Vintage Gillette Platinum blades - Made in France - Anyone seen these before?

[Goatywoaty]

Hi Chaps

I managed to pick up a pack of these blades, not tried them yet, but I was wanting to know if anyone has any info on them, possible age? Any good? I'll most likely try one in a couple of weeks, I just hate opening vintage things, it feels a bit naughty!

Could find any that were the same on google images. Pic of the blades in question

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

I got two tucks. I believe the vendor said they were from the 70s. Great blade. I got over 30 shaves with one.

 

[MichiganRob]

They are excellent. Really anything that came out of that Annecy plant was terrific.

 

[deoxy4]

I used to buy vintage Gillette blades made in France and England whenever I found them for a decent price. They were generally great blades. Some Platinums and Super Silvers were as good as any blades I have used.

Gillette closed the Annecy plant in 1990. The dispenser looks like the type Gillette started using circa 1985. My guess they were manufactured 1985-1990. Guess you would have to open the blister to read the date code on the blade to really know.

Maybe the numbers in the left hand corner is a packaging date code?

254 896

254 day of (19)89 line 6

Just conjecture.

I checked some Annecy made blades in a similar dispenser and the date code on the blade was J7, a July 1989 dating.

 

[Goatywoaty]

Thanks for the info everyone, especially about a date code on the blade, I'll open it and have a look. I'll be sure to make full use of the blade before throwing it! With modern blades I don't think twice about chucking it, even after one shave :O

 

[Goatywoaty]

Hi chaps, I opened the pack and pulled a blade. The code on the blade is H1. Any idea what year that makes it? I saw a website that had Gillette blades with various codes and the H1 blades were the Blue ones and they were dated 1962. These blades have to be after 1962 as they have a barcode on the packaging, so not really sure how I go about dating them.


I also just had a shave with it. WOW! Incredible, the best DE shave i've had. Very sharp, no irritation and a very very close shave. Almost as close as a feather, but without the irritation I suffer with feathers when I go for the best BBS shave I can. Couldn't believe it! I had read about vintage Gillettes, but I assumed that modern equipment would be able to make better blades. I guess that now, corners are cut. Blades are still good, but perhaps they were better made back in the day, better steel too maybe? The razor I used was a Feather AS-D2. I'm looking forward to trying it in others I'll be hunting out more of these, very impressed.

I just hope it lasts for many shaves, which going by previous reports on the vintage Gillettes, i'm rather hopeful...

 

[BigJ]

Enjoy the blades! My guess is that they will be terrific.

 

[Goatywoaty]

Update, was a bit naughty and didn't keep count as I got bored and swapped blades etc, but i've had a few more shaves out of this blade and its still great, love them!

 

[ivan_101]

I know it's been a year, but just to avoid any confusion of original poster. H1 means first quarter of 1988. Those are probably the last blades of the Golden Age. IIRC the Annecy plant closed in 1991, but I might be wrong.

 

[haiti222]

From 1989-90 (or 91) Gillette blades in North America were supplied from both France and the U.S. as they stopped making DE blades in the U.S. Those blades have always been expensive and popular at auction, as they are extremely high quality, and hard to find.

 

[Rufust445]

Some years ago Gillete Bleue Extra blades were listed eBay at a reasonable price. I tried a pack or two and they were very nice
blades, comparable to vintage "Swedes." A woman in England had found a pallet of Bleue Extras in a warehouse, and listed them
on eBay. By the time I went back for more, they were sold out.

 

[ivan_101]

Yep, It was around 2009-2010. I bought 500 Bleue Extras and 150 Platinums from that woman in England. Both V code (2000) made in either the Polish or the Czech Gillette factory. The Bleue Extras - excellent blades, the Platinums not so good.

 

[guitarslinger]

Yep, It was around 2009-2010. I bought 500 Bleue Extras and 150 Platinums from that woman in England. Both V code (2000) made in either the Polish or the Czech Gillette factory. The Bleue Extras - excellent blades, the Platinums not so good.

Interesting. I've had the opposite experience. Picked up 100 bleue extras in Corsica in 2007. They were so mild, they didn't work for my beard.

Do you know which platinums they were? Swede's?

 

[ivan_101]

If the Bleue Extra you picked in 2007 were in the plastic dispensers, they were probably different, Procter&Gamble production, duller, much worse than the V code blades made in 2000.

The Platinums I got from England were not the Swedes. They look like Swedes, but definitely worse.

 

[Jopete]

Here is a Platinum Plus, Made in France I got from the auction site a couple years ago.

It’s one of the sharpest blades I’ve tried.
It says L 1 on the blade, not sure when this was made if anyone knows.

 

[pdieten]

View attachment 991628 Here is a Platinum Plus, Made in France I got from the auction site a couple years ago.

It’s one of the sharpest blades I’ve tried.
It says L 1 on the blade, not sure when this was made if anyone knows.

1991 first quarter. They would be good blades.

 

[mata_66]

Gillette closed the Annecy plant in 1990.
.

Necromancing an old thread.

I have found out, reading the archives of "Le Monde" (one of the most important French newspapers), that the Annecy plant actually ceased razor and razor blades production on March 31, 1992.

Lyon, February 11th 1991 - "ANNOUNCED in 1989 as part of a global plan to reduce staff and refocus Gillette sites, the closure of the production unit in Annecy (Haute-Savoie) will finally take place. But it will be spread out over time, until 1992. This caused the angry blow of the Minister of Industry, Roger Fauroux, and above all the stubbornness of union activists who, step by step, negotiated solutions like an industrial reconversion.

In 1984, Gillette-France had more than a thousand employees, many of them manufacturing razors and blades. As of March 31, 1992, just under two hundred will remain at the subsidiary's commercial and administrative headquarters, after the application of two separate social plans."

 

[ivan_101]

Necromancing an old thread.

I have found out, reading the archives of "Le Monde" (one of the most important French newspapers), that the Annecy plant actually ceased razor and razor blades production on March 31, 1992.

Lyon, February 11th 1991 - "ANNOUNCED in 1989 as part of a global plan to reduce staff and refocus Gillette sites, the closure of the production unit in Annecy (Haute-Savoie) will finally take place. But it will be spread out over time, until 1992. This caused the angry blow of the Minister of Industry, Roger Fauroux, and above all the stubbornness of union activists who, step by step, negotiated solutions like an industrial reconversion.

In 1984, Gillette-France had more than a thousand employees, many of them manufacturing razors and blades. As of March 31, 1992, just under two hundred will remain at the subsidiary's commercial and administrative headquarters, after the application of two separate social plans."

I always thought the 1990 that many mention here is not correct. I thought it was 1991. Turns out is was even early 1992. Thank You!

 

[haiti222]

Thanks for the extra details!