Where to look for a vintage Merkur Progress?

[Petesurfer]

Hello,
I'm trying to find a vintage Merkur progress, but they never seem to turn up, at least on the bay or here in the B/S/T section. Does anyone know of any other place I should look for it?

 

[PlasticCity]

I have yet to ever see one, or hear of one, but BST and the Bay seem to be the best places to check.

 

[Petesurfer]

Here you can see a picture of a vintage one. At the end of the page you can also see a picture comparing an actual progress with a vintage one. They look very similar, but it seems they were better built in the old days (or so I've heard)

 

[Merkur25]

I actually sold my Vintage Gold Merkur Progress on the BST not too long ago. That is the first I saw one sold but they come up on Ebay from time to time.

 

[cooncatbob]

Here you can see a picture of a vintage one. At the end of the page you can also see a picture comparing an actual progress with a vintage one. They look very similar, but it seems they were beter built in the old days (or so I've heard)

You're correct, I own a Progress from the late 90s and 1 in the Ivory Clam Shell case.
I contacted Merkur and they said it was made between 78 and 1983.
It's slightly heavier and the spring loaded blade platform has smoother action and less side to side play.
I've had clients send me brand new Progresses to convert to BM Progress and the fit and finish of the current razor isn't as good.
Some people say this started when Dovo bought Merkur about 10 years ago.

 

[hypo_style]

Vintage Merkurs may be better-built than their modern counterparts, but in my experience, they are not free of finish problems.
I have four vintage Merkur DEs, and they all have plating or finish problems, to varying degrees. Two of them came from eBay, and two came from the BST. From what I can gather, I would say that they are all in the range of 40-65 years old.

Two of them are gold Progress(es?) with leather cases. The worse of the two has lost most of its gold plating, down to the chrome(?) underplating, and the underplating has started to bubble on the head. On the better of the two, the plastic of the adjustment knob is criss-crossed with cracks that look to me to be from the original pour.
I also have a three-piece with a head like a Progress, but non-adjustable and with a plastic baseplate (in a plastic case). On that razor, the head misaligns with the baseplate when fully tightened down, so as to vary the blade gap from one side to the other. This variance is consistent regardless of whether you rotate the head before tightening (i.e. it’s not a question of being inserted incorrectly). The one good side still shaves like a dream, though.

Don’t get me wrong...I love them all, and wouldn’t trade them for anything (except maybe a better-condition version of the same! ).
This post is not to dissuade you from looking for vintage Merkurs, but just to let you know that they too have their issues, and (in my experience) don’t age nearly as well as their Gillette counterparts.

 

[Petesurfer]

Vintage Merkurs may be better-built than their modern counterparts, but in my experience, they are not free of finish problems.
I have four vintage Merkur DEs, and they all have plating or finish problems, to varying degrees. Two of them came from eBay, and two came from the BST. From what I can gather, I would say that they are all in the range of 40-65 years old.

Two of them are gold Progress(es?) with leather cases. The worse of the two has lost most of its gold plating, down to the chrome(?) underplating, and the underplating has started to bubble on the head. On the better of the two, the plastic of the adjustment knob is criss-crossed with cracks that look to me to be from the original pour.
I also have a three-piece with a head like a Progress, but non-adjustable and with a plastic baseplate (in a plastic case). On that razor, the head misaligns with the baseplate when fully tightened down, so as to vary the blade gap from one side to the other. This variance is consistent regardless of whether you rotate the head before tightening (i.e. it’s not a question of being inserted incorrectly). The one good side still shaves like a dream, though.

Don’t get me wrong...I love them all, and wouldn’t trade them for anything (except maybe a better-condition version of the same! ).
This post is not to dissuade you from looking for vintage Merkurs, but just to let you know that they too have their issues, and (in my experience) don’t age nearly as well as their Gillette counterparts.

The main reason for buying a vintage progress was to avoid the uneven blade exposure problem that is frequent on the new progress razors. I have two new merkur progress razors and both suffer severely from this problem. As I've understood by your answer, vintage models aren't free from this issue either, so clearly I will probably desist from buying one, (unless it's really cheap ).