New Lamy Pen Model: The Lamy Aion

[duna]

 

By the way, I'm now thinking about how the black Aion might look with a black Lamy replacement nib...

 

It really looks great. Unfortunately afaik it is impossible to source 'new aion' shape black nibs (or at least I have never seen them), the only black nibs available are those for Safari pens , with the normal triangular pointy shape. But the black nib on the simple , straight shaped black Aion is really attractive, like a tuxedo on a handsome gentleman.

Unfortunately every effort to take a decent picture have been frustrated until now.

 

 

 

And the black blob in the foreground here is the best picture I took of the magnificent black Aion:

 

 

obviously a better light source, and a more suitable camera, is needed not to offend this elegant pen. Sorry for the very lousy quality of the picture: i really am sorry.

The black Aion here has a black standard Lamy nib , but pictures of it are unfortunately beyond horrible (and the nib does not look black , at all). I will try again.

[duna]

Forget pictures for a little while, let speak about colours. As the olivesilver version is unimpressive to me, the black is radiant , sleek, fashionable, minimalist and, black. I mean : it is really black. Forget the nice matt dark greyish colour of your nice charcoal Safari. This one is a real, deep , dark, unobtrusivey attractive semimatte silky black. It is elegant. It is cylindrical. It is geometric. Has a nice chrome shiny clip with the Lamy brand name engraved on the side directly on the metal sheet, in capital letters, and reversed. This is a surprising fact, the reversal of the LAMY brand, Why they choose to engrave their name reversed? It's intriguing. When you hold the pen with the right hand, and you take the cap with the left, clip away from you (otherwise the logo would be facing the ground and unreadable for everybody) , you cannot read the logo, it is reversed; you colleagues and friends could though /if they could attain eagle-like vision, but this is another matter, as the engraving is some 5mm long in all so we are speaking of abstractions here, not facts. Your friends could; like on the open lid of your laptop. That brand is not there for you: Lamy is so sure about this product that they dare show their brand from here, not to you, to everybody else. This logo reversal , as compared to, say, the Lamy 2000, is common for all versions of the Aion, black and silver alike.

That said, the pen looks stylish as the silver version looks normal , almost dull in comparison. Works great as all other Lamys, I have loaded this one with a very fluid and seriously deep black ink like Pilot Black and it writes so wet (it is a B nib, or it was until I swapped to a black M) when I started that I could flood almost all small wovels with black ink without any effort. No skipping whatsoever , it paints almost like a brush, but this is common to european pens loaded with fluid inks and B nibs.

On the cap, there is a very small glossy ring near the cap's mouth, like on the siver version; unsurprisingly, this little shining ring is in black on the black version. In black the brushed finish of the metal barrel and cap looks very silky. The simple regular form that makes the silver version unimpressive, makes this black version highly attractive and minimalist: it looks like a fashionable object.

Edited October 26, 2017 by duna

[duna]

Finally a somewhat better picture of these pens

 

 

I know they are a little out of focus here... but the silky texture of the black is almost palpable.

 

the black Lamy nib in all his beauty on the black Aion..

 

 

and here the black barrel adorned with the black nib.

[duna]

 

here, the two sections compared , the olive silver one still with traces of blue ink (Diamine Sargasso Sea).

[Astronymus]

I must say the Aion doesn't look good at all with that black Z50. It breaks the flow of the lines.

[duna]

You are right in that it looks much better with the shape of his own nib (I too prefer this new shape as described on my post on the previous page) . Unfortunately AFAIK there are no such black nibs around. In order to take a picture of the black Aion with a black nib, to use a standard black Lamy M nib was the only practical option.

Edited October 28, 2017 by duna

[DrDebG]

I just realized that they did print "Lamy" upside down on the cap of my new Aion. Thanks for pointing that out. Personally, I much prefer the silver nib to a black nib. It seems to accent the pen nicely as does the minimalist clip. Very nice pen though, and writes exceptionally well on every paper I have tried. I purchased a fine point because that was all that was available, but I must say that it writes very wet with no skipping, dry starts or any problem. I really love the pen.

 

Not realizing this thread was here, I did a review here:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/328909-review-lamy-aion/

Edited October 28, 2017 by DrPenfection

[duna]

I'm not fussy at all about the nib colour as I am on its shape. I greatly prefer, on the Aion at least, the new design. I took pictures with the black nib as someone requested it and I have all the Lamy paraphernalia needed for the task so it was easy for me to take a picture or two with a black Lamy nib.

I did read your interesting review and I am happy you go along so well with this pen. I can say all true, it writes OK as expected from a Lamy (which are pillars of good behaviour and perfect construction with modern design and materials) but its design does not warm my heart as the iconic 2000 does. Kinda like writing with a super-Safari. I prefer this new design in the end (as opposed to a Safari) as it is somewhat heavier (I like substantial pens) and I prefer the shape of the new nib.

[Bill P]

I have had my Aion for about one month now....using it almost every day...I purchased the "Olive" version...fine nib.

 

Converter not included, had to purchase it separately..

 

First thing is I don't why it is called "Olive"...for me olives are either a mild dull colored green (but still looks green), or black olives.

 

The Aion looks more like an "off silver"...slightly grey silver...I don't see ANY Olive color at all...

 

Having said the above I like the Pen...

 

Comfortable to hold and write with...

 

Starts first time every time, no skips, an excellent writer...currently ink is loaded into a old Lamy cartridge that I cleaned and re-filled.

 

I find the Pen to be a good value...and a very reliable writer...wish they offered more colors though. In my experience, Lamy will come out with more colors, just a matter of time.

Edited November 4, 2017 by Bill P

[Inferno2Inferno]

I have had my Aion for about one month now....using it almost every day...I purchased the "Olive" version...fine nib.

 

Converter not included, had to purchase it separately..

 

First thing is I don't why it is called "Olive"...for me olives are either a mild dull colored green (but still looks green), or black olives.

 

The Aion looks more like an "off silver"...slightly grey silver...I don't see ANY Olive color at all...

 

Having said the above I like the Pen...

 

Comfortable to hold and write with...

 

Starts first time every time, no skips, an excellent writer...currently ink is loaded into a old Lamy cartridge that I cleaned and re-filled.

 

I find the Pen to be a good value...and a very reliable writer...wish they offered more colors though. In my experience, Lamy will come out with more colors, just a matter of time.

 

I also have the 'olivesilver' Aion and I find the color very unremarkable. Converter not included (although I am having issues on the converter front with pen, as discussed in another thread).

 

In terms of writing it is performing pretty well with the Lamy black ink. Some mild starting issues, but I am guessing these will disappear once the pen goes through a break in period so I am not too concerned. What I find endearing about the pen is that despite the length it does feel pleasantly balanced posted and un-posted making it very comfortable in the hands.

 

This being said, I do have concerns that I may have a fake or defective model, so this feedback may not even be for an Aion proper.

[Chrissy]

I watched a You Tube review on the Aion and I'm still on the fence about it.

[stephanos]

An observation, which is at the edges of being on-topic.

 

I was at a B&M store in Germany the other day and went in to ask about the black Aion and the new Studio in racing green.

 

On the plus side, I was able to hold the metallic coloured Aion - it has a good feel in the hand and I can see myself using this model. But they didn't have the black version - they had been sent a single (!) black pen, which had sold, and they couldn't say when they would get any more ("at some point, hopefully in the next few months").

 

But they didn't have the racing green studio. Not because it had sold, but because it was not available to them at all. Lamy simply isn't interested in supplying them. Apparently there was a similar story with that deluxe Al-Star that came out a little while ago.

 

I have to say, I find this rather weird. Yes, the FP market has been growing and Lamy is probably having to make tough decisions about where to direct its capacity, but for distribution channels in the home market to be so comprehensively neglected, even undermined, seems quite short-sighted (particularly as the quality of Chinese pens improves - they are going to eat the more established penmakers' lunch at the lower end).

I am reminded of Dr Dean's recent posts on the Pen Economics blog: the 2017 taxonomy of FP brands, and the analysis of Lamy's difficulties with marketing, in which he raised the prospect of Lamy becoming that dreaded thing, a legacy brand...

[Astronymus]

Someone should send this to Lamy. They even haven't announced SEs for next year yet...

[chravagni]

Still thinking about that olivesilver definition. May it be the olive three? Its leaves are quite greyish.

Just thinking about.

Chiara

[Intensity]

That abruptly ending barrel and a large "step" down to the nib silhouette really irks me. It just looks like the pen got chopped off at the tip, further accentuated by the extra ring-like protrusion at the very end, and then a mismatched nib was stuck in. The somewhat similarly shaped Lamy 2000 has a very smooth silhouette, where the barrel gently transitions to the nib. Safari and Al-Star/LX nibs also look proportional to the barrel. I really can't decide why the Aion was designed as it was, aesthetically-speaking.

 

The rollerball and pencil versions of Aion have no such abruptness in transition and are more smooth, bullet-like, akin to Lamy 2000.

[catbert]

That abruptly ending barrel and a large "step" down to the nib silhouette really irks me. It just looks like the pen got chopped off at the tip, further accentuated by the extra ring-like protrusion at the very end, and then a mismatched nib was stuck in. The somewhat similarly shaped Lamy 2000 has a very smooth silhouette, where the barrel gently transitions to the nib. Safari and Al-Star/LX nibs also look proportional to the barrel. I really can't decide why the Aion was designed as it was, aesthetically-speaking.

 

The rollerball and pencil versions of Aion have no such abruptness in transition and are more smooth, bullet-like, akin to Lamy 2000.

 

Yes, the transition from barrel to nib will always be smoother in a hooded design (and almost seamless in ballpoint/rollerball/pencil versions). Equally, the drop-off to an open nib could be even greater with a flared section and a flat feed (e.g., some traditional cigar-shaped pens).

 

I have yet to see the actual pen but judging from photos I rather like it. To each their own.

[Intensity]

The open nib usually flares out to be wide enough to balance out the width of the barrel, however, or the transition to it is hopefully such that in my mind the silhouette is still continuous. In this case the nib does not flare out but rather continues the shrinking, diminishing trend. I should have added this as a clarification to my previous post.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Intensity

[catbert]

The open nib usually flares out to be wide enough to balance out the width of the barrel, however, or the transition to it is hopefully such that in my mind the silhouette is still continuous. In this case the nib does not flare out but rather continues the shrinking, diminishing trend. I should have added this as a clarification to my previous post.

 

I see what you mean now. I wonder, though, if a flared-out nib would fit Lamy's style direction since the 1960s. Perhaps something resembling the Lamy 80 nib and feed might have achieved a smoother silhouette. It seems, as with the Dialog 3 and Imporium, that the designer was constrained by existing parts.

[Intensity]

The Imporium fountain pen is gorgeous! I personally love it! It's very perfectly balanced in design and has a beautiful coherence from the lines and curves on the nib to the lines and curves on the barrel. The Dialog 3: yeah looks a bit funky with the nib out, but it's understandable and looks like a thick nib holder. Anyway, I don't mean to detract from any enjoyment in the pen for those who like it. Just pointing out my puzzlement with the design choice compared to previous Lamy designs.

[catbert]

The Imporium fountain pen is gorgeous! I personally love it! It's very perfectly balanced in design and has a beautiful coherence from the lines and curves on the nib to the lines and curves on the barrel. The Dialog 3: yeah looks a bit funky with the nib out, but it's understandable and looks like a thick nib holder. Anyway, I don't mean to detract from any enjoyment in the pen for those who like it. Just pointing out my puzzlement with the design choice compared to previous Lamy designs.

 

I like the Imporium body - I just prefer the earlier Persona-style nibs. Can't help thinking the Dialog 3 would have worked better with a Lamy 2000 nib in it.

 

Lamy's design choice regarding nibs seems pretty clear in recent years.