I usually try to keep up on Omas news but have not heard a thing since the new owners took over.
Anyone else have new information or....??

Jim

I have yet to hear compliments from retailers, but I'm not sure it's appropriate to say anything specific. Has your Omas returned from its long journey yet?

Sigh,not as yet.It has only been away for two weeks. I figure at least another 4-6.

Jim

A quick run of the "omas" search on the Google.it "news" section returned only six results.
Business as usual I'd say:

• an exposition on Omas history held on Milan during the Fashion week
• 3x launch of the Paragon fashion collection (colored version of the Arte Italiana)
• launch of the Maserati LE
• the story of a particular model FP (Extra 361b, designed by Simoni itself) that in 1956 reached the quotation of a million dollar...(that is a weird news, isn't?)

I am curious too about the new ownership: will they mark a new strategy? are they working on the asian market to rise the sales?

Ciao,

Andrea

5 months ago, i repeat, 5 months ago i sent the us distr. for omas a ftn. pen for repair.it has been sent to me 4 times still leaking...this included a 2 month trip to italy

It is really hard to keep trak of any Omas acitivities during the last couple of years!

The offical website does not keep up with all of the new models. Also Omas issued a few special market models for some of their retailers which I could not keep track of :-(

Also Omas is not particular good in distributing any sort of printed marketing material anymore. During the late 1990's and early 2000's Omas issued "complete" product catalogs which even customer could get a hold of. Seems that those times are gone...

Being a member of the Omas Society I neither receive any printed newsletters anymore.

Some other "pen-related" news were the issue of the blue Emotica, a white SE Paragon and the launch of a new docor's pen and the new 360 which have not been mentioned in this discussion.

Also there was a special limited run of a few Omas Moma pens with solid (or was it "only" gold filled as opposed to the gold plated trim of the regular 1990's model?) gold trim for the German market.

Otherwise always make sure to check the official website for news; "news" in Italian language are not always the same news as in German or English so make sure to check them all).

Michael

What pen did you send? What's the leaking problem?

I've had a leaking problem with with a couple of my very recent production Omas celluloid piston fillers. What happens is that when I carry them in my pockets, whether on their own or in a pen case, they dump a certain amount of ink into their cap. Odd thing is, when I store them in a one of my 12 or 24 pen cases they don't do that. And when I carry them in my coat pocket it still happens but not nearly as badly. And it's not nearly as bad in the winter. I finally figured that it had something to do with heat. Body heat to be specific. When I put the pens in my front pocket, they heat up a bit. When I have them in a case that's to big to be carried and it has to go in a briefcase or backpack, no heat, and no leaking.

I mentioned this to Jon Mottishaw at a pen show last year and he said the ink reservoirs on the newer piston fillers are so large that the problems associated with the air in the reservoir (expanding, pressure changes) can be exacerbated. So the problem can't really be repaired, just mitigated. It's a design flaw, not a manufacturing problem. My take on it is that I just can't carry these pens in my pocket. I'm not nuts about it but I can live with that.

I wonder how their bottom line has changed with their new designs and where Cristophe Artaux is going to be promoted (or demoted!) in the LVMH group.

In the watch world, Zenith (part of LVMH) tried a similar redesign effort that drove them towards the fringes of taste. Dunno where that put the bottom line, but they're starting to turn 180 degrees around towards their traditional designs. I sometimes wonder if Thierry Nataf from Zenith and Cristophe Artaux from Omas went to school together.