Merkur of Solingen

Merkur was established in 1896 by Emil Hermes, although he had to rename the company because Solingen already had several cutlery firms with the Hermes name. He chose Merkur, the Roman equivalent of the messenger of the gods.

The Barthobel was the first produced wet-shaving razors, equipped with a safety comb and a 4cm removable wedge-shaped blade--similar to traditional straight razor blades--which needed regular sharpening.

In the early 20th century, Merkur began manufacturing very sharp, double-edged razor blades which are still in use today. These blades decreased the risk of injury and were more cost-effective to replace when dull. This lead to the creation of the classic range of double edged safety razor Merkur is famous for.

The Merkur 34C safety razor, sometimes referred to as the 34HD or Heavy Duty razor is the best seller in the Merkur range. Merkur also introduced the 15C open comb razor, 37C slant head razor and the Progress range of adjustable safety razors. In the mid-20th Century Merkur created the 700002 range of adjustable safety razors. These are known as the Futur razors and are available in Matt Chrome, Shiny Chrome and Shiny Gold finishes.

In 2021, the managing director of Merkur, Ulrich Wiethoff, became the sole successor to the Kirschbaum family as the company's shareholder. In 2022, production and offices relocated to their new premises at Nordstrasse 10, 42719 Solingen.