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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