Are today's Omas nibs made by Omas ?

[Jimmy]

The more I use my new Omas Milord, the more I enjoy it. A question to satisfy my curiosity, because I hear contradictory things about this : are the current Omas nibs always made by Omas, or are they made now by another factory, e.g. Bock ? From my readings here and there, I think they are no longer home made, but I am not sure. That's not really important, just wondering.

 

Jimmy

[gylyf]

Hi, Jimmy. Modern OMAS nibs, like many others, are now made by Bock. Best,

David

[Phthalo]

OMAS was bought out by LVMH in 2000, and that's when they stopped producing their own nibs.

[handlebar]

The more I use my new Omas Milord, the more I enjoy it. A question to satisfy my curiosity, because I hear contradictory things about this : are the current Omas nibs always made by Omas, or are they made now by another factory, e.g. Bock ? From my readings here and there, I think they are no longer home made, but I am not sure. That's not really important, just wondering.

 

Jimmy

 

 

Glad to hear you are enjoying the Omas Jimmy!!!

 

JD

[Jimmy]

Thank you all. From what I read, I thought it changed with the new Arte italiana line, two or three years ago.

 

So, which western penmakers continue to design and produce their own nibs today ? I have Ancora in mind. And last, aside Bock, are there other nib factories ?

 

Jimmy

[NeoTiger]

I believe that Aurora (Italy) still makes their own nibs.

There was also another factory called Shmidt that made good nibs, but I've heard they were bought out by Bock?

 

All the japanese penmakers make their own as well (Pilot/Namiki, Platinum/Nakaya, Sailor), but then again you asked for Western.

 

 

[gylyf]

Thank you all. From what I read, I thought it changed with the new Arte italiana line, two or three years ago.

 

So, which western penmakers continue to design and produce their own nibs today ? I have Ancora in mind. And last, aside Bock, are there other nib factories ?

 

Jimmy

 

Waterman produce their own nibs, for sure. I believe Parker still does as well, but I could be wrong about that. Dupont also make their own nibs, I think. Best,

David

[handlebar]

I know Signum and Stipula use Bock.

 

JD

[gylyf]

Just thought of a few others: Montblanc also produce in-house nibs, as do Lamy and Caran d'Ache.

David

Edited July 3, 2007 by parrhesia

[Bennington1967]

Parker and Waterman still make their own nibs, as do Sheaffer, Sailor and Pilot/Namiki. Bock seems to make nibs for Italian brands and for brands that are not traditional pen manufacturers. Having said this, I find that Bock nibs seem to differ greatly and some are smoother than others - not sure why.

Edited August 25, 2007 by Bennington1967

[raffor]

Ancora makes its own nibs.

 

Caran D'Ache doesn't make nibs.

 

(I love my Aurora's Goldoni Fine 18k nib. I love its shape and the music i can hear when i'm writing with it.)

 

The interesting thing, in my opinion, is that many italian brands use bock nib such as Stipula, Marlen and Visconti and they are quite similar on paper and have the same plastic feeds, while Omas, that use bock's ones too, gave to nibs its personal touch both for the look and the ebonite feeds.

 

Sailor, Nakaya (Platinum), Pilot/Namiki, Dupont, Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer, Cross, Montblanc and Lamy are other brands (i know) with Aurora and Ancora that make their own nib.

 

Bye.

Edited January 11, 2008 by sailoraff

[Juan in Andalucia]

OMAS was bought out by LVMH in 2000, and that's when they stopped producing their own nibs.

 

Nevertheless, some pens made after 2.000 still had Omas made nibs.

 

[omasfan]

Nevertheless, some pens made after 2.000 still had Omas made nibs.

 

Could you be more specific as to which pens that would be. There is a lot of scuttlebutt going round and everything remains speculation.

[Opus104]

Jimmy - I'm with you - my new Milord Old Style 2004 is fantastic.

[georges zaslavsky]

I love my 2002 360 colonial and my 2005 Arte Italiana Paragon os as well, maybe they haven't an inhouse nib as has my 1997 360 magnum but they are writing marvels.

[Dillo]

Nevertheless, some pens made after 2.000 still had Omas made nibs.

 

Could you be more specific as to which pens that would be. There is a lot of scuttlebutt going round and everything remains speculation.

 

Hi,

 

That would be a result of extra parts lying around that needed to be used up.

 

Some companies that come to Bock like Omas have them make the nibs to a certain specification.

 

Dillon

[Juan in Andalucia]

Nevertheless, some pens made after 2.000 still had Omas made nibs.

 

Could you be more specific as to which pens that would be. There is a lot of scuttlebutt going round and everything remains speculation.

 

Hi,

 

That would be a result of extra parts lying around that needed to be used up.

 

Some companies that come to Bock like Omas have them make the nibs to a certain specification.

 

Dillon

 

Omas nibs have been known by its unpredictability (something I like). I have 6 Omas which range from the mid 80s to 2.000. I know it's 2.000 because it's a 75th anniversary.

 

The different 75th anniversary pens are said to have stiffer nibs than other Omas made before and after. Now,I don't know about others, but mine has a very stiff yet smooth nib. I have heard different opinions: some say these are the first bock-made nibs, whereas others say they're the last Omas made nibs. Whatever the case, I love mine. I've also heard from a reputable seller that the nibs in the colonial series were made by Omas.

 

I can't imagine Omas getting rid of their nibs when they joined the LV group; changes like that don't happen overnight. For example, Omas has just started to make the milord in C/C (shame on you, Omas!!).

 

Juan in Andalucía

[PinarelloOnly]

There is or was a video on Omas' website showing Omas employee's doing the two-toning on their nibs but not

manufacturing the nibs.

 

This makes me believe as a manufacturer that if you buy Bock nibs for your pens you'll pay dearly for two-toning

seeing that both Visconti and Stipula have only "single-tone" rhodium plated gold nibs on mostly all of their pens now.

 

 

If my speculation is correct, it explains the extra two-tone Bexley nib unit you could buy for around $95 is now $150

from a certain respected vendor.

 

 

[orion]

Ancora makes its own nibs.

 

Caran D'Ache doesn't make nibs.

 

(I love my Aurora's Goldoni Fine 18k nib. I love its shape and the music i can hear when i'm writing with it.)

 

The interesting thing, in my opinion, is that many italian brands use bock nib such as Stipula, Marlen and Visconti and they are quite similar on paper and have the same plastic feeds, while Omas, that use bock's ones too, gave to nibs its personal touch both for the look and the ebonite feeds.

 

Sailor, Nakaya (Platinum), Pilot/Namiki, Dupont, Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer, Cross, Montblanc and Lamy are other brands (i know) with Aurora and Ancora that make their own nib.

 

Bye.

 

According to my reliable source, it is correct that Caran d'Arch doesn't make nibs. Caran d'Arch uses nibs manufactured by Bock.

 

Graf von Faber-Castell also makes its own nibs.

[offbase]

I know Signum and Stipula use Bock.

 

JD

 

And, while I love those two brands, I have yet to purchase a pen from either of them that wrote well and/or consistently out of the box. The same goes for Pelikan; I'll never buy another one in xf ever again. It would seem that Bock may not tune the nibs to write well, but require that the tuning by the "manufacturers," who either don't do it or aren't equipped to. Just my opinion, but based on dozens of pens and a mere handful I could actually write with out of the box.

 

I've never had such a problem with Waterman, Parker, or even cheapo disposable $5.00 Office Depot fountain pens. The common demoninator to me always seems to be Bock. But again, it would seem to me that the fault doesn't lie with Bock. Aren't there other mfg'ers, such as Bexley, who pride themselves on their fine-tuning of their Bock nibs prior to packaging? Seems as if there must be a reason for that, doesn't it?