Best Gillette Shavers in order?

I own and use three Gillette razors.

Favorite is: 1958 Sports Special SS

Next is a Tech

Number three is a Fatboy

1947 Anglo-American Rhodium Aristocrat (430-030)
1948 Aristocrat #15, Rhodium Australian Set, Made in England
1938 Aristocrat No. 20, Rh plated, 71g. Brit. Pat. #400.621, Made in England
1948 Rhodium Aristocrat Set 21 (430-030), 72g
1949 British Aristocrat No. 22 Pat. Pending; Rh plated Razor; 73g
1953 Coronation Set Aristocrat #66, Made in England
1934 Gillette Aristocrat TTO Razor Rose-Gold
1938 Gillette Senator – Gold
Gillette 1953 (Y2) President Razor in Original Case
1930s Gillette New Bostonian Set, Silver Re-plate
1948 Rhodium Aristocrat Set 21 (430-030), 72g
Gillette Goodwill Empire set, Made in England, model 1931, British pat. Numbers 133963 142772-272629, Silver Re-plate
Gillette Khaki Set Safety Razor Property Of U.S. Army, Silver Re-plate

I think you like Aristocrats.

I'll go mild first
Blue tip with a feather blade
40s superspeed
Red tip
Any of the adjustables
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The problem for many shavers is that they suffer greatly from confirmation bias. Years ago I accumulated a small horde of vintage Gillette DE razors, e.g., Sheraton, damn near every Super-Speed model, Aristocrat, etc., ad nauseam. It quickly dawned on me that proper technique with the "lowly" Tech gave me excellent shaves. It was also cheap to buy and easy to maintain/manipulate. I came to understand via an epiphany the Spartan genius of the design and why it sold millions and was made for approx. 40 yrs.:  it worked....when used correctly. I received a DFS every time I used one if I did my part regarding technique, a top tier blade & great prep beforehand. I looked at my small horde and quickly sold most and am getting ready to sell the rest ASAP.

FWIW, sometimes I have to remind myself just exactly why I got into DE/SE shaving. It was to get away from the ingrown hairs I received from disposable razors. It was not to chase a BBS shave and throw vast sums of money at artisans or become a vintage razor collector.

Just seen online.

How lovely are these?!?!

I've owned and used somewhere around 50 vintage and modern Gillette DE razors and the 3 that stood out the most to me were the 47/48 first iteration American Super Speed, 46 - 48 American Aristocrat and the Super 84 Black Beauty adjustable. The Super 109 is extremely close but not identical to the Super 84 and is more so a preference issue than a performance one. Besides these any other Gillettes I still own are more so for the collectable aspect than how they shave. There are other good ones they made but if they were that good of shavers I'd still own them

I own several vintage Gillette TTO razors in exceptional condition, as well as several Techs. I recently acquired a 1948 British Flat Bottom Tech (Australian in Bakelite case) in near new condition. I have been reading for years that the flat bottom Tech's actually have a different shave than the others. After shaving with the flat bottom, I can attest that it is IMHO an exponentially better shave. I would rate it as the best of all the vintage Gillettes I have had the opportunity to own or shave with (3 piece & TTO). It is nearly as foolproof at the modern Henson, and would be difficult to draw blood, for a new shaver (even better that the typical non-flat Techs and most Gillette TTO's). I am now curious as to the overall production numbers for all flat bottom and hybrid Techs...in case anyone knows. The total number of Techs is most likely in the tens of millions, but due to the difficulty of finding the flat bottom and hybrid Techs, I believe the total production runs were in low numbers.

Best to worst, just go by date of manufacture, they went lame after the Korean war.

At one time I had quite the extensive collection of vintage razors including a lot of Gillettes. All mine were in mint or like new condition and I had a few new in the box ones also. A part of my collection that I was proud of was at one point I had every Aristocrat both British and American except the one that was really a gold slim.

My top 5 were:

Adjustable - the Toggle efficiency wise was the same as the Fatboy but smoother.

Smoothest- Gillette President was the smoothest vintage Gillette for me with nice efficiency. Still have it. It was new in the box when I got it but decided to break it out.

Most efficient TTO- - British Aristocrat # 15 OC

One of the best shavers - Chromium New Deluxe and it was beautiful as there weren’t many razor finished in Chrome and it shined like no other.

I have to include my Gillette Fatboy.. it was my very first DE razor when I first stopped using cartridge razors 23 years ago and my first vintage razor. Didn’t even know what I was buying, I just wanted a twist to open razor similar to what I used to watch my dad use as a kid. I happen to get lucky and got a mint one back then and used it for 5 years straight as it was my only razor. Since it was in such great condition later on in my shaving journey after acquiring a lot of razors, I sent it out for a rhodium plating. I had the original case and everything else and ended up giving it my son.

There were many other vintage razors I loved that were not Gillettes.

Good thread!