gillette tech dating help

isaiah53 · Saturday March 10, 2012

i bought a dirty old tech the other week for a few quid, gave it a good clean with soap and water and some autosol, and its came up really nicely.
the code on the base plate is 's' and 'E' and its made in england, i thought the date codes were letter and number for the quarter. the embossed logo on the head looks very 1970's, can anyone help me date this??

Lose the beard · Saturday March 10, 2012

British Made Gillettes weren't date stamped, the s and E may give someone a clue though, it must signify something.

Johnus · Saturday March 10, 2012

Y was 53, X was 52, S was 47 and so on for the US plastic handled techs.

fatboyslimfast · Monday March 12, 2012

Can you upload a photo to flickr or the like so we can have a look? I've got a U-something Tech which I believe to be a '74. That would make an S a '72...

isaiah53 · Monday March 12, 2012

fatboyslimfast said:
Can you upload a photo to flickr or the like so we can have a look? I've got a U-something Tech which I believe to be a '74. That would make an S a '72...

ive been having a good old google, and i think it may be 1984 with the 'E'. i thought theyd stopped being made by the 80's so assumed the 70's

pedro083 · Monday March 12, 2012

The English ones were never dated so maybe means something else

Canuck · Tuesday March 13, 2012

That's what I was thinking Pedro, I've been scratching my head over this thread for a couple of days.

I've owned a lot of English techs and was always of the belief that they weren't dated. I had a gold plated ball end that had a letter that (if you went off the commonly accepted US date table) put it in the late 70's which was impossible as all techs were then the newer design with the polished and etched handle. Mine turned out to be early 50's.

The letter codes on English techs must have meant something to Gillette, but it wasn't date. Maybe production line? Batch? A QC measure? No-one seems to know.

Post up a pic Isaiah and we can probably date it for you give or take 5 years. The embossed head was on the English ones from quite early, but there were a couple of design changes to the logo which help date it. The handle also gives a good clue.

isaiah53 · Tuesday March 13, 2012

ive been trying to get pics on, but i cant for the life of me figure out how to get them on. i keep getting a message my images are too large :O

chrisbell · Tuesday March 13, 2012

isaiah53 said:
ive been trying to get pics on, but i cant for the life of me figure out how to get them on. i keep getting a message my images are too large :O

You need to resize them in whichever software you use for image manipulation. I'm far from an expert though, so you'll have to wait for someone else to explain the exact process, I'm afraid!