a slant. Keeps things simple, I guess. I've also heard on here that evidently they're doing another reboot and possbily making the razors a bit more aggressive again to match the vintage ones.

O.H.

 

[mozartman]

Hoffritz was a NYC-based chain of shops that carried cutlery and associated items, virtually all of which were rebranded products made by other companies, mostly in Germany and France. Other posters are right that Hoffritz razors were rebranded and made by Merkur, at least in most cases. Ian Fleming's James Bond, i.e., the James Bond of the original novels on which the movies are based, used a Hoffritz razor.

 

[Ingolfur]

I've also heard on here that evidently they're doing another reboot and possbily making the razors a bit more aggressive again to match the vintage ones.

That would be great! The challenge for us, though, is knowing when they’ll actually do it. Without any announcement, it’ll be hard to tell when it happens.

 

[sm29]

Hello fito_n,
I heard a gentleman on YouTube mention that the vintage Hoffritz is more aggressive than the modern Merkur head.
Do you still find the two to be very similar?

When I returned to DE shaving, the only razor I had left was a Hoffritz from around 1980 or 1981. Because it had some zamac deterioration, I bought a new Merkur 34c. I found the Merkur to be milder than the Hoffritz. The Hoffritz is now gone and the Merkur no longer used.

 

[fito_n]

Hello fito_n,
I heard a gentleman on YouTube mention that the vintage Hoffritz is more aggressive than the modern Merkur head.
Do you still find the two to be very similar?

Yes. To me these are nothing different than my Merkur 39c slant . My Merkur has a little longer handle, but besides that I can’t tell any difference performance wise.

 

[mozartman]

That would be great! The challenge for us, though, is knowing when they’ll actually do it. Without any announcement, it’ll be hard to tell when it happens.

When I returned to DE shaving, the only razor I had left was a Hoffritz from around 1980 or 1981. Because it had some zamac deterioration, I bought a new Merkur 34c. I found the Merkur to be milder than the Hoffritz. The Hoffritz is now gone and the Merkur no longer used.

As has been discussed in the past few days in other threads, Merkur had to retool and come out with a new version of the 34C. This reportedly is slightly more aggressive than the original, and no longer has exposed blade tabs. It is already available.

 

[Tanuki]

@fito_n : Nice razor find! Congratulations!

Top quality banter! Due to my admiration of @efsk now I have to convert to wrogn. And, presumably, rigth, to be consistent and to mess with spellcheck's head.

 

[efsk]

I've also heard on here that evidently they're doing another reboot and possbily making the razors a bit more aggressive again to match the vintage ones.

Merkur's new, as in vintage 2024, 33/34 head is not aggressive. It is, however, very efficient.

 

[Ingolfur]

@mozartman:
As has been discussed in the past few days in other threads, Merkur had to retool and come out with a new version of the 34C. This reportedly is slightly more aggressive than the original, and no longer has exposed blade tabs. It is already available.

Hey, that’s interesting! I’ll check out those threads.

Merkur's new, as in vintage 2024, 33/34 head is not aggressive. It is, however, very efficient.

Years ago, I stopped using my 34C because I always had stubble left after three passes. If it's more efficient now, that’s definitely an improvement!