Saturday, March 24, 2018

Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle with Casio AE1200


Usually, in the movie business, everything is done with a reason, and the reason is making money. Cars and watches are no exception, it is a good source of promoting a brand. When it comes to watches most of them are high end, high price timepieces.
Yesterday I went to the cinema to see Pacific Rim, the second one. The movie does not worth talking about, it is like the first one...
But in the hall of the cinema was a cut out with the Jumanji cast. I saw the movie but I haven't noticed until at that moment that Kevin Hart is wearing the Casio "Royal" AE1200.

How cool is that. The watch that the fans say it belongs in the Bond universe but never appeared is featured in Jumanji.
To pay respect to the movie which brought the Casio AE1200 to the big screen the nickname of the watch should be changed to Jumanji watch, granted it doesn't sound as cool as Casio Royale.

Friday, March 9, 2018

Montblanc fountain pen in The Infiltrator

movie infiltrator signature fountain pen
Another spotting on the big screen, but this time is of a different magnitude. Mostly you see actors using pencils or ballpoints, but in the movie The Infiltrator, Bryan Cranston uses a fountain pen. It is a very short appearance. The fountain pen used is a nice white and silver. Very classy and elegant.
movie infiltrator writing fountain pen
If you take a closer look the fountain pen has the grip and the top part silver color. The barrel is a mate white.
On the grip, there is some engraving. The cap is a screw type.
movie infiltrator writing fountain pen
The fountain pen featured is a Montblanc Meisterstuck Solitaire. It is a very nice fountain pen with a gold nib 18k plated with Rhodium. The grip section, end of the barrel and the clip is platinum plated.
On the grip, there is a beautiful engraving with Montblanc.
The price of the pen is between $ 650 - $ 1000.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Spring is here


I do not know how many countries have this tradition but here, it is a custom to offer to the ladies on the 1st of March a small gift in the form of a "martisor" and or snowdrops. In some regions, it is a custom for men to receive them. Anyway, it's meaning is the rebirth of nature the end of winter. It is the white and red string and usually, it comes attached to some kind of figurine, something that shows that spring is here, like a flower or something that brings luck like a horseshoe. And is a custom for women to wear them during the month of March or at least in the first days of March.

Of course, you can find different motifs, flowers, plants, good luck symbols, traditional symbols, birds, insects (usually ladybugs, I haven't seen a dung beetle martisor yet), and colored pencils. Wait .. what?


This is the first year I saw such kind of symbol but maybe it will start a trend. I think the magic pencil from Koh-I-Noor would be a much nicer spring symbol.



Sunday, February 25, 2018

Koh-I-Noor and the Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018

It is very hard to find a connection between the sports world and the stationary world. But somehow there is such a connection, in the Czech Republic. Continuing the posts about Koh-I-Noor... 
It is very interesting to see how much the Chech company is tied to the country. In Prague, there are several Koh-I-Noor stores in very central locations. They are in the old part of the city, where it is full of tourists. I would expect to see a bar, a tourist trap or some fashion shops instead of a stationary shop, but they promote themselves very well and want to show the ties of the company to Prague and the Czech Republic. It like bohemia glass, when you say it, Czech Republic comes to mind. To show how "Czech" they are, they closed the production facility in China, so all the Koh-I-Noor products are made in EU.
So since 2016, Koh-I-Noor is a partner of the Czech Olympic team. I think this is the only stationary brand that promotes itself by partnering with the Olympics or with any kind of sport.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Koh-I-Noor in Prague


This is one of the many Koh-I-Noor stores in Prague, close to Charles bridge. It was closed, but luckily I managed the next day to catch it open. 
As the sign says Art Materials inside, so for the no art persons like me the selection was a bit limited. I could not find fountain pen ink unfortunately but I added to my collection a Koh-I-Noor 5219 blue clutch pencil.
A fun fact about this particular Koh-I-Noor store, it is right near the Romanian embassy and the Gingerbread museum
koh i noor store in Prague

The pencil looks nice and feels nice in the hand and the knurled grip feels a lot better than the Versatil or the thin barrel of the Koh I Noor Notebook pencil
The price for it was 75 CZK which is about 2.95 euro or 3.65 $

Not all the products were cheaper than what I can find in Romanian stores but this was about half the price.


A more in-depth review of the Koh-I-Noor 2 mm clutch pencil will follow.
Until then here is a little of the Prague's beauty.




Even though there are impressive architecture and imposing churches in Prague, the Czech people according to Wikipedia are not that religious.
34.5% non religious
44.7% undeclared
the biggest number of followers has the Catholic Church with a little over 10%
So there should be no surprise if you see a church converted into a hotel or a bar/restaurant.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Koh-I-Noor lead holder & leads preview

koh-i-noor harmuth pencil lead holder 5.6 mm artist
After publishing the post about the vintage Koh-I-Noor Versatile lead holder I got into a Koh-I-Noor frenzy. Even before I got it published I started seeing cool items from the brand in local stores and I just had to have them all.
All this, is just a preview of what is about to be featured on this blog, a few items that I picked up.
Also this has to be a huge coencidance as shortly I will make a trip to Prague, the home town of the brand, so I am a bit exited.

Stay around to see all this goodies in action and more, maybe even a post about the Prague trip and the Koh-I-Noor store.
But for now I am preparing the posts for:
Koh-I-Noor 5340 5.6 mm lead holder in gold and the Gioconda 5.6 mm artists leads
Koh-I-Noor 2 mm color leads
Koh-I-Noor notebook 2 mm lead holder
Koh-I-Noor inks
Koh-I-Noor notebook 2 mm clutch pencil

Friday, February 2, 2018

Koh-I-Noor Versatil lead holder from 70s

koh i noor lead holder clutch 2mm lead

A short history on the subject:
-In 1946 the introduction of metal mechanic pencils Versatil
-In 1957 the formation of the export subsidiary company Bohemia Works

The pencil I have is a Bohemia Works Toison D'Or Versatil 5900 made by Koh I Noor. There is nowhere the Koh I Noor name on the pencil. That is because the branding for exported products was Bohemia Works.
It is a 2 mm clutch lead holder, produced in the early 1970's. The pencil has an all metal body, painted black and a lighter color detail at the top. It has a hexagonal shape, the clutch system is brass and has a self sharpening system in the cap (unscrew the cap, and it has a 4 arm fork that sharpens the lead)
There were other models that featured a clip.
This pencil has seen a lot of action all these years. The writing on the side is gone, you can see where the writing was if you shine a light on the body. When it was new, it would have an embossed gold writing. The black paint is coming off in some parts and the barrel metal is showing. The detailing at the top part is mostly gone, showing the black paint beneath.

koh i noor lead holder clutch 2mm lead 70's branding
Koh I Noor Versatil 5900 70's design
The cool part is that even today you can buy the same Versatil pencil, in the same color you could get it 40 some years ago.

koh i noor lead holder brass mechanism versatil
mechanism of Koh-I-Noor Versatil 5900 from 70's
Inside the pen. It is a basic design. You have the body of the pencil, which is metal. The mechanism that holds the lead (clutch) made out of brass. The mechanism is gravity aided, meaning it holds the lead in putting tension on 3 arms. When you press the advance button, the tension is released and the lead can advance. It is not an incremented advance system as in more known mechanical pencils, it just slides out. How much is up to you.
The last part is the cap of the advance system, which has a trident with which you can sharpen the lead (now it is a bident :) as one of the arms is broken). Even after all these years and use the pencil works as it should. One of the design flaws of the lead holder, in my opinion, is the smooth paint finish which tends to slip from your hand after a longer writing session.

If you are in the market for a pencil with a lot of history, this could be the one. You can buy vintage from eBay or new. Whatever pencil you will choose, it will be a "Versatil" one.
Looking at what Koh I Noor has to offer I found a very beautiful pencil with an old-modern design, knurled grip, the Koh-I-Noor notebook 5600. I will make a review of it shortly.
koh i noor notebook lead holder pencil
Koh I Noor notebook lead holder
koh i noor versatil 5900 lead holder
Modern Koh I Noor Versatil



Sunday, January 21, 2018

Rotring Tikky a short history

I am a long Rotring Tikky user and today I will share with you the beloved mechanical pencil.
I got my first Rotring mechanical pencil in middle school. If I am not mistaking it was a yellow second generation of Rotring Tikky. Unfortunately, I lost it sometime during high school. At some point, I had a red second generation Rotring Tikky but I can't remember it's faith. At the moment I have a black second generation Rotring Tikky 0.7 that I got in high school and used throughout the university, 2 Rotring Tikky's third generation one 0.5 and one 0.7 mm. One of my big regrets is that I do not have a Tikky Special first generation.
I only owned and used Rotring during the school years. The exception to this was my first mechanical pencil, a plastic no-name followed by a Bic. Both of them I had in the early years of school when I think my parents didn't trust me with a precision instrument :)
Both of my parents are engineers and both were using Rotring for many years as it was pretty much the standard in the industry. Why everyone was using them is pretty clear. They are affordable, of good quality, a precise instrument that will last a very long time, and they are readily available. They come in all sizes 0.35 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, and 1.0 mm. And also, I do not think that the market back then didn't have such a plethora of mechanical pencils to choose from.
At least here (Romania), if you will go into a  stationary shop it is almost certain they have Rotring Tikky mechanical pencils. In the last years, the Faber Castell has been a lot more aggressive and is starting to dominate the shelves of the stores. So maybe the new generations will grow with Faber Castell instead of the Tikky.
In the next lines, I will try sharing with you the information I have managed to gather about the Rotring Tikky mechanical pencils starting from the first generation up to the last.


The history behind the Rotring Tikky mechanical and the information about the models and their characteristics.

In 1979 the Rotring Tikky mechanical pencil debuts
In 1997 the second generation of Tikky hits the market
In 2008 the third generation of Tikky was available to the customers.

A nice graphical presentation of the Rotring history can be found on their site at the following link: http://www.rotring.com/en/heritage

Rotring Tikky I

The first generation of Rotring Tikky was produced in West Germany and in Germany after 1989. It featured a metal drafting fixed point a slim body with a waved grip section. The barrel was made out of plastic or metal and it was available in different colors. It had a sturdy clip which was made out of metal and on it was stamped "Rotring" and "W. Germany" until 1989 and with "Rotring" and "Germany" after. The cap was metallic and was hiding the eraser. Only present in the Tikky Special, the eraser also had a pin in it to unclog the pencil if the lead would jam in it. The next models do not have this feature anymore. The mechanism inside was made out of brass and could be taken out of the pencil.
Rotring came out with several models of the Tikky right at the beginning, and there were a few variants between labeling them. For example, not all Rotring Tikky first generation came with a red ring and others had the name rOtring written in red instead of the red ring. Some of the pencils featured an endcap that had on the tip of it standard color coding for the size of the lead. The barrel came in all sorts of colors, even crazy psychedelic paints.
With the first generation, Rotring seemed to use the size 0.3 mm and 0.9 mm instead of 0.35 mm and 1.0 mm nowadays.
Rotring introduced the Trio Pen which later became the Tikky 3 in 1. The first reference I found about the Trio pen was in a 1990 German product catalog but I think the model appeared sooner. Also alongside with the first Tikky mechanical pencil Rotring brought to the market the Tikky ballpoint.
The birth of one of the most beloved mechanical pencils took place 10 years before the launch of the Rotring 500/600 (1989) Series and 14 years before Rotring 800 (1993).
The Tikky I inspired Rotring to transfer the good features to the metal series 400 of mechanical pencils, pens, and fountain pens. This line was later marketed as Esprit.

The versions of the Tikky were:
Tikky Special
rotring T (sliding sleeve from 5 mm to 3.5 mm in early models, fixed sleeve later on)
rotring TS slide (half sliding sleeve - I think is the successor of the rotring T)
rotring Fineliner F or just rotring F (fixed 4 mm sleeve)
Tikky Automatic and rotring Automatic LS (auto advance of lead, LS stands for locking system)
Tikky Double Push (plastic and metallic versions - both these versions had a secondary push button on the barrel)
rotring S (plastic and metallic versions, 3 mm to 0 mm sliding sleeve)

The differences between the models:
Tikky Special - Plastic design with a fixed sleeve. It came in 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm. Some of the Tikky Special did not have a red ring while others had. There was a white version of the Tikky special which had all sizes available 0.3 mm 0.5 mm 0.7 mm 0.9 mm. The writing and the ring on these were color-coded to the lead size.
yellow for 0.3 mm
brown for 0.5 mm
blue for 0.7 mm
orange for 0.9 mm

rOtring T - "Mechanical pencil with fine lead T for technical drawings, before ink lining
Through the technical precision of the pencil rOtring T a long existing problem has been answered: making a neat drawing using a ruler and a template. The tubular lead guide retracts from 5 mm to 3.5 mm (the thickness of a ruler). rotring T is delivered in 3 lead sizes 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, each model comes with HB polymer lead. The pencils container comes with 6 leads for backup."
The main feature of the T model is the partially retractable sleeve which was I think a safety mechanism for when using a ruler and also it gave the possibility to have maybe more control. The end cap had a size color coding.
The 1.5 mm retracting sleeve feature was abandoned as in the Rotring 1990 catalog the model rOtring T is marketed as a fixed sleeve.

rOtring TS slide - in the Rotring 1990 catalog, the rOtring TS slide is marketed as a half sliding sleeve. This I think is the successor of the model T which at this point became a fixed sleeve.

rOtring F - "Mechanical pencil with fine lead F for writing and sketching.
This pencil is equipped with a rigid tubular lead guide with a length of 4 mm which avoids lead brakes and offers a precision execution when using a ruler. rotring F is equipped with polymer lead size 0.5 mm HB. The pencils container comes with 3 leads for backup."
So the F model was available only in 0.5 mm.

Tikky Automatic LS - Metall mechanical pencil with fully automatic lead feed, comes in 0.5 mm. The lead automatically advances during use while the "LS" locking system prevents undesirable lead feed (when carrying in a pocket for example)

Tikky Automatic - Plastic version of the previous model, with fully automatic lead feed, comes in 0.5 mm. Does not feature the locking system. This model of the rOtring Tikky  was first introduced in the 1988 Catalog

Tikky Double Push - Comes in a plastic and a metal version. It features a fixed sleeve protector and fully retractable feed mechanism. The main feature is a secondary side button to advance the lead. The metallic version of the double push sometime later changed series and became the Rotring 400 Esprit. Later the 400 was discarded and the line name remained Esprit. Rotring offered in the Esprit range fountain pen, ballpoint, mechanical pencil. The Esprit range offered a duo-pen (blue ballpoint and a 0.5 mechanical pencil in one body). There was a mini rotring Esprit line as well that included the mechanical pencil and the ballpoint. The Esprit mechanical pencil also came with a "telescopic" mechanism (available for the mini and the full version length)
The pencil was only available in 0.5 and 0.7 mm lead.

rOtring S - "Mechanical pencil with fine lead S for writing and neat sketching.
The tubular lead guide retracts with 3 mm in sync with the use of the lead. This way an optimal efficiency of the lead as well as a maximum safety against lead snaps. rotring S is equipped with polymer lead 0.5 mm, hardness HB. The pencil's container comes with 6 leads for backup."
So the S model features a 3 mm sliding sleeve. The body of the pencil comes in plastic or metal. The end cap had a size color coding.
The yellowish color is "safari green"

(click on the images to enlarge)
rotring Tikky
rOtring T / rOtring F / rOtring S (1980) Rotring product catalog (Romania)

rotring TS slide, rotring T, 1990 catalog

Rotring 1990 catalog

Tikky metallic, double push and automatic, catalog 1990

Tikky Special catalog 1990

Trio Pen (precursor of Tikky 3 in 1)

Automatic & Double Push leaflet rOtring Catalogue 1990

rOtring leads

rotring tikky automatic 1988
Tikky Automatic debut in 1988 Rotring Catalog




rotring Tikky 1
rOtring T
rotring 1 tikky f
rOtring Fineliner F
rOtring clip W.Germany before 89
Tikky Special
Tikky Special without red ring

 Metallic Double Push Tikky

rOtring F Fineliner

Mechanical pencil museum Rotring 400 Esprit)

Mechanical pencil museum Rotring 400 Esprit)

Mechanical pencil museum Rotring 400 Esprit)
rOtring Special and box
rOtring TS slide

rOtring T brass mechanism
 
Tikky Special multiple colors

 Tikky Automatic

 rOtring Special without red ring

Metallic Double Push Tikky

 

 

Rotring Tikky II

The Second Tikky suffered a few changes. First, it gained a little bit of weight. It became a little bit fatter. Second, the clip style changed. It is a less secure one, but esthetically looks nice. The clip is not stamped with anything which is a shame. Where the clip meets the barrel it is cast in plastic with a very small font "Made in Germany". The rest of the writing on the pencil is paint. The barrel is plastic. The Tikky II weighs 10 grams.

The Rotring Tikky II came in 2 variants
rOtring Tikky II - which had markings on the pencil "rOtring Tikky II 0.5" or  "rOtring T 0.5". This is the most common version of the Tikky 2. It came in a variety of colors including metallic and transparent barrels.
The metallic colors were part of the INLINE series and offered options like pearl blue, pearl violet, pearl red, pearl yellow.
The branding rOtring T was present only on the burgundy version of the Tikky II and included ISO color coding. The rOtring Tikky II came with and without color coding on the barrel.

rOtring Tikky SC - features a retractable tip and a rubberized grip. This one is less common and less accessible. The SC stands for Super Comfort.

(click on the images to enlarge)








rOtring T branding

rOtring Tikky SC
rOtring Tikky SC


Made in Germany marking

rOtring Tikky II 4C Tone 2007 Back to school Catalog

rOtring Catalog 2004 Pens and Pencils, IN LINE pearl colors (metallic)





Rotring Tikky III

The third generation named just Rotring Tikky is a reincarnation of the Tikky line after Rotring was bought by Standford. The pencil is also sold under the name "Papermate Tikky by Rotring" or just "Papermate Precision" version which does lack the traditional red ring.
The third generation of Tikky debut in 2008 and is produced in China while the previous two were made in Germany. The biggest difference to the previous version is a partial rubberized grip (although the rOtring Tikky II SC featured a rubber grip, it had a different form), and the end of the barrel is triangular, making it less likely to roll off the table. The barrel is made out of ABS and the front cap is made out of stainless steel which has a constant slope as opposed to previous versions which had a step. The quality of this part I think is inferior compared to the quality found on Tikky II.
The clip style changed and now offers a look closer to the original Tikky clip, and it has stamped the rOtring name on it. The writing on the barrel changed to simply "rOtring Tikky 0.5", instead of numbering the generation with III. The cap has a hole at the top as a safety feature for children. It weighs 12 grams, 2 grams more than the second version and measures 142 mm in length from tip to cap and it has a diameter of 9 mm around the grip area.
Currently, the Rotring Tikky is offered in 23 colors, the latest colors included in the range are neon. Only the black and the burgundy models come with size color coding on the barrel and come in all lead sizes from 0.35 mm to 1.0 mm. They are marketed as Tikky professional mechanical pencils.
The classic Rotring colors like blue standard, white standard, yellow standard, red standard, black (version without the color coding) come in 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, and 1.0 mm while the rest of the bunch come only in 0.5 or 0.7 mm.

(click on the images to enlarge)

rotring 2017 colors
2017 new colors

rotring 2017 colors
2017 new colors

rotring 4c colors
2013 4C colors

rotring tikky 2015 colors
2015 new colors

rotring neon
2017 neon colors

rotring tikky
Tikky professionals


Papermate Tikky by rOtring

Papermate precision







Updates: 
Aprl 30, 2019 - Additional information about Tikky I, and Esprit
March 7, 2019 - Credits added
October 9, 2018 - Small updates, no extra information about Tikky line added
25/3/2018 - Tikky Automatic debut in 1998 (pic), 
more information on Tikky Double Push metallic which became Rotring 400 Esprit, and then just Esprit (pictures)
Pictures of the pearl (metallic) Tikky II In Line added


Resources, extra information
Rotring catalogs
Rotring website
Pictures from sales site's like eBay and others alike
Particle Navigator
Mechanical Pencil Museum
Golyostoll (in Hungarian - if you need help google translate)
Pretty Splendid (beautiful Rotring Tikky 1 & 2 collection)
Kelvin Pang

A very nice history about Rotring products can be found at Unofficial Rotring

Contributions to the information presented are welcomed.

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