Vintage Collection Knowledge / Vintage Grooming Knowledge / Gillette GII
Product ProfileGillette GII
Identification notes for Gillette GII cartridge packs — a fixed-head twin-blade system that predates Gillette's pivoting Atra/Contour line. Card layout, barcode and batch codes, distributor markets, and how to tell it apart at a glance from its pivoting successors.
Seven-point verification standard
- 1. Identification — card layout, barcode, batch code logged
- 2. Manufacturing — pending: cross-reference batch code to date range
- 3. Packaging — one card front and back photographed; other print runs not yet on hand
- 4. Compatibility — pending: confirm against a physical GII handle
- 5. Rarity — pending: no comparison sample size yet
- 6. Collectability — pending
- 7. References — primary photography only; secondary sources not yet added
What GII is
GII was Gillette's twin-blade cartridge system built around a fixed, non-pivoting head — the design line that came before Atra and Contour introduced a pivoting cartridge. Where Atra/Contour packaging is built around the head swivelling to follow the contours of the face, the GII card instead illustrates the cartridge simply seating onto a fixed handle, with the two blades individually numbered "1" and "2" on the front-of-pack graphic.
This entry currently documents a single physical sample: one ten-cartridge hanging card, photographed front and back. It's treated as a single reference point rather than a representative set — see the verification checklist above for what's still outstanding.
Card front
The GII card uses a purple ground with yellow top and bottom border stripes, a three-notch hanger tab, and the Gillette wordmark in white over "GII" in yellow. The cartridge window sits below the logo: a yellow-bordered instructional panel shows the cartridge mounted on a handle with the two blades labelled "1" and "2," making the twin-blade layout the focal point of the design rather than the pivoting action later Contour/Atra cards lead with. Two rows of five cartridges sit beneath in a clear plastic tray embossed "Gillette," for a total pack size of 10.
Card back
The back carries a simpler two-step instructional pictogram (removing the spent cartridge, then seating the new one) compared with the four-step sequence used on later Contour Plus cards — consistent with GII's fixed-head cartridge needing no pivot or alignment step. Below that sits a "Made by" block, a Gillette Series cross-sell graphic, a barcode, and a printer's batch code.
Sample on hand
- Cartridge count
- 10 (two rows of five)
- Livery
- Purple ground, yellow top/bottom border stripes
- Instructional graphic
- Cartridge on handle, blades individually numbered "1" and "2"
- Tray marking
- "Gillette" embossed into the clear plastic tray
- Corner code
- 3832 / 3
- Barcode
- 3 014260 200039
- Batch / print code
- 170008839
- Instructional graphic
- Two-step pictogram: remove spent cartridge, seat new cartridge
- Distributor markets
- EMB Annecy, Berlin, Brussels, Espoo-Esbo, København, Lisboa, London TW7 5NP, Madrid, Milano, Oslo, Rijswijk ZH, Stockholm, Wien, Zürich, Dublin (Daelgate Ltd.) — plus a Greek-market line (Metamarfosi / Marbo A.E.)
Distributor list matches the widest Contour Plus variant on file (Back 1 in the Contour Plus Lubrastrip entry) almost line for line, including the same Greek-market addition. That suggests both cards were printed for the same distribution run or region set, despite belonging to two different cartridge systems — worth confirming once more samples from each are on hand.
What this cartridge fits
The card doesn't state compatibility beyond the GII name itself — unlike the Contour Plus cards, which explicitly say "fits all Contour razors." GII cartridges are expected to fit GII handles specifically, given the fixed (non-pivoting) head, but that hasn't been confirmed here against a physical handle. Flagged as pending under Compatibility in the checklist above.
Sources
- Primary: one Gillette GII ten-cartridge hanging card, photographed front and back and transcribed directly for this entry, August 2026.
- Secondary sources — manufacturer archives, collector forums, dated retail listings — have not yet been added; see the verification checklist above.