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By Mike Stevens Let's being with the bad news. The new OMAS Imagination is not a lightweight pen. In fact, it's not even a heavy pen. It's a brick. Machined from solid sterling silver, the Imagination is off the scale when it comes to weight. Not literally of course, it weighs in at just over four ounces, but in terms of comparison to other pens I've used. It makes my 1 3/4 ounce Montblanc 146 pinstripe sterling feel light in comparison!
The real problem with the weight comes when you begin thinking about carrying this pen around with you. It's got a pocket clip, actually a pretty good one, despite it's not being a spring loaded affair as I have come to prefer. But trying to put this thing into an ordinary shirt pocket is just asking for trouble. Best case scenario, the weight causes it to slip out of the pocket and it falls to the ground, cracking your hardwood floor. Worst case scenario, it simply tears your pocket off the shirt and falls to the ground, cratering your slate tile entryway. If you need to take it with you, this is definitely a pen that requires a nice leather pen case! It's as a "desk pen" that the Imagination really comes into it's own. If you don't have to concern yourself with carrying it, it becomes more of an uninterrupted pleasure. Given the striking design, it makes a very nice piece of miniature sculpture on your desk-top. The Imagination is based on the 360, a pen which, when introduced, was a stunning first in modern pens. Instead of the same old round cylinder we had become accustomed to, the 360 is a slightly rounded triangular shape in cross section. The material was a glossy blue-black vegital resin, making for a very light pen, given the 360's large dimensions.
As the base for the Imagination, the 360 is perfect. This design gave OMAS three relatively flat sides to serve as backdrops for the engraving. Designed to celebrate the World Year of Physics, a tribute to the great minds who have given mankind insight into the way our world works. Engraved into each side of the pen, you find the formulas of physicists of the 20th century. The theory of relativity, as well as quantum and string theories.
The nib is engraved with a pattern intended to represent a grid with vectors drawn on it. The vector engravings are finished in gold, the remainder of the nib is plated to match the silver. The nib is my only other point of contention with this pen, and it's not limited to the Imagination, but to the original oversized version of the 360. Although it's a full sized OMAS nib, when you put it on a pen as large as this, it just plain looks too small. It's a great nib, though, with a touch of give to it that makes writing a bit more fun than a more rigid nib would. The feed looks to be made of ebonite. Filling is via the same piston mechanism OMAS uses in the regular edition oversize 360. As I have mentioned, this is a big pen. At six inches long closed, and 5 1/4 inches with the cap removed, the only way I would recommend trying to use this pen. If you try posting the cap, it comes out to 7 1/4 inches long, and definitely unbalanced in the hand. It's 1/2 inch across the triangular section.
The Imagination is a great pen. In more than one use of the word! It's great as in simply huge. It's also great in terms of being a wonderful celebration of science. copyright 2005 William Riepl Images copyright 2005 William Riepl |
Bad
news out of the way, we'll move on to the good. There's plenty of it...
The weight sounds bad, but it actually doesn't make the pen unusable
as a writer. It's really not that uncomfortable in use, just don't try
posting the cap! You can, but that not only unbalances the pen completely,
it does push it over the edge, weight-wise. Sans cap, it's a much more
manageable pen. You probably won't feel like using it to hand write
any novels, or maybe even any long letters, but as a daily user, it's
not too bad.
Creating
a pen like the 360 was a great gamble for OMAS. The result was a pen
that opened new doors, design-wise, and has always been a personal favorite
of mine.
In
addition to the engraved formulae, there are frameworks of deeply engraved
lines in an angular pattern, these lines have been filled with a dark
blue lacquer. The deep blue color nicely sets off sterling silver, and
the overall look of the Imagination is a very clean, elegant, and stylish
one.
