Pen Review Ep.2: Two Omas Paragon Extra In Arco Bronze-Pen Chat With Jn

[lomoking]

This is my second review and I want to again review a patch of celluloid pens, which are made of arco celluloid materials. I have to admit, the biggest motivation for me to buy a pen is its look. As I believe I would only need three pens for regular usage, pens are closer to arts like “drawing” rather than writing instruments. Of course, the fun thing in fountain pen collection is that I can use them. Nevertheless, it’s not even an excuse to buy more than 20 pens due to the necessity to switch in between them. I buy pens because they have great or unique looks, which allows me to enjoy more during usage. Hence, my feelings to these arco celluloid pens are similar to the Montblanc Striated pens I reviewed previously. Well, I will spoil this review at the beginning: I really like them. However, there are still some points that we can talk about.
Omas was one of the oldest Italian pen manufacturers and it is founded in 1925. As the company sadly went down to liquidation in 2016, the Omas pens made of celluloid became increasingly hot in the market, where the arco materials among all these celluloid gained the most popularity. Omas arco pens gained my affection because they remind me of the “tiger eye” or the “platinum striped” patterns on vintage Montblanc, which I am very fond of. Other Omas celluloid pens are also quite beautiful. If I have to list out top three of all Omas celluloid, I would say 1. Arco Verde 2. Arco Bronze 3. Burkina/Bologna Extra Africa (I believe they are named differently by ASC). Although I would love to do comparisons between these three materials, my current Omas/ASC collections are only in Arco Bronze and I will focus on this specific pattern accordingly. In this review, I will start with Omas Paragon Arcos and I would do a review of ASC Arco in the next review.

DSC_5169 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Left to right: Omas Paragon Arco Gold, ASC Bologna Extra Arco, Omas Paragon Arco Rhodium


DSC_5152 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Left to right: Omas Paragon Arco Rhodium, ASC Bologna Extra Arco, Omas Paragon Arco Gold


DSC_5176 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Top to bottom: Omas Paragon Arco Rhodium, ASC Bologna Extra Arco, Omas Paragon Arco Gold

First Impressions: Two Omas arco pens that I own were produced at different times. The one with gold trims and the two-tone nib was produced in 1997 whereas the rhodium one was manufactured around the mid-2000s. The packages of both pens are pretty solid. The earlier version of the gold pen was placed in a large hinged box in beige color. The later version of rhodium arco pen comes in a velvet pen box. Outer velvet is in black and inside is in white with printed golden letters “The Paragon”. When you see the pen boxes and open them, you can feel that they are luxurious pens. Needless to say, the arco pen can catch your eye from very first glance whatever you like it or hate it. I would say I don’t care too much about packaging, but I do appreciate this one.

IMG_9090 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

IMG_9089 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Top to bottom: Packagings for Omas Paragon Arco Gold and Arco Rhodium

Appearance and Design (9.5): Of course, I knew the arco material is special from the pictures online, but they could show the depth of the color only if you can hold one by hand. The arco bronze celluloid itself has many rich and warm colors: sienna, amber, red-brown, dark and creamy shades, and you can find chatoyance between each color. Also, the pen was polished to give a pearlescent look and hence looks shining under the sun. Moreover, one thing I do enjoy is the uniqueness of each pen. As each pen was made using different portions of arco rod during production, two arco pens may look very different from each other, which you can refer to the picture of arco bronze collection shown on stjohnspens Instagram.

IMG_9087 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Refer to stjohnspens Instagram

The pen has twelve facets, which are slightly rounded at every corner. The widest point was at the trim part of the pen cap, and it tapered down gradually to the two ends of the barrel. For the earlier version of Paragon, the letters “Omas Extra ITALY” were engraved on the barrel of the pen. The later version has the trademark “Omas ITALY” engraved on the cap of the pen. The production date of the earlier pen (1997) was marked on the grip of the pen. There is no indication for the date for the later pen, which I think it’s a pity. The piston nob was separated from the barrel by a metal ring, which is the same color as the band trim and matches with a pen nib. The piston also has twelve facets and two ends of the pen are in conical shapes. The clip is attached internally in the cap of the pen and it arches slightly from the cap. The end of the clip has a roller, which works pretty well during sliding and pulling of the pen. The center band is decorated with Greek letters and both gold and rhodium color match the arco bronze pretty well from my perspective. There are two more things need to be mentioned for these arco pens. The first one is that the pens don’t have ink windows and it’s pretty hard to know exactly how much ink is left. Another thing needs to be mentioned is the matching of arco patterns. Although arco patterns on both of my paragons line up pretty well all along from pen cap to the piston nob. However, not all arco pens come with lined patterns. Therefore, you need to ask the seller about it if it could annoy you.

DSC_5199 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Omas pens have twelve facets. Left to right: ASC Bologna Extra Arco, Omas Paragon Arco Gold, Omas Paragon Arco Rhodium


IMG_9145 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

IMG_9140 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

IMG_9150 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Top to bottom: trademark indicated on the barrel and production date indicated on pen grip for earlier version. Later version has trademark on pen cap.

Construction and Quality (8.5): The pens are well constructed. Due to the well-polished celluloid body and rounded finish of the paragon corners, the pens feel very warm and comfortable in hand. As I said, the celluloid pattern was lined up pretty well, but not perfect. As I have two pens, there are some differences in pattern matching. The pen cap for the earlier produced pen is a little bit too tight whereas the later production is a little bit too loose. Hence, I need a larger force to close the pen cap to match the arco pattern perfectly for the earlier produced pen. Another design might annoy people is the placement of the finger section. The section is rather short and you may probably touch the threads of the pen. The good thing is the threads are not sharp by any means, which does not cause any disturbance to me. The Omas has changed its design of the section in the later version of Milord and replaced with metal section, which is longer for finger placement. However, this is a tradeoff to me as I like the celluloid section better.

DSC_5177 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Left to right: Omas Paragon Arco Gold, ASC Bologna Extra Arco, Omas Paragon Arco Rhodium. The pen grips for Omas are relatively short.

Weight and Dimensions (9): The pen itself is not heavy. The weight of the inked pen with pen cap is 22 g. The cap alone is 6 g. The pen is pretty well-balanced without the pen cap. So it is fairly easy to write with the pen uncapped for a long time as the pen is only around 16 g. You can also post the pen if it is needed, but the pen does not post securely and it’ll be back-heavy. The length of the pen is around 14.4 cm when capped and 13.0 cm when uncapped. When posted, the pen can reach to 17.6 cm. I think the size and the weight of the pen are pretty enough for the male with an average hand. As I mentioned in the previous Montblanc vintage 146 review, I like ridiculously large and rather heavy pens. These pens would be better for me if it is larger and heavier.

Nib Performance (7.5): I have a mixed feeling on the nibs. The fine nib on the earlier paragon is outstanding. The 18 kt fine nib is in two-tone color with the gold highlight on rhodium. The nib comes with singly silt and a round breather hole. It is well adjusted and writes rather smooth with a bit of feedback. The ink flow is consistent and is not a gusher. The medium nib on the later produced paragon looks similar to the earlier version except it is a rhodium single-tone nib. However, the medium nib was over polished and had a baby’s bottom. It skipped from time to time when I started the first stroke. I have to send it to a nib meister to have it fixed. Now it writes great, but I think the nib should not have any problem out of the box considering the pen is high-end. Other than the problem of baby’s bottom, these nibs are very pleasant to write with and suitable for both English and Chinese write as they are rather stiff compared to flex nibs. Also, the line variation is possible with applied pressure.
Information for writing sample: 1. Ink: Montblanc Toffee Brown. 2. Paper: Rhodia dot pad. 3. Nibs: 18 kt two-tone fine (1997) and rhodium single-tone medium (~2000s).

Arco_Gold_Nib_Front by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Arco_Gold_Nib_Back by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Arco_Gold_Nib_Left by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Arco_Gold_Nib_Right by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Omas Paragon Arco Gold nib


Arco_Silver_Nib_Front by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Arco_Silver_Nib_Back by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Arco_Silver_Nib_Left by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Arco_Silver_Nib_Right by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Omas Paragon Arco Rhodium nib


IMG_9171 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

IMG_9172 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

IMG_9170 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Top to Bottom:writing samples for Omas Paragon Arco Rhodium with medium nib (adjusted), mixed handwriting with medium (adjusted) and fine nib, Arco Gold with fine nib

Filling system and Maintenance (9): These pens use piston filling systems and they work fine. They are not as smooth as the pistons by neither Pelikan nor Montblanc, but they are by no mean difficult to use. They are not rough to screw and can hold up a pretty large amount of the ink. Therefore, they are good enough for me.

Cost and Value (8.5): In terms of price, they are not cheap at all. The retail price on eBay or on the forums varies from 1000 to 1600 USD depending on the pattern of the arco. As Omas went to liquidation, the prices of these arco pens increase like a rocket. I personally like these arco pens a lot. However, is it worth more than 1500 USD? I don’t think so, but they are definitely one of the hottest pens in the market right now.

DSC_5204 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

DSC_5194 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Top to Bottom: Omas Paragon Extra Arco Gold and Rhodium

Conclusion and Final Score (52/60): In my opinion, there are so many great points to like as well as some improvements that could be made on these two pens. Having said that, the arco bronze, which brings the harmonious combination and mysterious depth of various warm colors, is unique and gorgeous. The design of two pens just simply enhances beautiful material itself. I would like arco pens because of their appearance after all. Therefore, it seems this review is totally useless. After this huge disappointment, see you in the next episode of PenChat with JN and salute to Top Gear.

DSC_5178 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Left to Right: pen caps for Omas Paragon Extra Rhodium, ASC Bologna Extra Arco, Omas Paragon Extra Gold

[tosakarinn]

Good write up! Thank you!!

[lomoking]

Good write up! Thank you!!

:D

[lomoking]

Followed by Omas Arco Paragon is the review of ASC Bologna Extra Arco. The pen is obviously appealing as it made of the same material as reviewed Omas Arco. On the website of ASC, it says that ASC is not associated with Omas and they are separated companies. However, ASC purchased almost the entire inventory of Omas celluloid rod when Omas went into liquidation in 2016. Hence, ASC is still related to Omas and can produce a series of pens using beautiful Omas celluloid. Also, Manu of ASC pen was in partnership with Syd Saperstein, the owner of Wahl-Eversharp, to acquire the brand of Wahl Eversharp and revive many of its classic pens, so the ASC pens share same filling mechanism as Wahl Eversharp Decoband. Therefore, ASC combines many characteristics of pens from other brands.

First Impressions: The package of the pen is rather simple, but thoughtful. The pen comes in a hard paper box and is placed in between a plastic flap, which is consisted of two plastic films closed by magnets. There are also something interesting, including a pen pouch and some leftovers of Arco materials. I am satisfied with the packaging and kinds of surprised by the additional accessories, which is similar to the additional toys in the snacks. It’s pretty cool.

IMG_9351 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Packaging for ASC Bologna Extra Arco

Appearance and Design (9.5): The pen has a round cap and barrel. The pen tapered from the middle towards two ends, which have conical tips. On the side of turning knob, there is a small hole, which is used to fill the ink into the pen. The turning knob is separated from the barrel by a gold ring. The color of the ring is the same as the pen clip, the center band, and the ASC logo on the pen cap. Also, they match the color of the gold metal band above the pen threads around the finger section. These two gold bands are decorated with wide Greek key patterns, which is similar to Omas Paragon pens. The pen clip is attached through a fixation inside the pen cap. There is a roller at the end of the clip, which also reminds me of the design of Omas Paragon and can help to slide in/out from the shirt pocket. However, the clip is rather short considering the pen size. Hence, the clip cannot fix the pen very well in a normal size shirt pocket. The barrel is engraved with “ASC Bologna extra Arco” and the production number of the pen. ASC Bologna Arco is not a limited production. However, the pen is numbered due to the limited inventory of Arco material. One more thing catches my eye is the laser engraved patterns on the metal plunger for ink filling. The parallel lines, wave patterns, and the company logo on the plunger certainly add more detail and correspond well with the design of the nib. Overall, the pen is designed to be very classical and ASC certainly paid attention to every detail. Needless to mention, Arco celluloid is very beautiful.

IMG_9352 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Detailed photo of ASC pen cap


IMG_9362 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Engraving on pen barrel


IMG_9359 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Decoration on ink plunger

Construction and Quality (9.5): The pen was handmade in Italy and it is very well made. The Arco material was polished beautifully. It is said that the pen was finished with beeswax polishing. It indeed feels smooth and warm in hand. There are no sharp bits, seams, gaps, and what so ever. The Arco pattern also lines up pretty well as reviewed Omas Paragon pens. If I have to nit-pick, I would say I hope there would be no shaky rooms for the ink plunger after pulling it outwards. Other than that, I feel very satisfied with the overall construction.

Weight and Dimensions (10): ASC Bologna Arco is a large and heavy pen. When the pen is capped, it’s around 16.0 cm long. The uncapped pen arrives at 14.8 cm. The pen weighs 60 g when capped and 48 g without pen cap. With the #8 sized nib, it feels large and solid in hand when using it. Hence, I do see that some of the female users cannot adapt to it for long-time writing. However, the pen balances pretty well and I personally prefer to use large and heavy pens. Background: I am used to writing with Namiki 50. The pen can be posted, but it’ll reach a ridiculous length of 20.5 cm if you do so, which in my opinion is uncomfortable to use. Overall, I really like to size and feel of the pen.

Nib Performance (9): The #8 sized nib is in rose-gold color and is a large 18K “Magic Flex” nib. It has single silt, a round breather role and engraved with 18K-750. ASC has laser engraved the nib with the ASC logo, writing “Magic Flex gold”, and the patterns of repeated wave and parallel lines. The patterns on the nib are in concert with those on the ink plunger. The nib comes with a rounded ebonite feed, which has a cut near the tine of the nib to make part of the feed move along with the flexed nib. This design aims at keeping up the ink flow during flex writing. The pen is indeed a wet pen and the ink can keep up pretty well. When I flex the nib, I seldom face any trail-road even if I write very fast. The written lines may vary from ~0.6 mm (M) to ~1.6 mm (BBB). However, it is still not as bouncing as a vintage flex nib. I can feel it recover its shape more reluctant than vintage flex from the 50s when I flex it. Therefore, it is more close to a semi-flex nib.
Information for writing sample: 1. Ink: Montblanc Toffee Brown. 2. Paper: Rhodia dot pad. 3. Nibs: 18 K “Magic Flex”.
IMG_9291 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
IMG_9292 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
IMG_9293 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

IMG_9295 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Photos showing four sides of 18K "Magic Flex" nib


IMG_9369 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

IMG_9370 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr
Writing sample for ASC "Magic Flex" nib

Filling system and Maintenance (8.5): The pen uses the pneumatic filling system. There is a sack, which can store around 1.5 ml ink, placed inside the brass barrel underneath the pen barrel to fill in the ink. To fill the pen is very easy, just unscrew the turning knob at the end of the barrel, pull the plunger outward, cover the hole with the finger, immerse into the ink, push the plunger into the barrel to create vacuum, and then release the finger to let the sack recovers its shape to absorb ink. When you're done, tighten the cap back into place. The whole filling system is quite similar to Wahl-Eversharp Decoband with advantages of easy usage and large ink capacity. I also think the pen it’s relatively easy to clean (much easier than piston filler) as you can screw the nib along with the sack outward. You can just clean the sack and the nib by running water into it. However, the sack would wear out as time goes and hence it’s not recommended to let the ink dried inside. Therefore, I would love to see ASC also include a backup sack and maintenance instructions.

IMG_9367 by Jianan Hui, 於 Flickr

Disassemble the nib and sack from the pen barrel

Cost and Value (9): It’s not a cheap pen, the MSRP is $1245. However, considering the market price for Omas Arco is ~$1100, I would say the price for ASC Arco is not unreasonable. Also, you may occasionally see the Bologna Arco on the second-hand market retails at a lower price than Omas Arco. In that case, I would choose larger and more interesting ASC over Omas Arco.

Conclusion and Final Score (55.5/60): It’s a great pen. The pen has so many great aspects to like and so little that is not well designed. It is a larger and heavier version of Omas Arco pens. Also, it has an interesting nib that is capable of flex writing. Considering all of that, if you are interested in pens made of Arco materials, I would recommend this pen over Omas Arco. At a similar or less price, it is also more friendly to your wallet. ASC did a great job with this Bologna Extra Arco with inherited Arco material.

[Seney724]

Thank you for your superb posts and excellent photos.

 

The beauty of a Forum such as this one is good people can respectfully disagree. I think disagreements add to the richness of the Forum discussion... however some cannot refrain from taking them as personal attacks. I hope you will accept my disagreement in the spirit it is offered which is one of collegial respect among two pen aficionados and lovers of the Omas Arco celluloids.

 

I could not disagree more with your conclusion that you would recommend an ASC Arco pen over an Omas Arco. Rather than expound upon all of the reasons why, I simply want to record my opinion here so that someone trying to make a decision as to which pen they should purchase (Omas vs ASC) will realize there is a profound difference of opinion and they are best to do some real due diligence before finalizing their decision. I do not think they need to go any further than to search the FPN site to come up with a lot of information as regards to the two companies and their Arco pens.

 

Finally, it would be good for all who read your reviews to be reassured you have no conflicts of interest or, if you do, for you to disclose them.

 

For my part, I have no conflicts of interest whatsoever.

 

Thank you again for the opportunity for me to offer my congratulations on the excellence of your posts and my strong disagreement with your conclusion.

[lomoking]

Thank you for your superb posts and excellent photos.

 

The beauty of a Forum such as this one is good people can respectfully disagree. I think disagreements add to the richness of the Forum discussion... however some cannot refrain from taking them as personal attacks. I hope you will accept my disagreement in the spirit it is offered which is one of collegial respect among two pen aficionados and lovers of the Omas Arco celluloids.

 

I could not disagree more with your conclusion that you would recommend an ASC Arco pen over an Omas Arco. Rather than expound upon all of the reasons why, I simply want to record my opinion here so that someone trying to make a decision as to which pen they should purchase (Omas vs ASC) will realize there is a profound difference of opinion and they are best to do some real due diligence before finalizing their decision. I do not think they need to go any further than to search the FPN site to come up with a lot of information as regards to the two companies and their Arco pens.

 

Finally, it would be good for all who read your reviews to be reassured you have no conflicts of interest or, if you do, for you to disclose them.

 

For my part, I have no conflicts of interest whatsoever.

 

Thank you again for the opportunity for me to offer my congratulations on the excellence of your posts and my strong disagreement with your conclusion.

Hi Seney,

 

Thank you for your honest opinion and I believe all the additional information, no matter on which side you vote for, is helpful.

 

First of all, I am a purely amateur pen lover and have no interest associated with any companies. All the opinions that I expressed here are based on my personal taste, which is stated above, I prefer larger, heavier, and more interesting pens. And luckily, the pen sent to me is quite great and has no problem.

 

I also did a search on tagged ASC posts on FPN and saw your response. I believe what you said on other posts about ASC QC and costume service are true. In that case, I would understand your concern.

 

I would also recommend others to do further research on FPN before their purchase, the discussions can be found according to the link below:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/344775-armando-simoni-clubs-service-if-any/