As announced on my Instagram feed, (feel free to follow if you'd like) the upcoming week will be dedicated to a brand that I've grown extremely fond of, rOtring. I've done a couple of other rOtring reviews on The Clicky Post of the 600 series rollerball and 600 lava series ballpoint (both discontinued models) and am looking forward to a blend of both old and new over the next week. Stay tuned and check back often as it's going to be fun.
To start us off, this is a model I've had my sights set on for some time. Along the lines of the rollerball, the discontinued 600 series ballpoint with the knurled grip (love knurling) was very high on my list. Probably tied as a sort of rOtring "Holy Grail" for me with the rollerball and I'm so happy to have picked this pen up. The knurled fountain pen edition is pretty high up there, but a bit out of reach still with those babies running in the $300+ range consistently.
The barrel, made of brass, has a solid heft and feels good and sturdy in your hand. Even with the slimmer barrel of the ballpoint pens, it doesn't distract from the feeling of quality due to the nice weight. It doesn't feel heavy on either end and is just about the right length and only extends about an inch and a half past the fleshy part of my hand between my thumb and index finger.
One cool feature (although kind of geeky) about this particular ballpoint is the ability to twist the knurled section right below the knock which acts as an ink color indicator. You can select between red, blue, black, and green (Ana from The Well-Appointed Desk would love the green...). With blue being my go-to ink choice almost always, that is where it has been set since having the pen. Although, it would be nice to own four of these - one for each ink possibility... probably not the most practical idea, be we can dream, right?
I swapped out the proprietary refill with a Schmidt EasyFlow 9000, although I wasn't overly disappointed in the quality of the included refill. In the upcoming week I will include a sample of the rOtring refill (although likely also made by Schmidt) for comparison.
The knock of the knurled 600 has a very nice stiff click to it. Not overly loud nor quiet, but is very responsive. I'm going to assume that the click is quieter actually due to the black finish on the pen. It is a matte, bead blasted type finish that muffles the sound of the knock against the barrel a bit. The silver rOtring ballpoints have a chrome or more metallic knock which produces a different sound.
And of course, the iconic 600 series has the hexagonal barrel which we love so much. I love the look of this pen. It is modern, yet technical in design. The facets of the barrel come together at a sharp angle which produces a nice crisp line that adds some visual texture and dimension visually to the pen.
The downside to this pen is the fact that it has been discontinued for some time. To find one, you'll need to search eBay (where I found mine), pen shows, or possibly pen related sites that may still carry some new old stock. I did find a listing on Montgomery Pens for this exact pen, although their list price was much higher than I paid for mine. For discontinued NOS rOtrings you're generally looking to be a bit spendy for them.
Again, so excited to have picked this pen up as it is an iconic example from rOtring's history and is a fantastic piece. Stay tuned for another post soon!
