Romillo Sil #9

[Houston]

I’ve been meaning to write a review of the Romillopens Sil #9 for a long time.

 

Why haven’t I? Well, partially because I've never written any pen review before, and am a little intimidated by the high standard set by many on this board. But, more than that, I'm intimidated by the task of writing about this particular pen. In the words of my favourite book review, “I find myself nervous…about failing the work, inadequately displaying its brilliance.”

 

If you like your pen reviews to attempt dispassionate objectivity, I entreat you to move along. There’s nothing satisfying for you to read here. This one may even offend you.

 

To provide context, to set up why I think the Sil, and perhaps Romillo pens in general, are so special, I probably need to mention what I was looking for when I bought it.

 

I don’t call myself a collector. I think it’s more accurate to say I have a lot of pens. Pens are a hobby, sure. Finding pens that delight me is a pleasure in which I love to indulge. But, I don’t get excited about having every colour of something, or completing a set, or acquiring a rare example of some pen or another with pristine imprints. I think all that’s great, and I love cooing over the collections of folks who do that. But that’s not what I do. I see a pen I like, and I buy it. And, over time, that’s meant that I have a lot of pens — depending on your standard.

 

And while I don’t call myself a collector, I do call myself a writer. Not necessarily a good writer, mind you, but the point is that my pens aren’t for show. The point of my pens is to write. The point of my best pens is to write beautifully.

 

So, when I set out a while back — last year, in fact — to find an epic “reward myself” pen, I didn’t have a target in mind. There was no holy grail. But I was looking for something that wasn’t mass-produced “limited edition” desk jewellery. I was looking for something that would be an epitomic manifestation of the writer’s tool.

 

I have some really lovely pens, so for this pen to stand out, it needed to be something more than just another lovely pen. So, I thought I’d look at a few things that had long intrigued me but which had always been “way out there.” Hakase. Modern Onoto. Danitrio. Faggionato. Romillo.

 

The Faggionato and the Danitrio dropped out fairly quickly. The Onoto faded because I became interested in a custom pen — one that would be uniquely mine. A writer’s tool hand-made by craftsmen. That left Romillo and Hakase.

 

Two things decided in Romillo’s favour: nibs and time.

 

Alvaro Romillo and his father make their own nibs — right in their workshop in Madrid. I know of no-one else manufacturing pens at less than industrial scale making nibs in-house. Even the famous pen crafters of Japan — Nakaya, Hakase, etc — don’t make their own nibs. They buy them in, and then tune them. Certainly, the craftsmanship applied to tuning the nibs can approach art. There can be no denying that a Nakaya nib, for example, writes differently than a Platinum nib. But nor can there be any denying that the nib was made by Platinum. In Hakase’s case, the nibs and feeds are from Pilot.

 

Does the fact that Romillo makes its own nibs make them necessarily better nibs? No. Are they better nibs? Well…

 

The second issue was time — or, rather, my own impatience. I was looking to reward myself, after all. I’m assured that all the relevant psychology research indicates that for a reward to be meaningful it has to come quickly proximate to the time of the event being recognised. With a Romillo, I would only have to wait a handful of weeks from the time of my order to receive my pen. For a Hakase, one may wait more than a year.

 

So, the decision swung to Romillo.

 

But as soon as I placed my order, I realised that the expectations of this pen would be almost impossible to meet. On the one hand, I expected it to be the unique, hand-crafted work of artisans. On the other hand, I’d be disappointed if it failed to best other first-rate fountain pens from the grand marques of the world. Somehow, buying a pen like this, you want it to be both, and that is a very high bar, indeed.

 

Somehow, the Romillopens Sil #9 succeeds.

 

As far as I can tell, the Sil hasn’t been reviewed, here, before. Other Romillos have, and the raves of many — though not all — were what got me serious about considering pens by Romillo in the first place. But what sealed it, in addition to the arguments above, was the elegance of the Sil’s design.

 

All the Romillo pens are lovely, and all have in common a certain conservative, classy, simple subtlety. But, to me, the Sil leaves them all behind

 

I have rarely seen a fountain pen as graceful. The design is both novel and understated in its elegance. I don’t know any other pen that looks like it, and yet, somehow, it seems the platonic ideal of the pen I’ve always wanted: The threadless, gripless, gentle taper of the section leaving a pen body that is completely unadorned but for its clean lines. The cap — a perfectly simple, perfectly fitted slip-cap that has both substance and delicacy at the same time. And overall proportions that seem to have been lifted from some inspired Art Deco interpretation of Vitruvian man.

 

This picture is ripped from the Romillo website, and I’m using it without permission, hoping Señores Romillo don’t mind.

 

 

This pictured pen is fashioned from the same material as mine: red and black veined ebonite. The photograph is far superior, however, to my terrible shots below.

 

The process of buying a Romillo is a conversation. There are no prices on the website*. So, if you are seduced enough by what you see, you have to strike up a correspondence with Alvaro — the younger Señor Romillo. While his English isn’t perfect, Alvaro Romillo is a gentleman as well as a craftsman. I found interacting with him a delight. At no point did he press a sale. At all times, he embraced my questions with patience and generosity.

 

That experience was unexpectedly deepened when, a few weeks after I placed my order, Alvaro sent me a note asking if we might meet in London, where I work. He was going to be there for other reasons, he said, and wondered if I’d take the trouble to put aside some time so that he could watch me write, and put a number of different nibs in my hand — in order to make sure that the one he crafted for my pen would be exactly right for my hand.

 

The meeting, itself, was a delight. But that this is the way the Romillos do business, frankly, moves me.

 

Another couple of weeks after our London rendezvous, and my pen arrived. Inside a simple brown cardboard box was another, equally simple white box. Upon opening it, this is what I found.

 

A write-test from Alvaro Romillo.

 

 

 

 

A hand-turned pen stand.

 

A home-made 6-pen roll.

 

Inside the box is a felt pen roll and an eye-dropper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compared to a Montblanc 149.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pen itself is crafted beautifully. The finish on the ebonite is glossy without being slick. I find myself stroking it absent-mindedly, simply because the feeling is warm, silky and sensuous. The joins are seamless. All the internal workings are cast in brass. The eye-dropper feed has a built in breather tube that extends up into the barrel to ensure reliability. The fitting of the minimalist 18k gold hardware is as precise as I’d expect from a jeweller — which is to say, there is a kind of perfection that doesn’t seem possible from something handmade: no “artisanal” roughness, only an impression of something that your eye makes your hand want to caress.

 

A few things to note:

 

• First: The gold “lentil” roll-stop is a customisation that I asked for. While I had fretted that it might ruin the ascetic grace of the pen’s lines, I think the bet paid off. To my eye, the contrast of the lentil only serves to amplify the elegance of the pen’s form, providing a small, glinting counterpoint to it.
• Second: You can see that the pen is very large. That’s a Montblanc 149 it’s sitting with, for comparison. Despite its size, it doesn’t feel large at all. I venture that even someone who rejected the 149 as too much of a beast would find the slightly larger Sil a deft tool. Somehow it offers the feeling of just the right of amount of substance, in the hand, while still being light, balanced and nimble. The exact size/weight/etc can be found here.
  
• Third: That nib. Holy crapoli, that’s a big nib! The “#9” in the name of the pen indicates that nib size. Exactly the same pen, in the same proportions, is available in a #7, which is a slightly smaller nib — although it’s still large by most standards. For those who like to grip their pen rather far down the section and have their fingers relatively close to the page, it would be advisable to consider the smaller nib. …because the #9 puts a lot of distance between the tip and the grip!

 

So, how does it write? I can hardly do better than to say that this is the smoothest, most pleasing stub nib I own. It’s soft, rather than flexible — although the Romillos will be happy to make a flexible nib should you want one — so it has personality, and yet it demands nothing. The Sil is so well balanced and the nib is so delightful that this is one of my only pens that feels like a natural extension of my hand.

 

In short, I’ve written a long review that raves about this pen because it’s not only a delight that lived up to my hopes, it’s that rare thing that redefined a fantasy by transcending it. I know that sounds hyperbolic, but the Romillo Sil is the most satisfying bit of fountain pen wish fulfilment I’ve ever experienced.

 

For another take on a different Romillo, mongrelnomad has written a great review which is essentially a cage-fight among Hakase, Romillo and Nakaya — and he finds the Romillo a smidge wanting in comparison to Hakase.

 

 

*Romillos will set you back (roughly) between 800-1500 euros — although they’ve added some new pens to their line that I haven’t priced.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Houston

[Keyless Works]

Beautiful pen and great review! I love my Essential No 9. I didn't get a pen stand though with mine :/

[dcpritch]

What a great, great review. I've been thinking about one of these for a couple of years now, actually teetering between a Romillo and a Hakase, but Houston you've tipped the balance firmly toward a Romillo.

[da vinci]

Fantastic review Houston. Thank you

 

A Romillo is on my WTB list.

[strictlyobiter]

Fantastic review. I adore all the Romillo reviews and read them multiple times, this is a great one. Congratulations on the pen. It looks beautiful. I think the gold rollstopper is very elegant and fits the style of the pen perfectly. That gorgeous #9 nib looks a real treat.

[rpsyed]

You Sil #9 looks wonderful! I have a stub on my Eo #9 and I absolutely love it. Totally agree on the lentil roll-stop too.

 

I'm considering Sil #9 and the Essential #9 for my eventual second Romillo. I was just worried about burping ink from the cap creating a vacuum and the brittleness of the the thin cap lip. Have either of those been an issue for you?

Edited June 22, 2015 by rpsyed

[BMG]

Man, by the time you get to paragraph 19 you *really* want to see some pics! And no need for the disclaimers at the beginning – this was a very nice review IMO. It's difficult to be dispassionate about something one feels strongly about.

 

Romillos are lovely pens, to be sure. Thank you for your generous review.

[OCArt]

Wow, what a pen! Thank you for doing this great review.

[Tasmith]

Wonderful review!

[zaddick]

Great review. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

[nibbling]

The Sil #9 was my favourite when I saw the models in Madrid. Alvaro was wonderfully patient as I tested all his pens.

 

Thank you for this review. I do hope to get the pen one day but honestly the price does feel somewhat prohibitive.

[Keyless Works]

You Sil #9 looks wonderful! I have a stub on my Eo #9 and I absolutely love it. Totally agree on the lentil roll-stop too.

 

I'm considering Sil #9 and the Essential #9 for my eventual second Romillo. I was just worried about burping ink from the cap creating a vacuum and the brittleness of the the thin cap lip. Have either of those been an issue for you?

I was between the Sil #9 and the Essential #9 and the I went for the Essential because it felt safer even though the Sil is a more attractive pen IMO. The caps are very thin. I inquired to Alvaro about this and he assured me that there was no durability or functional downside to the slip cap. Also from what I have seen they definitely stand behind their product so if you had a problem I would feel confident that it would be remedied.

[Frank C]

Thanks for the review. I have been considering one of these for a while. I keep saying that I'm going to concentrate more on quality than on quantity. I see a Hakase and a Romillo in my future.

[Leftytoo]

Thanks for the great review. I can't buy the pen, but I can enjoy it through your writing. Love the look of the red ebonite.

Bob

[Houston]

I'm considering Sil #9 and the Essential #9 for my eventual second Romillo. I was just worried about burping ink from the cap creating a vacuum and the brittleness of the the thin cap lip. Have either of those been an issue for you?

 

Haven't had a problem, at all, with ink in the cap. The fit is smooth, rather than tight, and it never feels like I'm creating a vacuum when I remove the cap. There's nothing approaching a "pop".

 

As for the cap lip: the elegance of that thin edge worried me, too. When I asked about it, Alvaro was clear they'd never had a problem. And, I have to say, I'm less concerned about it, having now felt how solidly the pens are built. In the hand, it's more robust than it looks in pictures. It *could* still be an issue, but I venture it only would be were one careless -- which would put any pen at risk.

[hari317]

Very nice review Houston, thank you.

[visvamitra]

Great review od a stunning pen. Maybe one day

[mongrelnomad]

We should all be thankful that, despite your trepidation, you put your impressions in print, for that's quite a review of quite a pen.

 

I, like Keyless Works, was drawn to the Sil initially, but decided against it in favour of the Nervión due to fears about the longevity of the cap-lip. I'd love to hear your impressions and experiences over time, as I wish to add another Romillo to my stable at some point, and the Sil is at the top of a very short list. Your experience with Alvaro also makes me eager to contact him once more; to discus a pen, yes, but also to ask whether my pen stand was lost in the mail

 

All that's left is to wish you titchadesh - enjoy it in good health, and congratulations on a sublime, and suitably left-field, choice.

[rpsyed]

I was between the Sil #9 and the Essential #9 and the I went for the Essential because it felt safer even though the Sil is a more attractive pen IMO. The caps are very thin. I inquired to Alvaro about this and he assured me that there was no durability or functional downside to the slip cap. Also from what I have seen they definitely stand behind their product so if you had a problem I would feel confident that it would be remedied.

That's good to hear. I've not had to have my Romillo serviced at all but it's good to know that it will be easy, should I ever need to.

 

 

Haven't had a problem, at all, with ink in the cap. The fit is smooth, rather than tight, and it never feels like I'm creating a vacuum when I remove the cap. There's nothing approaching a "pop".

 

As for the cap lip: the elegance of that thin edge worried me, too. When I asked about it, Alvaro was clear they'd never had a problem. And, I have to say, I'm less concerned about it, having now felt how solidly the pens are built. In the hand, it's more robust than it looks in pictures. It *could* still be an issue, but I venture it only would be were one careless -- which would put any pen at risk.

Hmm ... I think the Sil will likely be my second Romillo. Will be a while from now as I have too many other commitments on pens for the next 6 months or so.

 

 

 

Just wonder aloud ... I wonder if the Romillo nibs could be put on a Kingsize Conid? If I understand correctly, the Romillo nibs are made to fit #8 Bock feeds - which Conid also uses. Would be very cool, if it's possible.

[perfaddict]

Great experiential and descriptive review! Wonderful pen too. Enjoy it long and in good health,