Argentinian Swedes?

Anybody know about these blades?
Here's the front:

But here's the back:


So they look like Swedes but made in Argentina.
Are they going to be excellent?

Semi vintage stuff, I'd have to assume their better than decent. I'd buy whatever I found probably.

Very interesting find. I've never seen Argentina made Platinum's but I too would buy all that I could find. I've never been disappointed with Platinum's I've used from that time period.

These look very similar indeed to the UK and French made ones

Date code on the blades is L3

And, as everyone predicted, these blades are phenomenal!

Very very very sharp, very smooth with that slicing feel that the British Wilkinsons have only more so, and very very very sharp...
...Oh and they're very very very sharp.

Nice! FWIW, that blade looks identical to my French ones

Interesting! Wish I could help but I have not seen these until your post.

I've just scored a few packets of these "Argentinian Swedes", mine have an offer label on the front of the packet which states "5+5", this offer label is exactly the same as some 'proper' Swedes I have. Not only this but the packaging is very similar and the barcode is the same... Could the fabled Swedes actually be made in Argentina?

I've not tried one yet to compare them, but it sounds like they are decent!

yomuppet said:

These look very similar indeed to the UK and French made ones

Click to expand...

They should be: they are the same blade made to the same specs, only in different countries.

mjclark said:

And, as everyone predicted, these blades are phenomenal!

Very very very sharp, very smooth with that slicing feel that the British Wilkinsons have only more so, and very very very sharp...
...Oh and they're very very very sharp.

Click to expand...

Just a word of caution, @mjclark, go easy with these because they're...very very very sharp!!

Goatywoaty said:

I've just scored a few packets of these "Argentinian Swedes", mine have an offer label on the front of the packet which states "5+5", this offer label is exactly the same as some 'proper' Swedes I have. Not only this but the packaging is very similar and the barcode is the same... Could the fabled Swedes actually be made in Argentina?

I've not tried one yet to compare them, but it sounds like they are decent!

Click to expand...

I've just seen some more vintage Gillette super silvers which were made in Argentina and it says they were distributed by Gillette Berlin.

Even more evidence that the Argentinian plant made all the Swedes, because why would Berlin be distributing blades made by Argentina when they made blades there anyway? Maybe the Berlin plant shut down so that's why they imported the Argentinian blades into Europe.

The French "Annecy Swedes" do specify made in France, so I don't think they could be French....

Thoughts anyone?

Goatywoaty said:

...Maybe the Berlin plant shut down so that's why they imported the Argentinian blades into Europe...

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Not shut down, just stopped DE blade production.

Since mid-80s both EU and US market DE blades were French-made. In early 90s the Annecy plant stopped making DE blades. That's why they started making the US and the EU blades in Argentina for a few years.

ivan_101 said:

Since mid-80s both EU and US market DE blades were French-made. In early 90s the Annecy plant stopped making DE blades. That's why they started making the US and the EU blades in Argentina for a few years.

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Great info, so dependant on the year, "Swedes" are either French, or Argentinian! I've tried what I thought was a Swede "Swede" and find no difference between it and it's French "Annecy Swede" counterpart so looks like that's the reason why, there is no difference!

I'm going to snatch up as many Argentinian blades as I can!

Seems like any vintage Gillette (i.e. not made in the generic Russian factory) is incredible, as long as it's a stainless blade, not carbon steel.

My personal thoughts are that the Russian made ones aren't great, well they don't agree with my skin anyway. I bet costs are cut with the materials and processes on the new blades, they come in cheap cardboard tucks and cost peanuts compared to what they used to cost too. The Russian plant makes a shed load of blades with different names, but the blades are all the same, they just change the tooling every now and again to change the printing to a different 'brand'.

I'll stick with vintage Gillette and UK Wilkinson Sword thanks

Goatywoaty said:

...The Russian plant makes a shed load of blades with different names, but the blades are all the same, they just change the tooling every now and again to change the printing to a different 'brand'...

Click to expand...

Simply, wow.

Goatywoaty said:

Great info, so dependant on the year, "Swedes" are either French, or Argentinian! I've tried what I thought was a Swede "Swede" and find no difference between it and it's French "Annecy Swede" counterpart so looks like that's the reason why, there is no difference!

I'm going to snatch up as many Argentinian blades as I can!

Seems like any vintage Gillette (i.e. not made in the generic Russian factory) is incredible, as long as it's a stainless blade, not carbon steel.

Click to expand...

So you basically thought you got it right with the vintage Gillette Platinums. Those are things many of us were trying to comprehend during the last 20 or so years. No, not all Platinums are either French or Argentinian. If they are made in Argentina, they are not "Swedes". That applies only to French made Platinums. And there are also at least 2 more varieties in that plastic packaging and that cardboard.
Look at these



They are not Swedes, although they look like them and say Distributed by Gillette EMB Annecy 74000 etc. on the back. They have V code on them [manufactured in 2000] and are not made in Annecy. They are made either in the Czech or the Polish Lodz plant without stating it. And they definitely don't shave like Swedes [A bit rougher compared to them, although very sharp].

ivan_101 said:

So you basically thought you got it right with the vintage Gillette Platinums. Those are things many of us were trying to comprehend during the last 20 or so years. No, not all Platinums are either French or Argentinian. If they are made in Argentina, they are not "Swedes". That applies only to French made Platinums. And there are also at least 2 more varieties in that plastic packaging and that cardboard.
Look at these

They are not Swedes, although they look like them and say Distributed by Gillette EMB Annecy 74000 etc. on the back. They have V code on them [manufactured in 2000] and are not made in Annecy. They are made either in the Czech or the Polish Lodz plant without stating it. And they definitely don't shave like Swedes [A bit rougher compared to them, although very sharp].

Click to expand...

Sorry for stepping on previous Swede analysts toes I had done plenty of searching but didn't come across any threads that had concluded anything.

I never knew of the existence of platinums that were manufactured in the Czech or Lodz plant either, plus I hadn't come across any that late, so thanks for the info!

Good to know that the official definition of Swedes are the French made ones.

How do you find the French blades compare to the Argentinian?

Do you have a favourite vintage Gillette? I love the very early British made super silver but they are super hard to come by!

Never tried the Argentinian. My favourite vintage Gillette would probably be the Spoiler.

I've shaved with the so called "Swede" and it was a notch under the current Platinum IMO. All Gillette Platinum varieties shave good, but the current, i.e., last five years or so, shave excellent. This thread caused me to load a new "blue box" Platinum in my razor today and I was rewarded with an effortless shave.

P.S. IMO, the European Super Silver was merely the "Spoiler" (Super Stainless) renamed for that market. I can sense no difference betwixt the two.

FWIW, the esteemed Squire over on www.shavemyface.com rated Super Iridium (Polsilver) & 7'OClock Sharp Edge (yellow box) above the Swede and I couldn't agree more. Technology makes our lives better for the most part. That's why this forum does not use carrier pigeons and messages written with quill pens.