I’ve studied pencils, especially mechanica for over 5 years
This is one of my fav collection
I am Korean collector
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Hello @solian. Welcome to the group!
That is a gorgeous Mechanica. Loving all the case candy. 
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Thanks a lot for hearty greeting
I’ll post my other collections asap
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Ah, so you are the fabled collector! Thanks for joining us. It has been a bit of a mystery as Forrequi has been our liaison for quite a while.
We’ve all been so deeply amazed by the depth and breadth of your collection. Have you acquired them mostly one at a time, or did you have the good fortune of buying some in groups from other collectors, or lucky estate sales?
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At some point if you get a little free time, it would be very interesting to see this box side-by-side with the newer one. Is it the exact same mold, just another color (and older logo)?
I also see that there isn’t a cardboard support to organize the accessories, as usually seen on later ones. Is it missing, just hidden underneath the items shown, or was that support added later by Pentel?
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Incredible piece! I’m pretty sure you’re the only one in here with one of these.
Since it’s such a valuable pencil you may not want to disassemble it, but I’m interested in the pieces inside the grip. Even though it was released so shortly after the 0.3, I see how the nose cone is the new one
Left to right: 3rd edition, 2nd edition, 1st edition (0.3)
The internals are also different depending on the edition
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Welcome! Its extremely nice to see you here. I hope you enjoy the forum.
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Interesting. It’s a little hard to tell for me, but is the difference in how far the protection sleeve goes down? Or is the cone tip just slightly smaller in diameter?
I had heard about the internals differences when Xiao provided some info on Reddit a couple of years ago. It was pretty interesting. I’ve forgotten a lot though! I imagine Pentel made changes to improve reliability and smoothness.
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It’s in how much the sleeve goes down, the actual cone is very similar across versions. On 2nd and 3rd versions there’s this small gap between the cone and sleeve when retracted. And I was surprised to see that this gap is also in the first mechanica 0.5
left to right: 3rd, 2nd, 1st
left to right: 3rd, 2nd, 1st
You can see how the internal is shorter and the slot runs deeper on the 2nd and 3rd versions.
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Mostly one at a time
Using Korean community or japan auction
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My 0.5 MEC is very disappointing—the grip sleeve has some slack at the joint where the grip meets the barrel.
After receiving this pencil, I started scrutinizing MEC auction and Mercari listings, and I noticed slack at that joint in almost every single one.
I assume this is a known/common issue with the MEC (and perhaps the 0.5 in particular), but I’m curious if you guys have experienced something similar…
Thank you. Has it been around 5 years since you started? What references did you find most useful as your guide? I’m very curious because it feels like you went straight to the top very quickly. The photos we’ve seen are all top tier and exclusive models.
I started around 2009, but was very slow. It wasn’t until the Reddit community appeared for mechanical pencils and some prolific collectors arrived in it when I began to learn a great deal.
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I compared my 0.5 and 0.3 MEC. The 0.3 travel is different. In the last couple of millimeters, there’s a little extra resistance just as the sleeve docks into the final lowest position. And it has good tension. Almost like a detent.
My 0.5 MEC is different. I feel a little extra tension happen earlier in the travel, about 75% of the way down, and then as it docks into the lowest position, the tension loosens a little. The grid shell is a little loose. I won’t rotate on it’s own and while holding the pencil, but if I’m holding the body and then apply a very gentle twist to the grid shell it will move. It’s unlike the 0.3 MEC where it feels like it locks into place.
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In korea, there are few collectors who helped me collecting all those stuff
Also, sometimes i get information by google or korean community
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The plastic tray is Hiddenw underneath:joy:
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My 0.3 is rock-solid and feels locked into place, no matter where the sleeve is positioned. But the 0.5 has a bit of back-and-forth travel in the sleeve when it’s fully withdrawn.
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Interesting. So the 1st release only had a plastic tray? Only the 2,000 yen one? I have the later releases and they’re all cardboard.
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I remember some people on the Reddit sub also mentioning about play in the 0.5 MEC, so it does seem to be an intrinsic nature of the mechanism. And in my case, I confirm. Mine is near mint, in original box with accessories, so I do not think it was due to wear and tear from use.
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Maybe that is the difference between japanese version and export version
Most of mechanicas i saw was with plastic tray
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That seems to make sense.
I wish Pentel would have some kind of marker to make it possible for identifying a production batch. Wasn’t the Mechanica made up until some time in the 1990’s? I’m convinced mine are export models.
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