Sleek & Elegant designs shipped in from Germany

 Otto Hutt Design 7, A Closer Look

Specs:

• Description- A hefty Sterling Silver pen that harkens back to classic German design but with a modern feel.

• Nib- 18k gold (EF-B)

• Material- Sterling Silver (also available with lacquer over the SS)

• Filling Mechanism- Cartridge or Converter

• Weight- 65 grams capped

• Measurements- 5.5 cm capped

• Ink Capacity- 1ml converter

History & Origin

    Founded in 1920 by Karl Hutt, the brand was originally focused on making Sterling Silver writing instruments which still rings true today, he only had 20 employees in the beginning but this didn't stop the growth of the brand. By 1962 the brand had eclipsed their old manufacturing plant and decided to move into a bigger facility in Pforzheim, Germany which its where the pens are still being produced to this day. When Karl could no longer run the company his son, Otto, became the head and the brand still bears his name to remind of the family beginnings of the business. 

    In 2006 the brand was relaunched under the new owners and is now being run by Marco Frei. Similar to some aspects of Lamy's design philosophy, Karl Hutt was an adamant follower of the Bauhaus school of design and decided to make pens that stood on their own with respect to quality of writing and function first but also looked timeless and unique. The Design 07 is the brand's flagship and its for this reason that I'm choosing to highlight it here today so without further ado, lets take a look at the packaging and design of the pen.

Appearance & Packaging

    The pen comes in what appears to be a regular box contained in a silver slip cover but when you open the box you are immediately reminded of the brand's Bauhaus design inspiration because you are met with only the pen surrounded by black cardboard. I think that it may have been nice to see some sort of softer material and the pen have a more snug fit but I don't fear that the pen will be damaged or anything like that while in transit. When you lift up the cardboard insert that the pen is housed in you are met with a variety of branded necessities to get you writing immediately out of the box. 

They included a pack of cartridges with black ink, a standard international converter for if you want to use bottled ink, the use/care guide along with the warranty information and a nice pen sleeve to protect your pen when it's not in use. As far as the actual pen goes, each Otto Hutt writing instrument is serialized similar to Montblanc in order to stop fakes and keep track of lost or stolen pens which always gives peace of mind when making a decision to buy. This pen is made with a solid sterling silver construction and OH says that the pen has 36g of silver in each pen and with the sufficient heft of this pen I have no trouble believing them. I really enjoy the stripping on the cap and barrel because it feels very well done and isn't so extreme that it's distracting during a writing session. 

Another one of my favorite aspects is that the silver Hallmarks are designed to line up in one of the cap orientations which really shows the brands attention to detail and reassures me that they've gotten everything else correct. The pen is equipped with a really nice feeling spring loaded clip that isn't too firm and won't get worn out with continued usage. The cap band sports the brand name along with Germany and the unique serial number for the individual pen. Enough of the packaging, lets see how it actually writes!

Nib & Performance

    The Otto Hutt Design 07 features a #6 sized Jowo compatible nib in 18k gold and on this model it is two toned which I really enjoy the look of on this all silver pen. You can get the nib in your choice of EF-B and since the nib is in a Jowo housing, you could even switch it into other pens that are Jowo compatible. As far as the writing, it is very smooth with just a hint of what I like to call "good feedback" and that just means that you can feel the writing as opposed to it just being silky smooth gliding across the paper and I personally prefer a little feedback so I really enjoyed writing with this pen. 

    The body is big enough to store an extra short international cartridge behind the one in use or you could use a converter for ink bottle fill. With all the silver and metal in this pen it would be inadvisable to eye dropper fill. The section of the pen has a lip to also keep your fingers from slipping off and onto the nib during writing sessions and I found that due to this feature, even with the kind of heavy nature of this pen, I wasn't experiencing hand cramping or anything like that even after a longer writing session. Alright now lets take a look at what I like and dislike about the pen and then talk price.

Pros

• very solid construction
• cool minimal design
• 18k gold nib that's also removable easily
• each pen has a serial number
• sterling silver
• a lot of thought was put into the design and it was executed very well

Cons

• nib is on the smaller side of most flagships which have #8 nibs
• no option for piston fill
• may be a little too heavy for some
• fingerprint magnet

Final Thoughts & Price

    Overall I think that this pen is a great value for the price, you are essentially getting a chunk of sterling silver that has been shaped into a luxury writing instrument and luxurious it is! The Otto Hutt is not an oversized pen but is a thick pen and the weight really helps it feel solid and well built. The nibs are also very well tuned out of the box and have good ink flow so you just get a very nice quality silver pen that is a great example of Bauhaus design principals. The pen can be purchased from Pen Boutique for the price of $796, $636 for rollerball and $340 for ballpoint, feel free to ask us any questions you may have in the comments section or stop by and take a look in person!