Is this a Bock nib on my Omas Paragon ?

[goodguy]

I am madly in love with the way my Paragon writes.

I believe the nib is a Bock nib,could you confirm this is a Bock nib and not an Omas nib ?

[Bill Smith]

I remember reading somewhere the nibs on modern OMAS are stamped out by Bock but are finished by OMAS and they use their own feeds. Treat my post as speculation and hazy memory on my part.

[NeoTiger]

It depends on the age of the pen.

 

Omas used to produce the nibs in-house, but later on changed to sourcing the nibs from Bock. I haven't been able to find out when the changeover occurred.

 

There also may be cosmetic differences between the nibs.

 

(I was just about to refer to the review of the Pelikan M800 vs the Omas Paragon as proof that the nib is Omas-made... until I realised the photography looked very similar to this post )

[Martius]

1995 was the year of the change. The pre-1995 Paragons with non-roller clips have Omas-made nibs. Yours is indeed a Bock nib. I haven't felt much a difference between Bock-made Omas nibs and Omas-made ones - my 1988 MoMA, which has an Omas-made Paragon nib, feels about the same as a pre-2005 Paragon nib, so I presume Omas finished the Bock nibs.

 

PS nice Virginia Woolf.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Martius

[Juan in Andalucia]

1995 was the year of the change. The pre-1995 Paragons with non-roller clips have Omas-made nibs. Yours is indeed a Bock nib. I haven't felt much a difference between Bock-made Omas nibs and Omas-made ones - my 1988 MoMA, which has an Omas-made Paragon nib, feels about the same as a pre-2005 Paragon nib, so I presume Omas finished the Bock nibs.

 

PS nice Virginia Woolf.

 

I'm not sure the roller clip is an indicator. I have a roller clip milord (1995-7) with a 14k nib which I'm pretty sure it's made by Omas.

 

Omas has alternated plain clips with rollerclips for decades (see early extralucens, for example). As I said in another thread I've seen the pics that a pen shop owner took while visiting Omas factory. Some of the machinery look like key-copying devices.

 

One example: the Galileo Galilei which can be seen in omasfan avatar has a plain clip, and it was made when Omas was using rollerclips. Others are the Biblitoheque Nationale, the MoMA...

 

The MoMA is another example: I have 2 MoMAs, and then one which looks like a Ogiva (mid 80s, I think) which is exactly the same but the gold finish and the bands. I mean the very same proportions and size. I'm sure Omas used one of their previous shapes when they turned the MoMA.

 

Juan

[Deirdre]

1995 was the year of the change. The pre-1995 Paragons with non-roller clips have Omas-made nibs. Yours is indeed a Bock nib.

What do the pre-1995 Paragons look like? I've only seen the ones with the roller clips or the newest ones.

[Phthalo]

2000 was the year when LVMH bought OMAS out. I have never seen a mention that the Simoni family had anything to do with Bock prior to 2000. Everything I have read states that the nib outsourcing went to Bock in 2000.

 

Where did you find the 1995 date information?

[Martius]

1995 was the year of the change. The pre-1995 Paragons with non-roller clips have Omas-made nibs. Yours is indeed a Bock nib. I haven't felt much a difference between Bock-made Omas nibs and Omas-made ones - my 1988 MoMA, which has an Omas-made Paragon nib, feels about the same as a pre-2005 Paragon nib, so I presume Omas finished the Bock nibs.

 

PS nice Virginia Woolf.

 

I'm not sure the roller clip is an indicator. I have a roller clip milord (1995-7) with a 14k nib which I'm pretty sure it's made by Omas.

 

Omas has alternated plain clips with rollerclips for decades (see early extralucens, for example). As I said in another thread I've seen the pics that a pen shop owner took while visiting Omas factory. Some of the machinery look like key-copying devices.

 

One example: the Galileo Galilei which can be seen in omasfan avatar has a plain clip, and it was made when Omas was using rollerclips. Others are the Biblitoheque Nationale, the MoMA...

 

The MoMA is another example: I have 2 MoMAs, and then one which looks like a Ogiva (mid 80s, I think) which is exactly the same but the gold finish and the bands. I mean the very same proportions and size. I'm sure Omas used one of their previous shapes when they turned the MoMA.

 

Juan

 

You're right. Even 1930's Paragons have roller clips. However, I do believe Bock has been making the Omas nibs since 1995 or thereabouts. As far as I can tell, the Omas nibs and the Bock nibs look exactly the same. How would you tell whether your nib was made by Omas or by Bock?

 

I also think the mid 90's was the most recent switchover from the plain to the roller clip - not absolutely sure on that though, as the only booklets I own are from c. 1990 showing the plain clip as standard on the Paragon.

 

The MoMA with gold trim is the 1980's and early 1990's version. Then somewhere in the mid or late 90's they changed to the silver trim.

[pomperopero]

Many years have gone since this thread was opened, but I would like to add some information about Omas nibs, instead of opening a new one.

I agree when people say that Omas changed their nibs in 1995. Some differences can be found comparing the photo of these nibs.

- One of the differences can be found in the shape of the tip. The the upper side on pre-95 iridiums is flat, (a circular section can be seen on the top of it). And the tip, on Bock nibs, is bubble-shaped.

- Then engravings on pre-95 nibs are deeper.

- The logo is different. The height of the letters on the old ones are equal. And the "O", of Omas, of the new ones is higher than the rest.

Well, this is not a rule, but I am sure that this happens in most of them. For instance, many special pre-95 nibs (like OB, OBB, ...) are bubble shaped, and the iridium don´t have flat top.

The nib on the left is pre-95, and the nib on the right corresponds to a Bock nib.

[pomperopero]

In 1995 many changes happened in Omas, that's obvious; new fountain pen models were launched, the shape of the nibs became to change, ... One of those new models was the Omas 360, and was launched in 1996 for the first time. This first model was the Magnum size (16cm), it was dark blue and the tip of the nib was bubble-shaped.

This is the first Omas I see with this tip, and considering that the tips of Bock are like a bubble, can we think that these bubble shaped nibs are made from Bock?

Well, it is only a theory, and doesn't mean that all Omas nibs of this era were made by Bock, ...or, may be yes.

What do you think about it?

These photos belong to a first era Omas 360. The photos aren´t good enogh, but the tip is bubble-shaped.

Edited September 12, 2014 by pomperopero

[Keyless Works]

It is my understanding that the big "O" is an indication of a Bock nib. If you remove a big O nib and an OMAS made nib you will see that the big O nib has a much shorter body even though when installed they appear to be the same size.

 

I don't think there is a big difference in the way modern OMAS made nibs and Bock nibs write. The old OMAS nibs from 60s and earlier are different.

[georges zaslavsky]

Whether inhouse or Bock an Omas is always exceptional in terms of nib

[Albinoni]

2000 was the year when LVMH bought OMAS out. I have never seen a mention that the Simoni family had anything to do with Bock prior to 2000. Everything I have read states that the nib outsourcing went to Bock in 2000.

 

Where did you find the 1995 date information?

Does LVMH also own Mont Blanc and a few others. I think their a South African company.

[Keyless Works]

Montblanc is part of the Richemont Group which is technically a Swiss company though I think you are right that the founder of RG is South African.