Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Rotring 600 Model Identification

Like many writing instruments, the Rotring 600 has undergone many changes over the years. Here’s a link to a document attempting to identify and categorise the various changes undergone by the Rotring 600 series of pens and mechanical pencils.

Click Rotring 600 Model Identification

The document was compiled by Lawrence Gottlieb with the help of many pen friends. If you have any additional information then please leave a comment here so Lawrence can add it into the document.

18 comments:

Black Lead Nate said...

Hi Dave,

Thanks for posting this. Great help. Now I know the Rotrings I have are series 4 and 5. Any chance you might review any of the series 4/5 in the near future. I would love to read your take on this pencil. By the way, series 4/5 are still available in this part of the world. Nobody seems to be buying them.

2nd_astronaut said...

Dave, so I guess you finally bought a Rotring 600?

Kiwi-d said...

Yes, I now have a Rotring 600.
Check back in about 24hrs....

Kiwi-d said...

Black Lead Nate - I have just noticed your comments - your comments are not being notified through to me by the usual email. I have noticed recently that the Google email spam filter is suddenly blocking some comment notifications to me. Even stranger, it only ever seems to block registered users like yourself.
I would apprciate if you could leave another comment here on this posting, and I will try to track it further. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Dave, PointFour here. Can't get your end to recognise my OpenID, despite being logged into it correctly. Can't get the edit box to accept pasting from the clipboard either.

Rotring 600: Everything2 has a short article - eulogy, really - on the Rotring 600 series of fountain pen, ballpoint and pencil here: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=rotring+600&lastnode_id=124&searchy=search

Kiwi-d said...

Hi PointFour.
Thanks for the link.
I think I recall reading on the Blogger Help Forum of some recent problems with OpenID and Blogger commenting. I'll check. Do you happen to use Firefox or Chrome? Firefox has a problem with Blogger such that you need to ensure you security settings allow third party cookies. But thats probably unrelated to your issue.
I might change back to the old pop-up comment presentation rather than the current embedded comments as the old way seems to have less trouble with Firefox and other browsers. But then I might upgrade to Disquss... :-)

Kiwi-d said...

PointFour - a quick browse of Blogger Help indicates there are problems with OpenID and Blogger comments. One might even suspect "it's broken" at the moment.

Black Lead Nate said...

Hi Dave, Im leaving a comment for your tracking purposes.

Looking forward to your Rotring 600 review.

Kiwi-d said...

Hi BLN. Your latest comment here was flagged and put into my spam folder by my ISP, along with your P205 comment. Your earlier comments have never appeared which implies they were assessed and auto-deleted by ISP level spam filtering. Well, having now marked you as non-spam hopefully the system will "learn" like it is supposed to and things will go OK from now.

Anonymous said...

Where have all the RR-600s gone?

Some are here :-)

http://www4.pic-upload.de/23.02.10/fj4st6bgnblh.jpg


-Arne (Hamburg)

2nd_astronaut said...

Arne, I think pencil porno is the correct word for this :-)

Anonymous said...

I have 2 RR600's both series 1 by the full red "rotring" lettering followed by the lead size. My first one purchased in 1991 has a different grip section to the one I received today (New Old Stock). My 1991 grip section has an exposed copper coloured spring which butts up against a small white collar at the jaws. My 2nd one has a white plastic sheath instead of the spring. Both pencils are without the metal lead tube of more recent offerings from Japan. Question to Rotring 600 experts - is there more than one version of the RR600 series 1??? - my two seem to indicate so. Thanks

2 1/2p

PointFour said...

Interesting article on Rotring 600 MPs (not FPs!) on Fountain Pen Network, here: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/196419-my-rotring-600-mech-pencils/
Photos of dismantled ones of different generations.

Anonymous said...

Calling all/any ROTRING 600 experts. Any comments on the previous two posts. Anything would be helpful. Seems the various "series numbers" have there shortfalls.

Thanks PointFour - I am a poster in the FPN thread you mention.

Anonymous said...

...sorry forgot to sign off previous post

2 1/2p

The Old Geezer said...

Sorry Dave, but that link was absolutely No help at all. In fact, it's confusing. No mention of the wording or lack there of
the wording on the side of the pencil, in red. No mention of the 2 different caps, one closed the other open. Nothing About the letters engraved on the pencil just below where the threads end. Not much of any useful information.

Unknown said...

Series one came in solid brass or Gold plate.The grips were different but later the brass 600 was used on both. The patterns were the same but deeper etching on the brass model, the grip on the Gold so soomth that the lack of grip could be a bit of an issue. The 500 series was the most technical being able to be used with a stepped,bevelled or straight edge retracting sleeve to protect the lead and auto feed as you draw. Surprisingly few were repaired under warranty. The smoother the lead the more blockages no softer than HB or in the case of rotting 2H. Drafting was mainly done on film or trace both surfaces are designed (bit like fine sandpaper) to be matte (matte tooth is slightly rougher) which gives good line colour and consistant line with. The harder the lead less graphite the less blocking of the clutch.

PenMuseum said...

Gottlieb's model reference for the 600 is terrific, except that it doesn't cover the more recent release of the 600 that brought back the full labeling once featured on the Series 1.

Is there any simple way to tell them apart? I read somewhere that there's a red paint tint difference, where the original is darker and the more recent is lighter... at least on the capped 600 rollerball and fountain pen. But for the mechanical pencil, if there's some other telltale signs to distinguish, I'd really like to know. Thanks!