Omas Outing

Went to meet some fountain pen friends and one of them wanted to see some Omas pens, so I grabbed them and took a family photo.

Omas Extra Lucens, Ogiva Autumno, Paragon Arco old style, Ogiva Vintage saft green

Only after I had packed them I realized I'd forgotten the Bibliotheque Nationale. Bummer.

I think the Extra Lucens is the star of the bunch though its partial transparency looks only half as great when empty.

Backdrop: My new and gorgeous pen wrap! It's still a little blotchy from the leather oil but that should have resolved itself by next week, then I'll show it in all its glory.

Celluloid goodness: Omas Ogiva Vintage

Last year I've started diving into the adventure that is Omas fountain pens with an Extra Lucens, an old style Paragon and a Bibliotheque Nationale.

At the end of 2013 Omas launched the Ogiva Vintage limited editions in arco brown or saft green. As I already had the Paragon in arco brown I went for the saft green. This one moved in with me in late  spring already but only now I got around to taking photos.

Omas Ogiva Vintage in saft green

It's a cigar shaped pen, rather large - larger in fact than a Pelikan M1000 but slightly slimmer - but lightweight as I've come to expect from Omas pens. It's 23 g capped and feather light 12 g uncapped but that doesn't make it feel flimsy and I just love the way it nestles in my hand when writing.


Interestingly enough, the Ogiva Vintage are a good deal longer than my most recent addition to the Omas flock, a somewhat older Ogiva Autumno, which is a good centimeter shorter.

 Ahh! The celluloid!


It's a somewhat weird but very charming murky olive coler with lots of pearlescent hightlights. Clip, trimmings and also the nib are rosegold plated which goes really nicely together.

The nib is a factory stub. Sadly this one already made a trip to Italy because the rose gold plating was flaking off. However Omas replaced the nib very quickly so I hope that this one will be fine.
 

I'm also planning to show you the Autumno I've acquired recently and take a group shot of the two. As you can see I'm still right in the middle of the Omas adventure!

Amazing Celluloid: Omas Paragon Arco

I've got a thing for shimmering or pearlescent pens in general - like mother of pearl, or some Urushi techniques, or celluloid, or satin wood, or... but the Omas bug has only bitten me recently.

Before this all my celluloid pens were Montegrappas (like this gorgeous red and black Alfa Romeo). This is probably linked to a more or less exclusive preference for large and/or heavy pens I used to have. This has changed a bit. A pen should still have a certain girth to feel nice in the hand but light weight is no longer a dealbreaker - at least not if it's an Omas!

Omas old style Paragon in Arco Brown

Why is that? I can't tell for sure. It might be something about the balance, about the way their pens feel like they're part of the hand. It's weird because when I picked up my Montblanc Jonathan Swift last week I thought "my, this is one heavy pen". I don't remember this thought crossing my mind before, "heavy" was just the way a pen was supposed to feel like. I wonder if this is changing gradually? 

I hope not because I still appreciate the bulky & heavy pens a lot!

Back to the Paragon! As I said it's a lightweight pen (22 g capped, 14 g uncapped - even lighter than I would have estimated) made entirely of celluloid without any metal parts in the piston mechanism. Except for some LEs this model is no longer made - the current model paragon is somewhat fatter, has a metal section and the clip is different. That one doesn't appeal to me so much so when this old style one showed up at the bay I went for it - and succeeded.

Omas old style Paragon in Arco Brown

It was exciting for the seller didn't know more than the brand and the nib size and I - less than an expert for Omas pens - had to identify the model based on measurements and design of the nib. Fortunately I'd made the right guess and what arrived was exactly what I had expected.

I had read - and found out with my brand new Extra Lucens - about Omas pistons being a bit on the stiff side, mainly the celluloid Paragons but that didn't prepare me for the sounds this piston made when I gently started to move it up and down. I wasn't aware a piston could make such a sound and I would describe it to you if I hadn't made an effort to put it out my mind.

Omas old style Paragon in Arco Brown

So something had to happen with this piston! I had read you could unscrew the section which seemed to be my only choice as the nib unit didn't budge and I'd heard the feed could be fragile. Fortunately everything went well and with some silicone grease for lubrication the piston now moves freely enough, though still a little jerky and not exactly reassuring.

Still somehow the color makes up for it all. Isn't this the perfect shade for autumn? It has the gold of the sun, the red and brown of the trees and the earth. It has the highlights at the front and back side lining up with the nib and feed and the deep shadows in between. I could look at it for days.

Speaking of the Extra Lucens, this Paragon is about the same size as the Extra Lucens but has spiky ends on cap and barrel where the Lucens's are flat.

Omas old style Paragon in Arco Brown

 When I got it the gold was a little tarnished so it can't have been used for a while but before that it must have seen quite a bit of use as there are some scuffs and scratches mainly on the cap. The nib, though in great condition, has this worn in feel you sometimes get with vintage pens. It's a medium size. The plating seems to be a little off in places, too much rhodium overall - I've read there was an era in Omas history where this happened frequently. I might have it fixed one day or just take it as a quirk and ignore it.

The tarnishing on the nib polished off nicely with a jeweler's cloth. I'm taking my time trying to gently buff out the scuffs on the cap with MicroMesh.

Omas old style Paragon in Arco Brown

Sorry for awkward handwriting - I haven't written a lot with that one yet and still getting used to it but still wanted to show how it writes. I've only tried Omas Blue in it so far which performs very nicely in it and doesn't come gushing out as it did in my Extra Lucens - so I guess the nib's flow isn't too heavy but not too dry either.

For the writing sample I used some new "System" inkjet paper from the Karstadt convenience stores here in Germany which is very nice actually! It can be had in various weights, sizes and colors (this is the 120g/sqm in A5 ivory) and at least the 120 and 160 g/sqm sheets perform really well with fountain pens. Great for writing letters and cheaper than most stationery.

Omas Beauty: Ivory and Bronze

Autumn is here to stay, I'm back to Diamine Ochre, Ancient Copper and Noodler's Apache Sunset and surrounding myself with all kinds of beautiful, colorful things to lighten up my mood. Here's two of those things:

Omas Paragon in Arco brown, Omas Bibliotheque Nationale in ivory

An old style Paragon in Arco brown celluloid and a creamy white Bibliotheque Nationale which feels like it's also celluloid but I can't tell for sure. They both have medium nibs, the smaller one on the Bibliotheque being rigid and a little toothy, the one on the Paragon smooth and soft.

When I got the Extra Lucens I liked it even more than I had anticipated, especially one thing I'd expected the least to fall in love with: the weight. I've always preferred heavy pens. Obviously an Omas is just something different.

More pictures and writing samples coming up soon!

Which one of those two do you like better and what do you like or not like about Omas in general?

Celluloid Goodness: Omas Extra Lucens

Some time has passed since I've written about a pen - but I do have some to show, like this amazing faceted Omas Extra Lucens.

The pen was issued in 2013. 300 pieces were made. The color is labeled as "black" though that hardly covers it. There is black, yes, but it is veined with sparkling golden threads and transparent patches which grant a look at ink reservoir and piston mechanism.

Omas Extra Lucens

I have to say, when I saw it for the first time my thought was "hmm, that's very transparent indeed - do I like that?" Once the large reservoir is full of ink though I like the appearance very much.

Someone on FPN said that it looked like it was made of sugar and felt just as light. I can relate to that thought very much! I think the faceted barrel somehow adds to that. It's only my second modern Omas and I'm hearing their pens generally are on the lightweight side. Also it was very interesting - and, at first, unsettling - to perceive once again what exactly different companies mean by "a quality pen". This mainly reveals itself in details, like the threading of cap and piston. For instance all of my Pelikan's pistons have felt silky smooth. All of my Montblanc's caps have screwed on firmly, soundlessly and felt extremely reassuring. Some of the newer ones even had some added friction fit, as if to say "Okay, you're closing the cap... it's almost fully screwed on, feel the resistance increasing? There... closed. It won't open again unless you choose to, don't worry about that". On the other hand... plastic feeds. "Precious resin". Et cetera.

Omas obviously places their focus on their nibs and the material of cap and barrel. Italian celluloid just seems to be a class for itself and so is this pen. The large, gleaming single-tone nib rests on an equally large ebonite feed. On the other hand, the cap threads have a rough feel to them and the piston knob took quite a bit more than the usual amount of convincing before moving for the first time, and even now that it moves easily enough it's far from the "smooooth" gliding feeling of a German piston filler (or even a TWSBI for that matter).

Omas Extra Lucens

Though I'm usually not a fan of lightweight pens this one is a really nice writer, it's one of those pens that seem to become part of the hand.

Here's a look at the ink reservoir. That turquoise gemstone is Waterman South Sea Blue - which is just the right ink for this pen because the nib is nicely soft, very smooth and very wet. The first ink I filled it with was the very free-flowing Omas Blue and while I like a wet nib as much as anyone the combination was unbearable.

The pen is fitted with a factory broad nib with a negligible amount of line variation. I haven't posted  a writing sample for now because it will make for a nice cursive italic before long.

 Omas Extra Lucens in direct sunlight. 

In direct sunlight the golden veins become very sparkly and prominent; in indirect lighting, however, the pen remains subtle enough to be a daily writer.

Omas Extra Lucens

Next to a Montblanc 149 for reference:

 Omas Extra Lucens and Montblanc Meisterstück 149. 

How do you like this one or Omas pens in general?