Omas Extra

[Russ]

Omas has won my loyalty after years of using many pens. I have written many hundreds of pages with pens of various make, and only a few deserve the title Lifetime Companions. The Omas Extra qualifies for that honor, and I now share its review with you. An Omas Milord, new style, is included in the review to provide context.

 

1. Appearance & Design (10-10) - 10 of 10

 

The clean, simple lines of Omas faceted pens always attracts my attention. Classic design is immediately apparent in their spare, honest appearance. A special benefit of facets is that they prevent pens from rolling off a surface.

 

The clip of the Extra is also faceted, quietly in harmony with the body of the pen. Clip tension is quiet strong, stronger than tension on the New Style.

 

The cap bands on the Extra include a central band with fine lines parallel to facets on the body, with a Greek key design superimposed. Bends in the band are clean and crisp, without distortion, fitting tightly on the cap. Two thin bands sit next to the central band. They add elegance to the central band, and harmonize with the larger single band near the filler knob. On the old style Milord, OMAS EXTRA is discreetly stamped onto a barrel facet.

 

The cap band on the new style Milord, by contrast, is a simple silver ring that has six facets, three on each side, interrupted by a round profile. The Greek key design is stamped onto the these six facets, and appears cramped and without sophistication. Stamped onto one area of the round area of the band is OMAS, and the other is ITALY in smaller letters. The attempt at advertising was clumsy, and poorly done.

The burgundy color has a delightful way of somehow appearing as a rich red. The color is ordinarily subdued burgundy, tending toward a brown in poor light. However, bright natural sunlight brings out a nice rich red color. This red sometimes appears in peripheral vision, moving me to look at the pen just as the red suddenly returns to burgundy and eludes my attention.

 

The pen appears appropriate in any professional business setting.

 

2. Construction & Quality (10-10) - 10 of 10

 

Construction is very, very good. The cap threads on and tightens nicely, just as on the new style Milord. I cannot find any flaws. The Omas Extra is an example of a superior pen of modern vintage yet with all the hallmarks of craftsmanship expected in a previous generation.

 

3. Weight & Dimensions (10-10) - 10 of 10

 

The Extra is featherlight at 17.5 grams, light being a hallmark of Omas pens. Quality construction, reliability, and a fine, trouble-free writing experience speak for themselves. Weight is not needed to confer a feeling of value. An added benefit of light weight is that the pen always sits nicely in a shirt pocket, never leaning and distorting the pocket shape.

 

The pen measures 13.75 cm capped and 12.5 cm uncapped.

 

4. Nib & Performance (10-10) - 9 of 10

 

The nib has the classic Omas arrow impressions which appear neat and classy on its monotone 18k background. The gold nib is complemented by the gold clip, cap bands, and piston filler ring.

 

The nib is surprisingly not as springy as the 18k nib on the new style Milord. This surprised me. I expected a softer feel. The soft spring of the new style nib is apparent during fast, firm writing, and is quite enjoyable, both in feel and in line variation. The old style nib is not a nail, but perhaps comparable to a Pelikan M400 in its firmness.

 

The tipping is a very generous round medium, actually larger than the tipping of the new style pen. A little smoothing on micromesh, and it became a perfect daily companion.

 

The feed is ebonite, always a good choice. Flow is perfect and required no adjustment.

 

5. Filling System & Maintenance (10-10) - 10 of 10

 

The old style piston filler requires what feels like a longer stroke than on the new style pen. This may be due to the thinner barrel. However, it is perfectly smooth and pleasant to use. Ink capacity is sufficient to not require filling more than every two days at my rate of use. At times I wish for an ink window, but a window would spoil the simple, classy lines and appearance of the pen.

 

6. Cost & Value (1-10) - 10 of 10

 

This pen was near mint and priced under $300 USD. Compared to the price for a new or used new style Omas or any comparable pen from the major houses, it was a very good price. An Omas Extra will perform as well as any top-drawer pen selling for much more, and it can be easily repaired.

 

7. Conclusion and Final Score - 9.8 out of 10.

 

The virtues of this pen accumulate, making it worthy of the title Lifetime Companion. I could be quite happy with this pen alone for a lifetime of use. But of course, there are so many more pens to enjoy!

[Montblanc owner and lover]

looks pretty nice

[jar]

Very nice. It appears to be the "Gentleman" model rather than the "Paragon".

[georges zaslavsky]

very nice pen thanks for the review

[Russ]

Very nice. It appears to be the "Gentleman" model rather than the "Paragon".

 

Thank you! I was not aware of the distinction.

[nicholasyeo]

I am a fan of the Paragon design, and I wish I can get another soon! Nice review indeed...

[notVirtuThe3rd]

Thank you so much for sharing the nice review!!

 

Great.

[eric47]

The nib is surprisingly not as springy as the 18k nib on the new style Milord. This surprised me. I expected a softer feel. The soft spring of the new style nib is apparent during fast, firm writing, and is quite enjoyable, both in feel and in line variation. The old style nib is not a nail, but perhaps comparable to a Pelikan M400 in its firmness.

 

Part of the explanation for that is the different manufacturers (and probably time period as well). The New Milord's nib is made by Bock, whereas your Gentleman has an inhouse nib. The 18K inhouse are on the stiff side compared to the earlier 14K inhouse nibs.

 

At least with EF and F, there's another difference; Omas nibs cut thinner lines compared to the later Bock made nibs. All else equal an inhouse F is usually thinner than a Bock EF.

[Frank C]

Nice review, thanks. I have several Omas in my collection and I like them all. Your photos are beautiful.

[hari317]

Nice review. I have a few older style facted Omas, simple basic functional pens.

[Malpighi]

It's a very interesting post. I have a similar pen, only that it's simply black, the "S" on the body inscription is"cursive" and the nib is a 14K fine one. According to Eric47 this should be an inhouse nib and a finer one than a Bock EF. Well, it is the most interesting and perhaps the best nib I have ever used: it's not as soft as my Pelikan M600 14K EF nib (which sholud be also a Bock nib, if I'm right), not as neutrally precise as my XF Aurora but has a very special character: one has the impression that the nib has its own "impetus", that it writes or moves somehow by itself. It would be a pure joy to write with it, but here comes my problem: I prefer xf nibs and this one is a really thin F nib, one could say that it could be finer than my other xf-s or at least similar to them but it has a rather rich flow, perhaps 7 or 8/10 and it makes it write not as fine as I would like it to do. I tried to use rather dry inks, pelikans, aurora, but I'm not completely satisfied yet. I don't feel like letting anyone to "touch" the nib (I mean a nibmeister to decrease the flow) because I'm afraid that it somehow could loose its special writing character. Could You give me any advice or some help on choosing a really dry ink? My other concern, which is of course uncurable, is that of size. I had to realize that the perfect size for me is that of the Pelikan 600 - I like to post my pens, so it means the m600 posted. The Extra, posted, is a bit too big and definitely back heavy, and the case is worsened by the fact that the cap cannot be pushed enough deep on the barrel - I have to got used to writing without it though in this case the pen is a bit small for my liking. (Fortunately this experience perhaps cured my long time longing for a Pelikan m800 which is about the same size possibly with the same ambiguity, though Pelikan caps go deeper on the barrels than Omas – but I can't promise anything for the future...)