Bought this cool multi pens at a surplus shop;
Pilot BKH-150S-S
Platinum MWB-2000C
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I prefer the PILOT as it just feels a little better made. But they’re both nice.
Do you know about the etched variant?
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btw, is there any information which etching method was used?
There isn’t much, but from what I’ve gathered PILOT used an acid etching process. The exact specifics haven’t been publicly divulged. And I’ve heard it may be a “secret sauce” lost to time–the people who did it have retired and are incommunicado. At least, that’s what PILOT reps have told me.
The speculation is that an acid resistant coating is applied to the steel tubular body in way to expose a pattern, using machinery. Then an acid bath is given that lightly dissolves the exposed metal in a uniform fashion. Once removed from the acid and cured, the exposed pattern can then be color treated. And it seems to be some kind of anodizing or color acid etching. Black is most common. There’s also a silver color very closely matched the steel, making it look raw. It’s often called “white stripe” because it’s “opposite” of black.
How is it not enamel? You can remove enamel with light scrubbing and acetone. I actually tried this on a well worn example that had fading to the black lines. I thought I could just make it “silver stripe.” But that anodizing was really tough and I couldn’t completely eliminate it, just thin it.
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Thank you, would laser “etching” be used today exclusively, because it was not available at the time, or could there still be an advantage of acid over laser today for this application?
I’ve seen it and it’s a looker. I’m always fascinated by the weighted mechanism of these multi pens.
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The mechanism is pretty good. rOtring used a similar design in pretty much every single multi-pen they made.
I had a 2+1 which was beat up and then started to fail… because a plastic component had a piece broken off. I was able to disassemble it, remove the fragment, and then restore proper operation.
I actually prefer the gravity mechanism vs. static, because it’s so easy to be familiar with the multi-pen orientation for each type of insert. With the PILOT 2+1, the 0.5 mm pencil is opposite the clip. And then you just get used to rotate forward or backward for red or black/blue. The only drawback? Rattling. PILOT couldn’t really dampen the components. It’s just plastic against plastic, though.
There were two versions released. The first has a rounded, “bullet” shaped front end while the second has a conical shape to the front end.
There were a few limited released too. This is my favorite, the grid pattern. I don’t own one and have only seen 2 over the course of the past 8 years (although I’ve not been actively looking). The 2nd time I saw one and tried to bid, but it shot up to a crazy price.
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I didn’t know this one, it’s gorgeous! Although there’s one I like even more:
It can be yours for the meager price of ¥160,000 
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Yikes! That price… 
Total lottery-win ask. I’m 99.9999% sure it won’t sell at that price.
But it’s fantastic. Almost looks like a reverse of this:
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rOtring used a similar design in pretty much every single multi-pen they made.
I bet they had the same manufacturer
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Took a quick scan of the proxy sites - have been inactive for about 8 months now after starting a new job.
Looks like sold prices are down about 30%+ across a lot of the higher end models from where they were in summer 2025. That track with what you all are seeing?
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Some models seemed to have had price dips, but then bounce back up. I do have to wonder if the global tariffs are influencing buying decisions. I know for myself, I was very put off by the added costs and uncertainty on delivery.
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likewise. made it far easier to say no to purchases I wasn’t super jonesing for.
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My biggest problem was that I have an interest in some items that aren’t writing instruments, which happen to have additional FDA constraints. And while I was able to obtain (or fabricate) necessary documents, ECMS Express and Avia small parcel are restricted from shipping… forcing me to use FedEx, DHL or UPS… which have painfully high fees (such as brokerage) imposed.
So, I’ve pretty much finished dealing with those other items. Shipping should be a little more reasonable now. Still.. these tariffs are an obscene tax on people.
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