Is It Just Me Or Is The Lamy 2000 Black Amber Way Overpriced?

[Roppleton]

TL;DR:

 

The Lamy 2000 50th Anniversary Black Amber is a disappointing let down of a pen thats supposed to commemorate a timeless design and innovation into a writing form that has resisted becoming lost in the history books. Its almost as if they forgot that it was their anniversary until a few weeks ago, and all their best innovators were on vacation so they had a couple of fools spray paint a stainless steel 2000 and put the number 50 on. Those same fools then decided to price a 250 dollar pen at 590 cause its "special". Ive seen more creativity from mom and pop run fountain pen makers. I mean come on, the annual limited edition Pilot VP has more creativity like this, and if lamy cant even come up with anything groundbreaking like a color fade or ombre, for a bicentennial occasion like this, they should be sucked into the history books for good. Read on for my argument.

 

 

 

 

Hey guys, as I'm sure many of you fountain pen aficionados are aware, 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of Lamy's upper tier flagship model, the Lamy 2000. Many of us have been waiting with bated breath to see what they come out with to commemorate this.Some of their previous editions, like the [RED] Lamy 2000 was beautiful!

 

They finally came out with their new limited edition yesterday, which turned out to be the Lamy 2000 Black Amber. The name sounded super cool, but when I saw the images of the pen, I was completely underwhelmed, and when I saw the price tag for the pen, I was absolutely incredulous. In keeping with the 50th anniversary they are only releasing 5000 numbered pens, and apparently they wanted to extend the theme to their pricing by making the MSRP of the Black Amber $590... with no option to discount from retailers.

 

 

As far as the looks are concerned to me it looks as if they sprayed a light brown paint on a Lamy Stainless Steel to try to reinvent it as a whole new pen. It doesn't look black, and it doesn't look like amber. It just looks like a gold with a brownish tinge at best. *See picture attached*

 

To the design now, they stayed true to the regular Lamy 2000, which is expected wince it is a timeless model, but the only way they distinguished this special model from the normal edition was a small 50 under the Lamy, and a number. That seems a bit plain for what they could have made this into since its amazing that a pen model has survived and thrived for 50 years. Perhaps some more distinguishing features that set it apart from its vanilla cousin?

 

And now my biggest peeve with this pen: the price. A brand new Lamy 2000 makrolon retails for anywhere between $100-$150. The stainless steel version, which came out later requires a bit more effort to construct and therefore can be found for around $250. And now there is this pen. $590 for a new paint job, matte finish and a number. I understand there is prestige behind the limited item, but a $340 increase in price just for that? I'm sorry but that seems like an unrealistic pricing for a pen that offers no significant benefit over its normal cousin that apart from bragging rights and a number.

 

Overall I think many of us were hoping that they would go wild and go crazy with this pen and would make it amazing and unique. It seems to me that the only thing they went crazy with was with the pricing. Its almost as if they forgot about this anniversary and quickly threw something together at the last minute, then remembered that BECAUSE it was an anniversary they could ask for a ridiculous price for it. To me 50 years is an amazing accomplishment, but a glorified Lamy 2000 Stainless steel is not. Perhaps I am being too harsh, but what are your thoughts?

Edited July 6, 2016 by Roppleton

[Wolverine1]

Well, it is unfortunate that it is as pricey as it is, but, seems Lamy has just jumped on the Limited Edition bandwagon, and overpriced the pen. Unfortunately, people will buy the pen at the price Lamy sets, and except for guys like you and I, I guess most people dont care. Sad, but that is the way things are. Unfortunate, really.

[Bluey]

No, it's not just you. It's way way over priced. But look at it through Lamy's eyes - it's their anniversary of a pen which has sold well for many decades so they're going to milk it for all it's worth as it's a great business opportunity. So now is the time to produce a few limited editions to cater to different price points and then massively hike up the prices.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Bluey

[sirgilbert357]

I dont get the name...Black Amber? It looks nothing like either of those words...

[PAKMAN]

Looks somewhat like a Palladium Studio?! Nice but not sure worth $590. Though the regular stainless versions can be had at a lower price, the MSRP was $375 so about $200 more for the LE 50th edition.

[CAG_1787]

I'm with you - I was excited about the potential, disappointed in the release, and stupefied by the price.

[canibanoglu]

My goodness, that is extremely high. Having said that I will probably get it as the 2000 is my favorite pen design

[PAKMAN]

Yea, don't think it will sell out right away and may get a dealer discount sometime next year that would make the price more palatable. I'll have to see it in person first but may have to have it eventually.

[sirgilbert357]

Looks somewhat like a Palladium Studio?! Nice but not sure worth $590. Though the regular stainless versions can be had at a lower price, the MSRP was $375 so about $200 more for the LE 50th edition.

 

This. So thoroughly disappointing. I just don't get how they couldn't come up with something better than this -- which is basically something they've already done on the Studio...and then the confusing name. In my head I imagined a glossy version of the Makrolon with a rich amber color mixed into the regular Makrolon's color....subtle, but definitely special.

[Flounder]

Well, I have to agree about the finish. I don't understand how a satin finish steel translates to 'black amber'. Hard to figure out what they were going with here.

[TheRealMikeDr]

I'm with you - I was excited about the potential, disappointed in the release, and stupefied by the price.

 

Aye. Thankfully it doesn't do anything for me

 

I just checked the specs - same nib as the regular L2K. I'll admit it looks nice - but it's still Crazycakes.

 

Edited July 6, 2016 by TheRealMikeDr

[flipper_gv]

I would have understood a 590$ titanium 2000 (lighter and better balance than the typical SS 2000).

 

But, for a paint job, it doesn't make sense.

[Roppleton]

Glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks this!

[wastelanded]

Lamy knows people will pay that much, so why not try.

[Mr.Rene]

Limited Edition pens are the best trick to get important extra money for Pens company..

I do not support this kind of market strategy...

Regards

[orfew]

Is the price high? Yes. Is it overpriced? Not if people pay it. If the price is too high...do not buy it. Companies can charge whatever they want for their products, if they price themselves out of their market that is their problem.

[Leeuwenhoek]

Even after reading the original post I was still a bit underwhelmed by the photo! Although it looks nice I do not see $590 of pen and kind of feel the stainless steel is quite expensive anyway.

[Moshe ben David]

Looks somewhat like a Palladium Studio?! Nice but not sure worth $590. Though the regular stainless versions can be had at a lower price, the MSRP was $375 so about $200 more for the LE 50th edition.

 

I'm with you. When I first saw the picture I had no idea it was a SS version of the 2000!

 

Moshe ben David

[BruuskysPen88]

I agree with you all.

 

A new paint job on a Stainless Steel 2000 (and not one we haven't seen before...) and overpriced. I understand that you can "vote with your dollar" and not buy it, but it doesn't shake the disappointment. Even if it sells poorly, Lamy isn't going to come out with a new one and call "mulligan".

Titanium, Wood, Demonstrator, Gold (going for the obvious 50th anniversary option)... any of these would have been good in my book for the same price.

Not to mention, the studio finish was always slippery for me when I used a friend's; I bet this would be twice as bad for me.

Well, I guess I can just use my savings for this pen on something else... bummer.

[haruka337]

It's going to be $590 to someone.

 

There's such a huge price range within fountain pens that I'm indifferent to the cost of this anniversary addition pen. Not the most expensive pen I've come across, certainly not the ugliest nor most banal either.