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Gillette Tech

gvw755 said:
Tech? Did you mention Gillette Tech? I just happen to have five of my favorite, which I will post later. I owned about 10 at different times, because they were either too mild or duplicates. For now, I will show my latest Tech acquisition, complete with mismatched case and me eating soups and stews for two weeks.

Gillette Hybrid Tech - Made in England and is a cross between the Raised Flat Bottom and the Flat Bottom Tech.

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Great HT!!!! And wonderful to see that you also have it in the bakelite case.

I honestly believe that this is a matched set. I know very well that there is a religious feud going on between people who don’t believe that the HT ever came originally in a bakelite case (because we have no advertisements or other to prove it). And then there is the rest of us who either own one (me, you, at least a few others on B&B) or have seen one online. I can point to too many ‘mismatches’ to believe that this is a mistake.

The HT is my favorite shaver of all, even outshining the British Aristocrats.

Here are the 3 case guises that it came in. I owned all 3 at one time but have since resold one of them (the one in the front). It was my best wildfind ever - I was sitting one evening in my car waiting to pick up my daughter and went on the UK ebay. And there it was, marked as a “Very nice Gillette Tech” in original case, bladebank and everything is near mint condition. For a buy-it-now price of 65 GBP :yes_nickenI almost wet myself and my hand was literally shaing went it went through the PayPal order on my phone...:)

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On top I also own a wonderful US postwar frankenrazor on thin handle, as well as a prewar triangular slot. I love Techs
 
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Latest version of the Gillette Wonton Destruction slants to come out of is the Tech WD. Similar to the OT, which had two major versions - thick and thin cap, the Tech had two major versions also - triangle and oval slots.

This is the triangle slot conversion.

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The triangle slot Tech is one of my favorite razors. It shaves a little rougher than the later oval slot Techs, but it is a very efficient shaver when used correctly.

In comparing the slanted version with the OT slanted versions, the Tech looks like someone put it in their back pocket and forgot about it and sat down on a rock wall. It does not have the elegance of the OT versions displayed in the Old Type thread.

First shave was tonight. When I did my WTG pass, I immediately noticed that there was significant blade feel and a slight blade chatter, both things not expected from a Tech. I adjusted the angle a little and got a smoother pass, but it was a very narrow angle as I easily adjusted it to just move lather. ATG pass went smoother and more efficiently, however there was still more stubble left over where I had to do a XTG pass for the jawline and under the chin area, taking care to stretch my skin. Buffing and slight pressure was not an option since the blade did feel like it was floating a little. Still, I ended up with a BBS, however it was not as efficient as the OT slants.
 
I didn't know until recently that it also came in an open comb.
This one is branded Minora and I believe that it would have come with Minora blades.


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All three pieces can be interchanged between the two

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Argentinian gold ball end Tech, commemorating 50 years Gillette. B2, so 1956. The insert has handwritten 1/2/1964 on it, but does not necessarily mean the razor was bought then.
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NOS 32 set. I opened this myself, the cap has dark stains, it got that while in storage since 1959. Last pic the three closed ones have never been opened.
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Peter, you got to tell us more about that last one. It appears to be a bottom dial Tech with a beveled cap. :sabber1
 
gvw755 said:
Peter, you got to tell us more about that last one. It appears to be a bottom dial Tech with a beveled cap. :sabber1
Click to expand...

Les, it is this one, the enigmatic Techmatic. Nothing is known for sure about it but there’s a hypothesis online that only very few sets were built for Gillette executives to test before decision would be made to mass produce and market. And that the model then was abandoned prematurely.

I believe this specimen could well be the one in the reddish photo as it has the mentioned differentiating features.

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If the above hypothesis holds true, I am thinking that it failed because the razor is somewhat overengineered or maybe more likely because the reusable blade loading system was too complicated/expensive. Because around the same time the Gillette designers came up with a much smarter idea: The ingenious disposable blade dispensers which started to come out in the late 1940s with most Gillette model sets. With the much simpler disposable blade loader solution Gillette was able for the next decades to continue with standard TTO razors.

...But with the collateral side effect that the few produced Techmatic razors, beautiful as they were, were relegated to the executive drawers of Gillette memorable failures.

Still, it uses regular blades and shaves like a Hybrid Tech. And the adjustability is superb :p
 
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