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GEM Days 14a/14: Contour II a.k.a. Swan Song – Sat 30 Nov 2024
- Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
- Razor: GEM Contour II
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
- Lather: Declaration Grooming – Tribute
- Post Shave: Saponificio Varesino - Settantesimo
- Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Executive Man
This is shave 27 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the Contour II
The Contour II
Here, ASR dropped all pretense and gave up on any cleverness or quality. The plastic push-button mechanism was apparently too complicated to manufacture, so they dropped it. Back to the 1912 mechanism that was their initial fallback after the days of Micromatic glory. They didn’t change the base plate though so now it still has gaping slots for leaf springs that aren’t there anymore.
The original Countour top cap didn’t fit anymore, so they just went back to the top cap of the Featherweight. This top cap needs a thick leaf spring to hold in open or shut and it kind of fits, to they bolted that on too. Add a cheap handle to this heap of spare parts (I’m exaggerating a bit here) et voilà, you have a Frankenendling to conclude the GEM story line with a whimper.
Add poor QA on the plating for good measure. This NOS razor never left its original clam shell packaging before taking these pictures, and it has plating loss and verdigris around the hinge and where the safety bar is joined to the base plate, for instance, while early ASR razors have legendary thick plating often going strong after100 years in dirty storage.
The shave
Nice, and uneventful shave with the mild Contour II, tribute and a a few summery dupes.
The timeline
1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene1914-1927: 19141924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to “Slim-V Flat Top” in 1953, British version sold as “Natural Angle” by Ever-Ready1955-1958: GEM V-Slim “Heavy Flat Top” (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)1958-1965: Push Button1965-1973: Contour- 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor) ← We are here
November 30, 2024
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Brush: Wolfman WRB2 Bronze w/AP Shave Co MiG 26mm Premium Hybrid
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Blade Holder: Wolfman Razors WR4/WRH3
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Blade: Feather Artist Club Professional (1)
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Lather: Pasteur|Master Soap Creations - Bloom - Soap
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Aftershave: Pasteur|Master Soap Creations - Bloom - Aftershave
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Fragrance: Tom Ford - Black Orchid - Eau de Parfum
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Talc: Yardley Gold
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Last day of BBS November, so I thought I would not skimp on luxury for the last two shaves.
Saturday, November 30, 2024: FLS
- Brush: Yaqi - Sagrada Familia 24mm Synthetic
- Razor: Merkur - 34C
- Blade: Van Der Hagen - Stainless (2)
- Lather: Stirling - Sandpiper
- Post: Chiseled Face - Ghost Town Barber Aftershave splash
- Post: Nivea - Sensitive Post Shave Balm
- Frag: Stirling - Stirling Gentleman
Another quick shave squeezed in between family stuff. I really like Sandpiper.
GEM Days 14b/14: Contour II a.k.a. Swan Song – Sat 30 Nov 2024
- Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
- Razor: GEM Contour II
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
- Lather: Barrister and Mann – Brew Ha-Ha
- Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Leviathan
Over the last two weeks, I ran through all† 14 generations of GEM-style razor. When comparing the major safety razor families DE, GEM, injector, Artist Club and One Blade/Valet, the GEM family is my favourite, gives me the best safety razor shaves, and the only type of blade that I’ve ever taken to 100 uses. It was a fun little project to go through the different concepts in chronological order and compare their designs, their manufacturing quality, and how they shave.
One thing that struck me is how ASR had many of the most clever designs in safety razor manufacture, but the one that stuck around was their first, and cheapest: the 1912 with a simple leaf spring pressing on the spine and a double leaf spring locking the top cap. ASR came out with four alternatives, the 1914, its improved version the 1924 Shovelhead, the Micromatic and the Pushbutton. They all had advantages over the original design but didn’t stick around, and ultimately none of the ASR razors could stand up to the DE competition.
This little experiment confirmed that the Micromatics stand out for me as the best safety razors I know, but even the Contour II gave me a great shave with Softheart Brew Ha-Ha today. These things shave well.
This shave concludes the 2024 edition of BBS November for me, my fourth, and it was a very nice experience again.
† As mentioned in the first instalment, there are some razors I don’t have, such as the 1906, the OC Damaskeen, a first generation Streamline/Jewel or the elusive adjustable Pushbutton.
1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene1914-1927: 19141924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to “Slim-V Flat Top” in 1953, British version sold as “Natural Angle” by Ever-Ready1955-1958: GEM V-Slim “Heavy Flat Top” (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)1958-1965: Push Button1965-1973: Contour- 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor) ← We are here
This little experiment confirmed that the Micromatics stand out for me as the best safety razors I know
I agree completely. The MMOC continues to be my overall favorite safety razor. Blade feel, handling, and elegant design seem perfect.
Thanks, again, for doing this series. I truly enjoyed it. And, congrats on your fourth BBS November!
This was a great series, I learned a ton.
You’ve definitely motivated me to secure more Micromatics! :)
It was a pleasure reading all about the different razors and I learned a lot. Unfortunately there was a database error and we have to restore a 3 week old backup, but I’m sure you’ll understand.
Just kidding!
November 30, 2024
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Brush: Wolfman WRB2 Bronze w/AP Shave Co MiG 26mm Premium Hybrid
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Blade Holder: GEM MMOC Gold Gen2
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Blade: Personna Gem PTFE (10)
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Lather: Gentleman’s Nod - Zaharoff Signature Rosé - Soap
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Aftershave: Gentleman’s Nod - Zaharoff Signature Rosé - Aftershave
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Fragrance: Zaharoff - Signature Rosé - Eau de Parfum
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Talc: Yardley Gold
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Great last shave for the month. This is my second year of participating in BBS November; where we shave twice per day. I enjoyed all 60 shaves, and I loved going through my shaving gear in a time-condensed way.