OMAS Made in China?

[Keyless Works]

I have heard from two different people now that the new OMAS pens are made in China and then "assembled" in Italy. Is there truth to this or do they actually have a factory in Italy? I know Narwal has acquired the brand name. Does anyone have an opinion on the quality of the new OMAS pens? They seem very well priced comparatively and I am wondering if they are worth trying out. I know the Paragon and Bologna models in particular look a bit different but I am happy for the brand to continue.  

[Seney724]

I do not have any "hard" facts but what you have heard would not surprise me in the least.

Connecting some dots and coming to this conclusion is an easy thing to do because many of those dots are clustered quite closely together.

 

The matter of "ownership" remains very messy in spite of what the owners of the "new" Omas want the pen community to believe.

 

Since you are asking for opinions, I am happy to render mine.  But, I  want to emphasize that it is mine and I speak for no one else.

I'd stay far, far away.

[Keyless Works]

15 minutes ago, Seney724 said:

I do not have any "hard" facts but what you have heard would not surprise me in the least.

Connecting some dots and coming to this conclusion is an easy thing to do because many of those dots are clustered quite closely together.

 

The matter of "ownership" remains very messy in spite of what the owners of the "new" Omas want the pen community to believe.

 

Since you are asking for opinions, I am happy to render mine.  But, I  want to emphasize that it is mine and I speak for no one else.

I'd stay far, far away.

Can you elaborate or point me to where you are seeing the messy ownership? Do you believe that is somehow affecting the quality of the pens?

[Seney724]

52 minutes ago, Keyless Works said:

Can you elaborate or point me to where you are seeing the messy ownership? Do you believe that is somehow affecting the quality of the pens?

For starters, you might want to look through this thread:

The only things I would add, both of which are in the public domain, is:

1. Ancora still claims ownership of the Omas name (at least as of April 20, 2024)  https://ancora1919.it/blogs/news/ancora-acquires-omas-a-milestone-in-italian-penmaking

2. The current "owners" of the "new" Omas assumed and began using the Omas name on a "trademark non-use" basis (Zhang himself has said so) and not as the result of any sales & name transfer transaction with Ancora.  See him say so at the 26:40 time stamp on the Goldspot "What's the story with OMAS pens? Interview with Frank Zhang of the new Omas"video which is embedded into the above link.

 

Suffice to say, there is lots going on behind the scenes.  As you might well imagine, given this is an international legal proceeding, things do not move very quickly.

 

Hope this helps give you the insights you have requested.

 

[Keyless Works]

1 hour ago, Seney724 said:

For starters, you might want to look through this thread:

 

Thank you, much appreciated!

[jchch1950]

Can anyone give us an opinion on the quality of the built and writing experience of the new Omas?

[Keyless Works]

6 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

Can anyone give us an opinion on the quality of the built and writing experience of the new Omas?

I will be able to shortly. I have ordered some samples including their flexible nib, their stacked nib, as well as a fine and broad. I think I get the flex nib first and the rest will come later. 

 

If the build quality is good I don't really care that the piston system is made in China. No idea where the nibs come from. It's not like the OMAS pens from the 80-00s had nice pistons, they were the most unpleasant to use of any pen brand I can think of.

[Carrau]

1 hour ago, Keyless Works said:

I will be able to shortly. I have ordered some samples including their flexible nib, their stacked nib, as well as a fine and broad. I think I get the flex nib first and the rest will come later. 

 

If the build quality is good I don't really care that the piston system is made in China. No idea where the nibs come from. It's not like the OMAS pens from the 80-00s had nice pistons, they were the most unpleasant to use of any pen brand I can think of.

It will be useful to hear from someone who has actually used the new pens/ nibs.

[nibtip]

6 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

Can anyone give us an opinion on the quality of the built and writing experience of the new Omas?

Well, I happen to own an Omas Ogiva demo F I purchased in spring 2024.

First I was very enthusiastic.

The nib wrote/writes beautifully. It is bouncy, (a bit less than an M1000 though), with faint of feedback. I'd say it is on the very wet side (thanks to the ebonite feed maybe or not). You can put any ink in it, write on any paper, it is pure enjoyment.

(By the way I don't share the flex mania).

Nib can be pulled out.

Finish is good to very good. 

Not postable. But I don't, usually.

Feel in the hand and weight. 9/10

That's the good.

Now the bad.

Shortly after it arrived, I had to send it back because the piston got suddenly stuck irremediably as if it was glued. The piston knob went off too.

Two months later, in June if I remember correctly the pen was back.

The piston works correctly now. Not the best really.

The very ugly.

One can't empty the ink chamber thoroughly. About 0.5 ml of ink remains siting there. The only way for cleansing the pen is to dismantle the piston with an Asvine tool (yes I know). 

The conception of this piston is damn stupid, hasty, sloppy. Backyard amateur waster.

The transparent cap gets instant ink splashes almost straightaway. The quite ugly.

I do not recommend. If made in china it's worth 20-30$ plus the gold nib, if it is gold.

Oinkit's comment

 

 

[Keyless Works]

4 hours ago, nibtip said:

 

Is this your experience or are you posting this user's from reddit?

[nibtip]

Both pseudos refer to one person. Me.

[Keyless Works]

5 minutes ago, nibtip said:

Both pseudos refer to one person. Me.

Thanks for clarifying. The posts were similar but slightly different.

 

I will be curious to see these pens compared my old OMAS pens. I also have a Molteni 55 Blue Lucens which is either made by The Pen Family or Leonardo, I think the former.

 

It is a bummer that the cap doesn't post. The original ones did.

[Seney724]

8 minutes ago, Keyless Works said:

Thanks for clarifying. The posts were similar but slightly different.

 

I will be curious to see these pens compared my old OMAS pens. I also have a Molteni 55 Blue Lucens which is either made by The Pen Family or Leonardo, I think the former.

 

It is a bummer that the cap doesn't post. The original ones did.

Please do let us know.......

[lamarax]

To me, OMAS means this:

 

...not the designs, the materials, or the perennial piston problems 😛

A pen that does not sport a nib akin to the above, cannot be called an OMAS imo, wherever it's been made 🙂

[Keyless Works]

17 minutes ago, lamarax said:

To me, OMAS means this:

 

...not the designs, the materials, or the perennial piston problems 😛

A pen that does not sport a nib akin to the above, cannot be called an OMAS imo, wherever it's been made 🙂

The new OMAS pens have nibs that look just like that and from the pictures I have seen the shape is similar and they aren't using cheap laser engraving. They say they are made in-house and feature similar ebonite feeds. I wish they could do a factory tour video. That would be nice. 

 

I know Pen Family made a video with Ogiva 222 which I believe is ASC production that showed a man called Nino wearing a Gioia work coat.

[chromantic]

1 hour ago, lamarax said:

To me, OMAS means this:

 

...not the designs, the materials, or the perennial piston problems 😛

A pen that does not sport a nib akin to the above, cannot be called an OMAS imo, wherever it's been made 🙂

 

This offends my sense of proportion. 

[lamarax]

21 minutes ago, chromantic said:

 

This offends my sense of proportion. 

 

As does mine indeed 🤭

[Dillo]

15 hours ago, lamarax said:

To me, OMAS means this:

 

...not the designs, the materials, or the perennial piston problems 😛

A pen that does not sport a nib akin to the above, cannot be called an OMAS imo, wherever it's been made 🙂

 

My classic OMAS from the 60's sure doesn't have a nib that looks like that…I suppose it's not an OMAS LOL

 

OMAS, even in the distant past, the 70's, 80's, 90's, and early 2000's has had material problems and plating problems and other similar issues. None of those are new. My 60's OMAS, in fact, has some rebuilt parts in the piston mechanism so that it can work. They did maintain a lot of their technologies all the way until the mid 2000's where they changed designs in a huge way. It's not uncommon for certain OMAS models from the 90's and 2000's to completely disintegrate due to celluloid issues. There were certain celluloids they produced at time that were quite unstable.

 

[Keyless Works]

55 minutes ago, Dillo said:

 

My classic OMAS from the 60's sure doesn't have a nib that looks like that…I suppose it's not an OMAS LOL

 

OMAS, even in the distant past, the 70's, 80's, 90's, and early 2000's has had material problems and plating problems and other similar issues. None of those are new. My 60's OMAS, in fact, has some rebuilt parts in the piston mechanism so that it can work. They did maintain a lot of their technologies all the way until the mid 2000's where they changed designs in a huge way. It's not uncommon for certain OMAS models from the 90's and 2000's to completely disintegrate due to celluloid issues. There were certain celluloids they produced at time that were quite unstable.

 

Celluloid is inherently unstable so I don't think that it's just models from the 90s and and 00s only. Per my understanding, the wrong environment can rapid accelerate its decomposition and some celluloids are more problematic. Light colored ones seem to be more affected but I've also see some awful pictures of even solid black celluloid. 

 

As far as I can tell, vintage pens have the exact same issues but it would make sense that the pens that have survived 70+ years would be less likely to go rapidly wrong. The light colored or clear vintage celluloid pens I have seen are almost always stained and permanently darkened.

 

I agree that modern "real" OMAS pens have had issues with plating, and issues with cotton resin as well. 

[Dillo]

Historically, there were very particular celluloid pens that had much more problems than others. Usually it could be traced to very particular materials. For OMAS, a few of the celluloids they used, for example in the more modern Extra Lucens, the Wild celluloids, the Arlecchino celluloids, the Saffron Blue, seem to be more susceptible to than others. I believe most of these were made by Mazzucchelli. I believe they don't offer cellulose nitrate anymore though, only the more stable cellulose acetate material now. I collect vintage Italian pens, and most older OMAS pens have not had the same kinds of issues. The material requires very specific production and environmental controls to yield a stable product, and some of the issues may not be directly traceable to OMAS. It's more likely a "wrong place" in the "wrong time" sort of situation. OMAS certainly used a lot of that material.

 

There are particular vintage pens with this problem as well where you would see this, but it was only very particular pens. Some Wahl Eversharp Dorics for instance.

 

To be clear, I'm talking about the crystallization, not the ambering. Ambering in this case does not appear to have much effect on the strength or integrity of the material.

 

Most plastics can be considered inherently unstable in some ways, but with care usually they can last a while, celluloid included. However, there are some plastics that just don't survive well over time and deteriorate rapidly in age, more so than their counterparts. The material that the 2000's era Parker Reflex was made of is one of these. It forms cracks very easily and becomes brittle after only a few years. Another is the material of the Parker 61 and the material of the 45. All of these are pretty common plastics, but for whatever reason, with the processing and formulation, somehow they were not stable enough to survive long term compared to other pens made from similar plastics (likely with different additives). I would consider that, in some ways, a failure of the formulation and processing. I will be quite curious to see how some of today's modern pens fare some years from now.