PRELUDE
The never ending search of NOS Omas-es
My love with Omas began with a dodecagonal (12-faceted) Omas Vision back in 2015. Like a fleeting teenage romance, it turned out to be as ephemeral as it was passionate, as the 90-year old company filed for bankruptcy the very next year, in 2016.
For years, I never managed to acquire another Omas ,until late 2024, when I crossed paths with Tom Westerich (penboard.de). This inadvertent meeting led me to acquiring a few more Omas pens: a beautifully fluted 2003 Ogiva from Tom, an Europa later from Regina (martiniauctions) and a 360 dating back from the 1990s to early 2000s, courtesy of Marco (penboard).
Now, I feel my pursuit for Omas pens has reached it’s conclusion though seemingly intelligent people who love ballpoint pens would see it as redundant. Among the pens, the 360 in Venice blue stands out. It came with a titanium emotica nib (semi-flex, by the way which original Omas nib isn’t!). Marco, in a gesture of old-school trust graciously refused payment until I received the pen and tested it, a courtesy likely extended because of my connection with Tom.
The 360 seems to be a pen of legend, evoking tales of endless delight and occasional heartbreak from its end users. Nonetheless, I am going to exalt the 360 in this review and here is why!
HISTORY
The luxury of yesteryears now withered away
According to the listing, the pen came without a box but did include its original pen sleeve - sporting a matching blue color or rather, what remained of it after 30 years of loyal service. Back then, Omas wouldn’t have left a stone unturned, when it came to presenting their exquisitely crafted pens.
The history of the 360 design is a fascinating tale, well-documented in this FPN comment. Apparently, in the 1990s, Omas was inundated with fountain pens sent in for nib repairs. The culprit? Users who apparently gripped the fountain pens incorrectly! Enter Miss Malaguti (refers to Raffaella Simoni, Armando Simoni’s daughter), who had a lightbulb moment: why not design a pen that forces users to hold it the right way. This stroke of genius led to the triangular 360, but it also created a new engineering challenge: how to cram their standard cylindrical piston mechanism into a triangular barrel. The solution? Stretch the pen’s size, making it significantly larger than Omas’s typical offerings. I discovered this firsthand when I held the 360 - it’s as big as the Scribo Feel, though without the heft.
DESIGN
An Equilateral Triangle
The Omas 360, released in 1996, is often hailed as the brand's last major design innovation, featuring its iconic triangular body and grip. I’ll admit, the idea of a triangular grip never seemed convincing to me - at least not until I actually held the pen in my hands. For this 360, the trims are rhodium-plated, a finish Omas fancifully called "HT" (High Tech).
Even after three decades, the pen manages to dazzle - though now in the muted hues of Venetian blue. The triangular facets give the pen a unique sense of curvature, something absent from the dodecagonal Paragon designs. At the finials, the gentle curvature is so precise it feels like it was sculpted by a mathematician in love with parabolas. The trims are simple yet elegant: a thin triangular ring followed by a thick center band adorned with the Greek key, meandros. Notably, unlike the more modern Omas pens from the company's later years (pre-2016 closure), this band doesn’t have "OMAS" stamped within the motif. Closed, the final trim cleverly highlights the piston knob - a small but satisfying detail.
The cap is snap-fit and pulls off with ease. However, I do have a minor quibble with the two-stage snapping mechanism. There’s a slight wobble during the second stage of uncapping, though it does seem to minimize the risk of ink spillage - a trade-off, perhaps. In my experience with premium fountain pen snap caps, the spectrum of quality is wide. At the top sits Faber-Castell (GvFC), while Sheaffer Legacy sits firmly at the bottom, scratching entire sections with the kind of determination that makes you wonder if it’s intentional. (Pro tip: If you want scratches to feel like a design feature rather than a bug, go all-in like the Lamy 2000. No offense to L2K lovers - I’m one of you!) Omas 360 comfortably lands in the top 20th percentile of snap-cap designs, at least in my limited experience and collection.
Even without a magnifying glass, the trims bear the subtle marks of 30 years of ageing, lending the pen a certain vintage charm. The friction-fit clip arcs gracefully, with a concave taper that’s as functional as it is beautiful.
Opening the cap reveals a delightful cross-sectional symmetry at the section’s end: a thin triangular ring followed by the signature Greek-key band. There’s a minor step as you transition to the section, but it never interferes with writing comfort. The triangular grip is smooth and intuitive, with its three planes acting as natural guardrails to ensure proper nib alignment. The pen does feel larger, albeit lightweight, compared to other Omas pens fitted with #6 nibs.
FILLING & CLEANING SYSTEMS
Piston Filler, Easy to use though difficult to service
The piston filling system features a sturdy, pyramid-like knob at the end, along with two tiny metallic circles. These are the exposed ends of a brass pin that secures the blind cap to the piston mechanism. The knob requires a respectable 4–5 turns to move the piston to its end stop, and the mechanism works smoothly, drawing up an around 1.2 ml of ink from the bottle. The difference in weight prior and post filling the pen was 1.18g.
Now, when it comes to lubricating the piston mechanism, things get a bit...tricky. Unlike the Paragon or Ogiva series, where you can simply unscrew the section and go to town with your silicone grease, the 360 makes you work for it. You’ll either need to carefully pull out the pin at the piston end or remove the heat-set nib from the other end. Both approaches require caution, patience, and possibly a bit of meditation beforehand. Secondly, it takes a long time to clean the pen, some ink just keeps coming out from nowhere.
NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS
Titanium Emotica
My Omas 360 is equipped with a Medium Titanium Emotica-series semi-flex nib, which feels remarkably similar to a well-tuned Conid Ti nib. The size "M" is discreetly marked on the wing of the nib, while the material composition is etched towards its tail. The OMAS branding sits within an oval, adorned with some scrollwork that looks definitely inferior to the gold nibs. Fortunately, the nib arrived perfectly tuned, and I’ve had no complaints so far.
The heat-set black ebonite feed ensures a generous ink buffer and an unapologetically wet ink flow. Ebonite, being hydrophilic, attracts water, unlike its hydrophobic plastic counterparts. This makes ebonite exceptionally efficient at delivering ink to the nib.
There’s also a charming difference between Omas feeds of different eras. The modern feeds (circa 2015) showcase symmetrical fins on their exposed surfaces, giving them a neat, precise look. In contrast, the older feeds (1996–2003) embrace a minimalist aesthetic, with a plain design.
PHYSICS OF IT – RELATIVELY SPEAKING
The Laws of Ms. Malaguti
Although there’s a step down from the barrel to the section, it never interferes with writing comfort. The pen is large, much like the Scribo Feel, and proves to be quite comfortable for extended writing sessions. And to top it off, there’s no room for confusion when holding the nib, thanks to the ingenious design by Miss Malaguti.
Below are the pictures along with a Scribo Feel and a Pelikan M200 for a comparative reference.
Here go the dimensions.
- Uncapped Length ~ 13.5 cm
- Total Length ~ 15 cm
- Exposed Nib Leverage ~ 2.5 cm
The weight of the pen is comforting even without the cap.
- Overall Weight ~ 26 g (inked, without cap ~16g)
WRITING & FINAL COMMENTS
Writes wet and elastically
The writing experience is beautiful - easily rivalling any well-tuned Bock Titanium nibs. Thanks to the natural springiness of titanium, this nib delivers an experience so delightful it’s a joy to ink the pen again.
On Endless Regalia 80 GSM paper with Scribe Indigo ink, the drying time clocks in at 40 seconds - another proof of wetness. While I’m not a die-hard flex writer, the line variation is pleasing enough to bring a smile to our face.
After 2–3 months of use, this pen has secured its place in my Omas rotation. One of the standout features for me is the long section, which offers a great level of comfort as you settle into your perfect grip. The Omas 360 might have started as a design experiment, but it’s proven itself as a reliable one.
Thank you for going through the review.
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