Otto Hutt Design C Review...what you get for $4k.

[@roderickfemm8799]

I haven't seen anyone mention it, so just a note supposing that the "C" in the model name is the Roman numeral for 100. By the way, I appreciate your reviews, and here is a suggestion: when you have an interesting filler like this one, do you ever film the filling process so that you can edit it in at the appropriate point in the discussion? I think it would sometimes help the viewer get a better idea of what is involved.

[@flipper2gv]

If I were looking into a sterling silver pen, I'd be more interested by Yard-o-Led or Onoto offerings.

[@janmathijsrijck7970]

Dear David, Thank your very much for the review of this quite interesting pen. Maybe I can help solve the mystery of the original company name. Small companies here in Germany (Karl Hutt had less than 20 employees in 1920) are mostly partnerships (in german: „Personengesellschaft“ or „OHG“). According to german law, they must bear the name of the owner. It is therefore very likely that the original company was called "Karl Hutt" or "Karl Hutt OHG“. This also explains the change of name to "Otto Hutt" with the takeover by the son. I'm really looking forward to your next reviews, they are a definite highlight at the end of the working day.

[@FigbootonPens]

Thanks for the additional info!

[@ginopagnani7286]

Nice pen but at that price a British butler should come with it to keep the silver polished.

[@JannyHaak]

I do appreciate the minimalistic design, but at that price there would have to be a whole lot more for me to appreciate!

[@thepenman357]

Nice review, David! I appreciate the nice pens that you are able to review on your channel. While I would never buy a pen at this price point, I think it's nice when a company makes unique pens like this one.

[@jaystone4816]

Interesting review, David. The pen has its design plus points that I like and intrigue me, but it falls far short of the hefty price. As you're aware, competition at that price level is fierce, with many beautiful pens of all kinds and tastes. By comparison, I find it hard to believe this pen would be anyone's first choice in that glamorous crowd.

[@jmm95076]

My favorite part of this pen is the plastic feed.

[@Kenjiro5775]

The pen reminded me of something, but it took me a few moments to recognize what. The spindles for toilet paper in my house look just like that pen. I will pass for that reason alone. Love the channel and your approach. 😁🖖

[@JRbiker1]

Good review Dave. On the pen, "Wow, seriously?". I love minimalist/industrial type pens and have a number of them in my collection. This one really looks like they took a number of design elements from pacific rim pens and combined them and stuck them in a Sterling body. Seriously a plastic feed on your 100th anniversary pen, hell even Nathan put an ebony feed on his $25 Ahab pens. If this pen was sitting on a table with other pens and I could pick without worry about price I have 4 in my collection that would go before it. They would be Namisu titanium Nova w/ titanium nib, Karas Kustom Copper Ink with Titanium Bock nib ebony feed, Levenger L-tech with custom Pendleton nib, and lastly a TWSBI Precision with custom Pendleton nib. Not impressed, they can keep it.

[@ellaniwalker6155]

Thank you David. Great review. Ink was beautiful on the Rhodia paper. Have a great week! 🌟🖋🕊

[@jeanduong7272]

Hi! Another interesting review. This brand caught my interest months ago and I finally got one of their pens (the Design 04) in january to open my 2021 acquisitions. I never regretted it. I was curious about the Design C, even if I considered it inaccessible due to the price. Finally your instructive video confirmed that this pen isn't really for me. Even in this way, I think you are doing a great work. Putting facts on the table helps people to make decisions but also to avoid 'bad' choices. Once again, thanks for this review!

[@per4mnce1]

Thank you for sharing a pen that is new to me. Another well-made and interesting review.

[@criscavi19]

THANKS, excellent review as always.

[@WritingDelight]

Nice review, thanks for that. It's this minimalist design that makes the story. Bauhaus style is in Otto Hutt's blood. I fell in love with this pen back when I did my review of the designC. It is my holy grail now. :D I simply like this pen. Beautifully simple and yet unique. And the Pull+Twist mechanism, which they now also have in the design08, I find a beautiful thing. I hope I get the design08 then also for a review.

[@trantrad]

What, no giveaway on this pen? 😉

[@Danny.._]

it seems like a nice pen, but with a standard plastic feed and jowo nib, it's just not worth nearly as much as they're charging for it

[@user-br3sl9go3b]

Kenro seems to have an MO for much overpriced fountain pens, e.g., the storied Esterbrook brand it is trying to revive.

[@williamhowland1031]

David, I always love your reviews. I collect pens vicariously through your channel. I would have to absolutely love everything about a $4K pen. I mean, I love everything about my$10 Platinum Prefounte, so there's that. Haha...

[@rangeldi]

Thanks for the excellent review! As for the pen, I agree it's polarising. I don't like it at all. I have a few pens this expensive and some even more costly than that, and I can see the clear artistic value on them. I like minimalistic, elegant designs but I would have gone with a different material for this pen. Perhaps Titanium. And anything this expensive should have had an ebonite feed. But that's just me. :)

[@theresa_lili]

Great pen!! Wouldn't mind adding one to my collection. Thank you for sharing.

[@kikim7873]

This was a very interesting review. I really enjoyed seeing this pen perform, I've never seen anything quite like it. I think the fingerprint issue could be polarizing, especially in that price range; but it really does write gorgeously.

[@Smartiebob317]

Thanks for the review. Keep up the great work!

[@TinyIslandMaine]

Very interesting pen. While not for me, I do like the gold indices as a visual and functional feature. Thanks.

[@paddymcnamara9147]

Interesting pen, but way overpriced. I don't mind spending on exceptional ones but save the minimilist design there is nothing exceptional about this pen. This week I recieved a nice Santini Libra with an inhouse nib that is very smooth. It was about 300USD. For 4500 I could get another couple of Omas Arco pens and I know what I'd spend that amount on! Again great review as ever, thanks David for all the effort.

[@brailleeulogy120]

Wow I fell in love with that design. Fingerprints or not, that one sings to me

[@xerxiusmaximus]

Thanks Dave.... awesome content, awesome review....

[@alanpareis734]

Thanks for giving us a look at this pen David, of course not ever in my budget, however I really enjoy the Euro-minimalist look. Indices are a nice touch -a Lamy Dialog 2 echo? And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention, if it had subtle narrowing at the center it would be a dead ringer for an Edison Extended Mina, a fav of mine.

[@Ryan_H22]

Great review of a, IMO, meh pen at that price point. Make it out of anodized aluminum with a Jowo stainless nib and I'd think... $35 to 50 bucks?

[@tobymulder196]

I was told by Ryan at Kenro that Otto Hutt makes everything but the feed. They also have been making pens and parts for many brands. Great review and analysis. Totally agree on polarizing. Note some of your real comments. What’s up with those other “comments “?

[@FigbootonPens]

Spam that has been removed. Whenever a new video is posted, you have to deal with the spam-bots.

[@MrAndrew1953]

A very nice pen that could be placed in the price range of more people if made out of ebonite or acrylic resin. Did you mention the weight. I picked up a Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler recently that weighs in at 83 grams.

[@ericpmoss]

I think I could afford a Pizza Hutt. But hey, we have fun watching reviews of Bugattis, so why not? I'm not sure I'd want something that minimalist for that price, but it looks more comfy than the Visconti Casa Batllo, if a LOT less visually interesting.

[@crayons987]

Maybe this pen is more of an investment or for a collector that never plans to write / draw with it. As an aspiring artist, does not meet my needs but nice to look at. Thanks for the review

[@perryspiropoulos938]

Good review. Too bad the nib was a Jowo second. You'd think they'd catch that during QC.

[@athomeinthesouth01]

way overpriced! I could purchase at least four nice Nakaya pens with that much. I see nothing in this pen that says $4000

[@bellcranel0889]

True. If lucky enough you can even get a danitrio or other maki-e pens.

[@19sonkyu]

Agree, neither nary thing.

[@PenFriends]

Everything is subjective, but I agree. Namiki, Nakaya, Stylo Art, Bokumondoh, Tamenuri Studio, Pen Teo, Manupropria, all would be first choices over this pen. I love Otto Hutt, I love the design, but not the price. 500 euros at most is what I’d pay.

[@nfo1776]

"Democratic luxury" sounds like a rationalization for extravagance.

[@农民-u5b]

Was it called ETRA weber before Otto hutt?

[@paulherman5822]

For around 1/4 the cost, I can get another solid sterling silver pen, the Yard o Led. It's just not that interesting looking to inspire me to even think about getting one of these. Whilst they are selling it as a limited edition, celebrating their 100th anniversary, to me it looks like a fairly generic thermometer case. Add the unremarkable nib and the plastic feed, and I already have several that are nicer writers, I'm sure, that I paid much less. I do appreciate seeing the pens you showcase, but this one does less than nothing for me.

[@rajbasra8423]

Absolutely and unequivocally 110% correct.

[@zathrasnotzathras655]

Not a daily writer for sure. More like an executive desk pen to be used for signing important documents. Like when you finally steal, I mean, but Ewing oil away from JR. The it goes back in the safe with the other precious metals.

[@heinkle1]

Definition of overpriced

[@wlovas]

What, no giveaway? :P

[@chrislj2890]

$4,250 ? Shoulda posted this review on April 1st, lol.

[@manoloyloles]

This is not a price; it is a joke.

[@butterbeans898]

Awesome pen

[@wendyholiday2021]

Another beauty!

[@shane6242]

This is a pen one buys when having more dollars than sense.

[@kirkwilson6229]

A cool pen that is gut-shot by price point. At $4000, people are going to want things like ebonite feeds, unique nibs, and maybe even chasing on the barrel. Also, this thing not being an everyday carrier kind of hurts the philosophy behind it. Also, for someone like myself, a price that high means I won't be taking that thing outside of my house, much less travelling with it...

[@sathishrao7926]

$3400 for this pen ? Thank god - at least the review is free !

[@notl33t]

It's an interesting art piece! Not for me, but very nice.

[@avikbhattacharjee2220]

I am personally a fan of your detailed reviews which transformed me to become an FP enthusiast. Likes this review and the pen but seems, the designers excellence as if superimposed over writers thought of a pen. One need to be extra sensitive to the filling process and regular polishing. Otherwise things are OK.

[@NatiiixLP]

It looks nice at first glance, but when you compare the engineering/manufacturing effort that goes into this with, for example, the urushi and/or maki-e pens from the likes of Namiki and Nakaya, I simply cannot find a justification for its price. Being an exclusive celebratory limited edition does not justify being overly expensive unless you put in a tremendous amount of engineering and originality. Frankly, the Lamy Design 3 seems far more interesting when it comes to minimalistic German design, and they make their own nibs in-house.

[@mhtoure]

Great review even though this pen is not for me. Dave, what pen in a lower price range comes with a similar Jowo nib? The nib seems like the best part of the pen.

[@jacobus57]

There are literally THOUSANDS of gold nibbed pens. There are countless Jowo gold nibbed pens, both commercial and custom, in the three to four hundred dollar range. You need to do your own research, because recommending a pen to someone without knowing their taste is impossible.

[@irvy4u]

That isn't isn't drying fast on Rhodia. It's breaking into the paper fibre! O_O

[@archivist17]

It's a stick of 'meh'. To be fair, it has some great design touches, and isn't burdened with the sort of ornate rococo gaudiness that many many other expensive pens display. But there are places where there's a bit of 'that'll do' mentality showing through, shown up in even starker contrast by the areas that have had so much thought lavished on them. It seems to be silver just for the sake of it; the design would work better with a stainless steel shell, especially when it rolled off the desk (as it inevitably would if anyone were to use this as the designer implies). I agree that much more of a statement could have been made with the nib presentation. Personally, I'd have liked a semi-hooded nib adding a touch of sleek elegance, but I recognise I am stuck in the 60s, design-wise, and that no one is going to pay top dollar these days without a big chunk of yellow metal clashing with the silver out the front end. I could imagine absolutely falling in love with a steel version of this pen with a side milled flat to subtly stop the roll and position the hand. But 4.5USD? That's a lot of very classy writing instruments' worth of dosh.

[@1968gadgetyo]

Paying for limited edition? At least I could see why am I paying $$ for pens like FB Pen of the Year, MB Patron to the Arts series. But I see nothing that could justify the price, except its limited series.

[@jcastano]

It's cool, but not at that price. I know several sterling silver pens for half that amount, with a lot more artistry too! (MB, Yard-o-Led)

[@michwoll]

Hmmm, interesting. Not quite sure how I feel about the value and design of this pen.

[@TeamFish15]

Entirely underwhelming and over priced. $4k for a Jowo nib and plastic feed? Imagine the cost had they splurged? It’s a good thing they only have to sell 500 of them.

[@edzejandehaan9265]

Well even if (IF) it lasts a lifetime 4000 bucks is still very expensive for a pen, and using the lifetime argument to state that it's not is absurd. If you spend that amount of cash on a pen you do it because you want a status symbol, show of you wealth. Apart from the price issue, I must say I don't really care for its looks, a shiny metal cylinder, meh. Agree with your opinion on the underwhelming nib/feed.

[@Wreneagle]

This pen looks a lot more like ostentatious luxury than democratic luxury. In many ways it's not a practical pen. From the unpostable cap, inability to remove nib for cleaning, no ink window. The piston mechanism looks like it would not be easily serviced as well and is probably somewhat more complex than your normal mechanism. Even the use of silver seems rather impractical to me. Not knocking the pen, pens don't have to be practical, but this is anything but democratic luxury. Also is it just me or is that ink feathering something awful even on Rhodia paper? Is it pigmented ink by any chance?

[@ArjanD78]

Not a giveaway...😉

[@wutzitrone4522]

Is 2500€ really 4000$?

[@FigbootonPens]

The MSRP is $4,250. Most retailers sell it at a 20% discount.

[@CorneliusBartke]

@@FigbootonPens The price in Germany is 2500€, about 3000 USD, but that includes 19% VAT. So to an out-of-the EU buyer this would be ~2500 USD shipped (plus duties and taxes where applicable). I like the design of the pen, the filling system and the body/cap material, the section seems ok-ish; the nib/feed combo is … meh. But I see no justification for the MSRP (even at 20% off), it seems exceptionally aspirational for this pen.

[@TheDormousesDesk]

That is a very expensive fingerprint display.

[@careymcallister7952]

I easily get FOMO on many pens; not this one. Completely uninteresting. Great review though.

[@joeldoxtator9804]

What a disappointment. It is essentially a mass produced Jowo nib and feed encased in silver. No thanks. Never had a good experience with Jowo nibs or feeds. Always misaligned or over polished creating babies bottom.

[@rajbasra8423]

A complete waste of money. This pen should be priced in the $500-1000 range and it would still be a horrible buy. They basically took an Omas Marconi in solid sterling silver and stripped away all of the aesthetic details to create a simplified cylinder that looks very cheap. Why not just get the Omas which sells in the $1000 USD or less range. Omas nib or Jowo nib?? Omas any day. Furthermore, you can get a Omas Harmonia Mundi (18k Gold/lucite/titanium) for $2000-$2500. I picked up a Pelikan Green Ray Raden for $2000. What world does anyone live in where this would be picked over that? Why in the world would you buy this?? Democratic luxury?! The very definition of luxury contradicts anything democratic. What a nonsensical philosophy the belies a thoughtless design. I would love to meet the person who paid the full retail price for this thing.

[@Addwrite]

A wildly over priced pen. I cannot understand why people go for limited edition pens: if they buy them as investments they cannot use them; if they buy them to use they might as well buy a production model. Also, how could this pen be effectively cleaned if the nib section cannot be removed?

[@195516Z]

There have been many pens, past and present , that have had their share of criticisms in design. From the uninspired to just plain ugly. That's fine, everybody has their preference in what looks good. But Otto Hutt in my opinion has lost a lot of credibility in this awful, pretentious design! Using the design as a "celebration" of their history and the "limited edition" number just smacks of overconfident hubris in this completely uninspired, lazy design. Sorry, Otto Hut. You blew it!

[@thulegezelschap5884]

Boring nib, for that money I expect full flex that goes from EEF to BBB or more

[@ZanJia]

First