How long do TTO razors really last?
- Thread starter ToadFrogTadpole
- Start date
All TTO razors last exactly 671 shaves. Period. YMMV.
I’m honestly surprised there are new modern TTO razors. Honestly I’ll never understand why TTO razors were ever a thing. Too many fine, detailed, and more difficult to manufacture parts. Seriously if I were an adult 60 years ago and a tech was a $.50 and a superspeed was $1.00, I would reach for the tech 100 out of 100 times. I know I know, marketing blah blah blah. I never understood how twisting the base of a handle is that much easier than unscrewing the handle from the cap/baseplate. That being said, I have a superspeed thats 60 years old or so that works fine today.
I'm ever so glad to know that your are honest.
However, if you do not understand "why TTO razors were ever a thing," then you do not understand A) patent law, and B) the 20th Century.
Gillette had to come up with new patents for its razors every 27 years, or die. With the success of the New Type came the realization of "The Formula": 1) The next generation of razors must require less skill than the last, and 2) The new razors must make the old razors look dangerous, and 3) The new razors must save the shaver a sliver of time.
I have conducted a scientific study of the Gillette razors at my disposal, or at least as scientific a one as can be conducted with two hands while operating a stopwatch and screwing a razor simultaneously, after consuming 3/14ths of a firth of Scotch (what's that in metric units?).
Have you ever timed how long it takes you to screw a razor? Normally, I like to take my time and savor the experience. But sometimes there are more pressing matters, like catching the 7:52 to Penn Station.
Here are the results of my study:
Single ring - 7.2 turns, 5.35 seconds
Old Type - 6.7 turns, 4.6 seconds
New Type LC - 5.9 turns, 4.3 seconds
New Type SC - 5.3 turns, 4.18 seconds
Aristocrat - 4.9 turns, 3.2 seconds
Milord - 4.16 turns, 2.6 seconds
What can we infer from these results? For one, the coefficient of metallic friction is significantly lower in the TTO Aristocrat and Milord. This is clearly the result of superior machining of parts, as any factory lubrication is highly unlikely to have played a significant role after more than 70 years of use or disuse. And, of course, the screw threads have fewer thingys on the TTOs.
We can see from the table that it takes 2.75 fewer seconds to unscrew a Milord vs. a Single Ring, plus another 2.75 seconds to screw it, for a total of 5.5 seconds. That's a savings of 5.5 seconds per day of your valuable time!
Now, I know what you are going to say: "There are 172,800 seconds in a day, so what difference does 5.5 seconds make?"
But consider the big picture: If you had begun shaving with a Single Ring in 1920, and had continued using one through New Year's 2000, that would be 268,640 seconds of your life you had spent screwing and unscrewing your razor. Put another way, that's 4477.3333333333 minutes, or 74.622222222 hours, of your life frittered away on razor intercourse.
Now, if a man began shaving with an Aristocrat in 1941, and switched to a Milord in 1948, that would be 2,582.1 minutes spent on screwing and unscrewing your razor, or 43.035 hours. This is a savings of 31.587222 hours of your life that would otherwise be devoted to the care of your razor. Think of what you could do with that time, instead, such as with your wife, for instance! Just think of how many more children, grandchildren and great grandchildren you would have by now!
In the 20th century, time was money (unlike the past year when time wasn't even time). So, on the other hand, if you had devoted that extra 31.6 hours to work, how much richer would you be today, with compound interest!
Balance the cost of the Milord razor against the extra earnings from the time saved, and you can see that the Gillette company, in its beneficence, was virtually paying YOU to buy their razor.
Now, of course, those new new Gillette razors are saving so much more of your time wasted on shaving, that perhaps you should pay Gillette $7,248 for one of their new cartridge razors. But don't. They'll soak you when the current patent expires, and they come up with an even more timesaving razor with cartridges that cost $75 each, and last for 4.5 months each, provided you don't use them more than once a month (you won't need to because of the ultra-close shaves the new new new razor will provide).
Just out of curiosity, were you an adult 60 years ago?
-=-
Caveat emptor: I am not a mathematician. Therefore, you are advised not to use any of these calculations as the basis of wagers in Las Vegas.
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I used the same L1 Slim from late January 1966 to August 2013 (when I fell into B&B and discovered open comb razors). It was my daily driver. My DAILY driver for 47 1/2 years. It still works fine, and (pre-pandemic) when I went overseas for more than few days, it was the razor I took. The ONLY razor I took - master of blades, soaps, and water hardness. I have dropped it in bathrooms in eight different countries on four continents, and it has never failed. Now I love me some three-piece open combs (plus I have a handle acquisition problem) but I do not understand the concern over the longevity of a TTO.
Tom
Tom
I’ve used the same SuperSpeed for 49 years. Rinse it off and hang it up (used to throw it in a drawer). I use an Old Type that is 102 years old. My Schick E2 is 86 years old. They don’t make ‘em like they used to.
You write like you really don't need to catch that train to Penn Station
. The invention of brushless creams would have been a far more significant time saver than the TTO. A second and a half ? Puleez. Guess I'll have to time my Micromatics.
The primary benefit of a one piece is not losing the cap down the sink drain. I've come pretty close.
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Hi,
I have a 34 Gillette Aristocrat, the first of the TTOs and a 48 SuperSpeed that was my Dad's (given to him by Mom Christmas 1948 so I do know its age). Both are well used and still work fine.
Stan
I have a 34 Gillette Aristocrat, the first of the TTOs and a 48 SuperSpeed that was my Dad's (given to him by Mom Christmas 1948 so I do know its age). Both are well used and still work fine.
Stan
Fixed.
Congratulations on being able to shave with your dad's razor . Unfortunately my dad and grandfather were early converts to electrics. For the record all my Gillette TTO s also work fine, the barn doors tend to get out of sync or misaligned but that's about it.
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Agreed!
Recently I was fortunate to receive a 1959 E4 as a gift and I've used it everyday since... 12 days in a row and I love it. Best way to describe it is it reminds me of a worked in baseball glove.
TTO is a solution to a nonexistent problem. The Tech was the epitome of de razor design. There was nowhere to go from there. The TTO came from the marketers at Gillette not the engineers.
Tech came after the TTO intro.
It would have been impossible not to respond in kind once ASR introduced the Micromatic to apparently much success. Segal was a lesser player but Gem was their primary competition. With both ASR and Segal introducing TTOs at a time Gillette was at its lowest point financially, it had to happen as same old wasn't making Gillette money 1931-34. Engineering is great but ultimately it was marketing that saved Gillette later in the decade, with fortuitous wartime distribution of the Tech helping cement their dominant position.
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I have three TTO's all in great shape all over 50 years old. In fact the newest was made 1st quarter of 1967. Fifty four years ago. The oldest is first quarter 1958. 63 years ago.
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Oh, I have seen at least 3 Slims that didn't last a lifetime. 2 of them couldn't do the 1/4 turn even after a thorough cleaning. One had the TTO knob separate from the rest of the handle at least 1 cm. All 3 razors had pretty decent well preserved plating.
Dropping it enough to do that won't necessarily hurt the plating.
The TTO knob separating is an easy fix.
Wrap some masking tape around the crimp groove, and put a small pipe cutter around it and tighten each turn a few times.
The tape keeps you from cutting through.
I bought a few on ebay listing that damage on the cheap. Fix and flip.
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The TTO knob separating is an easy fix.
Wrap some masking tape around the crimp groove, and put a small pipe cutter around it and tighten each turn a few times.
The tape keeps you from cutting through.
I bought a few on ebay listing that damage on the cheap. Fix and flip.
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Curious where you catch the train from? I'm an hour from Manhatten (if you drive at 1AM lol) in New Hope, PA...
I guess Penn Station is where you'd catch the 19: 18 Penn Adjustable. Twist of the handle adjusts blade angle. Mine still works.
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There is one fatal flaw with your math… you calculate 5.5 seconds daily but very few people change their blades daily. Sure I suppose some disassemble or open the razor to clean after every shave, however I do not. I DE shaved for 10 years only separating the handle from the head and cap when changing blades, and then less than once a week. If I shaved daily all of the time it would be about once a week to 10 days or so.
Assuming the best case scenario of 5.5 seconds saved on average twice a week (twice used for conservatism, I understand others change blades more than I), we can assume 11 seconds saved per week. Multiply that by 52, and we come to 572 seconds or slightly less than 10 minutes. No adjusted for inflation, that .50 saved on the original razor purchase is significant. I am too lazy to actually look at inflation tables, I’ll just crack open a beer and guess .50 then was worth about $3.00 today. That .50 saved then could have been used to place a winning bet at 1,000:1 odds, turning it into $500. If one were to invest $500 wisely in 1960, it would be…. A lot of money today with compound interest. If that investment did especially well, you could be a millionaire.
So, be a millionaire or have a razor that does a blade change 5.5 seconds faster.
There is one fatal flaw with your math… you calculate 5.5 seconds daily but very few people change their blades daily. Sure I suppose some disassemble or open the razor to clean after every shave, however I do not. I DE shaved for 10 years only separating the handle from the head and cap when changing blades, and then less than once a week. If I shaved daily all of the time it would be about once a week to 10 days or so.
Assuming the best case scenario of 5.5 seconds saved on average twice a week (twice used for conservatism, I understand others change blades more than I), we can assume 11 seconds saved per week. Multiply that by 52, and we come to 572 seconds or slightly less than 10 minutes. No adjusted for inflation, that .50 saved on the original razor purchase is significant. I am too lazy to actually look at inflation tables, I’ll just crack open a beer and guess .50 then was worth about $3.00 today. That .50 saved then could have been used to place a winning bet at 1,000:1 odds, turning it into $500. If one were to invest $500 wisely in 1960, it would be…. A lot of money today with compound interest. If that investment did especially well, you could be a millionaire.
So, be a millionaire or have a razor that does a blade change 5.5 seconds faster.
One of the unstated reasons for the invention of the Gillette butterfly, aka TTO, was the fact that nearly everyone back then shaved with carbon steel blades, which could rust if not dried after each use. Stainless blades did not come into common use until the 1960s. And not all stainless blades are so rust resistant; anyone leave a wet Feather blade in their razor?
I, for one, take a few moments after each shave to open my razor, dry the blade (whether stainless or carbon) and razor, and reassemble, not closing it fully. Back in the old days of the Old Type, the Gillette ads instructed customers to open, dry and reassemble their razors after each use.
A 1937 ad for a Sheraton OC TTO actually touts the time savings: "Blades Changed in 3 Seconds!"
You want to be rich, 5whiskey: if only you had bought a thousand of these at 98 cents each and put them in your attic. What do they go for on 3Bay now (with case and tuck of blades)?
I did not have a Sheraton to test, but my Aristocrat timing of 3.2 seconds was not entirely off, sort of. How the heck can you open, remove blade, insert new blade, and close, all in 3 seconds? And this was prior to the fingers-free blade dispensers. So my guess is the 3 seconds came from the time to twist open the razor, a detail the marketing department conveniently lost sight of. And, it's more like: "Twist! Twist! Twist! Twist! Twist!" -- but who's counting.
The fact remains, the time savings was part of the marketing of this, one of the first Gillette TTO razors.
Also, note: "Sturdily built -- heavily gold plated -- it's guaranteed to last a lifetime!" Please note, that's "A" lifetime, in other words, 1 (one) lifetime. Unless you are the original owner, you are out of luck if you encounter a manufacturing defect.
"The Sheraton is the greatest razor value ever offered!" -- Now that I would have to agree with, even though with inflation it probably comes out to about $20.* Anyone know of a better deal? I used to assume that most men back then only owned one razor, but with Gillette selling razors so cheaply and introducing new, improved models periodically, I have to suspect a lot of guys had some extras in the medicine cabinet. Perhaps that's why we see some beautiful, barely used razors for sale today.
BTW, I wonder where they got the name "Sheraton"?
-=-
* I don't think the official inflation tables are entirely accurate when you compare today's dollars to the price of real products in the past, like the price of a candy bar or an automobile or a new house. Back in the early 60s, a Hershey's bar cost 5 cents, as any kid knew; now it is more like 50 cents. So that's 10x inflation; the inflation came in the 1970s. Prices were a lot cheaper in the 1930s, so I figure 20x inflation to today's dollars. Go back to the Old Type 1910s, and I figure 30x inflation.
Of course, some products have come down in price. This seems to include razor blades. The price of televisions today compared to the 1960s is truly bizarre. The $100 32 inch flat screen TV at Walmart comes out to $10 in old dollars; how would you like to have bought a color TV for $10 in the 1960s, instead of $500?
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