PrIvate Reserve - 2 Minutes to Midnight Blue

[Matthew TWP]

I just got this ink yesterday and haven't had time to do much in the way of testing, but since it's a limited edition ink, I thought I'd post these sooner rather than later. I'll update this thread with more information as I get it 🙂 For now, it's a beautiful medium-dark blue ink, very saturated but it doesn't really sheen unless it pools heavily on large swatches, and then it's a coppery red sheen. Medium-wet, smooth writing. The box is numbered... in my case, 0338/1100. The "Two Minutes To Midnight" bit is partly explained on the back of the box, but it also is probably a reference to the current position of the Doomsday Clock, which is 2 minutes to midnight.

[Matthew TWP]

[LizEF]

  Thank you for the timely review! You show off the color quite nicely.  It's tempting, but I shall resist.

[yazeh]

Really tasteful bottle and such a lovely presentation.....but like Liz, I will resist. Resistance is not futile  

[lapis]

Interesting blue. Could you perhaps add a line or two from a few different pen nib widths on different papers?  That's all I need for the last conviction....

[Matthew TWP]

Yep, I will

54 minutes ago, lapis said:

Interesting blue. Could you perhaps add a line or two from a few different pen nib widths on different papers?  That's all I need for the last conviction....

 I will as soon as I get a chance this evening 🙂

[Matthew TWP]

OK, here's a bit of a writing sample in a standard Rhodia notebook with lines, and then on a non-ruled notebook with 68gsm Tomoe River paper. This is not my forte... excuse my Sauschrift. 

[PithyProlix]

Thanks for a great job at showing us this ink. Great photography - I'm curious about the lighting ...

 

Any conjecture on the significance of 110 ml and the production of 1100 bottles? I'm guessing it is not incidental and has some meaning. I thought 110 might be the current number of seconds until midnight on the doomsday clock but, looking it up, it has been 100 seconds for well over a year now.

[Matthew TWP]

5 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

Thanks for a great job at showing us this ink. Great photography - I'm curious about the lighting ...

 

Any conjecture on the significance of 110 ml and the production of 1100 bottles? I'm guessing it is not incidental and has some meaning. I thought 110 might be the current number of seconds until midnight on the doomsday clock but, looking it up, it has been 100 seconds for well over a year now.

 

I've been wondering about the 110ml and the 1100 bottles too. I suppose that the easy answer is that 11 comes before 12, and it may have just simpler or less wasteful than 1158 bottles (11:58PM being 2 minutes before midnight) ... and certainly claiming 115.8 ml in the bottle would be a little ridiculous. I've been more curious about the fact that 2 Minutes to Midnight was declared in 2018, and this ink wasn't released then. 

 

I will say that my bottle of ink seemed a little dusty inside its box, so maybe they've been sitting around for a couple of years. Private Reserve stopped production a couple of years ago, I believe, and was eventually bought out... so maybe the new owners are just finishing up an old project and don't care that much about the details? I don't know. I guess I should send them an email and ask!

 

The lighting on this was a high CRI LED video light (Godox SL-60W) with a shoot-through umbrella as the diffuser. 

 

- Matthew

[lapis]

Thanks for the good illustrations. Somehow, I'm  now less content 'cus the writing (with different nibs on paper) seems to have added more green to the blue. But 'nice and smooth' is always good (IMO).

[TSherbs]

Thanks for the pics! Interesting color. Very saturated.

[PithyProlix]

7 hours ago, Matthew TWP said:

I've been more curious about the fact that 2 Minutes to Midnight was declared in 2018, and this ink wasn't released then. 

 

And, according to the Wikipedia page the Doomsday Clock was never set for 110 seconds to midnight.

 

Thanks for the info on the lighting!

[Matthew TWP]

5 hours ago, lapis said:

Thanks for the good illustrations. Somehow, I'm  now less content 'cus the writing (with different nibs on paper) seems to have added more green to the blue. But 'nice and smooth' is always good (IMO).

Hmm... I didn't notice the writing being any more green except for on the Tomoe River, and that's because the paper is warm toned (which is why I left the neutral grey card in one shot).

 

Anyway, I was really impressed with how the ink felt in these pens; I have a couple of other similar colors from Private Reserve and they feel a little thick in the pen, if that makes sense. This one was better. 

[Uncial]

Looks lovely with nice shading. 

[markofp]

Not a bad blue, but I don't see the point in a limited edition ink from an end-user standpoint. What if you really, really like it, and you run out in say, two years? I guess you're outta luck. Of course, as your (brilliantly photographed) samples reveal, there are other inks very close to it. So why get started in the first place?

[Tas]

Fabulous review. Looking  forward to many more like this from you. Thank you 🥰

[Matthew TWP]

Thanks 🙂 Glad you found it useful 🙂

[DrDebG]

Great review!  Thank you for doing it! I confess, however, am not tempted by this one though.  

[Matthew TWP]

I'm glad that I may have helped save you a little cash, then 😉

[Bill P]

15 hours ago, Matthew TWP said:

Thanks 🙂 Glad you found it useful 🙂

Thank-you so much for the WRITING samples....

 

Personally, I find swatches not useful at all.....I purchase a Pen and ink in order to write on paper....not to create a swatch.

 

A Swatch does not provide me with the reality of what an ink will look like when I write....on paper.  How an ink will look on paper is also dependent on the paper and nib....but a writing sample gets me alto closer to reality than a swatch.

 

So thank-you for taking the time to provide the writing samples.

 

It is a very nice looking ink, and one that I will purchase.