Stylish Doppelgängers from Germany

[drifand]

By the time I’d learned about the Lamy Persona series, it had already been rebranded as the exorbitantly priced ‘Imporium’… at well over $3-400 new, I gave up the dream and sought out its bargain basement alternative: the Wörther Profil.

At roughly $40, the Wörther boasted family owned, small batch manufacturing credentials based in Baden-Baden. At a glance, the Profil’s resemblance to the Persona/Imporium is undeniable: straight pinstripe fluting on the body, ending in a series of concentric rings on the cone.

To be sure, the Profil was a bit rough around the edges. The button extender for the Schmidt DSM guts was a bit loose and didn’t quite reach out of the body, which didn’t help alleviate the mushy feel of the mechanism. The clip also looked suspiciously wimpy and I have never tried to stress test it ever.

These shortcomings become more obvious when seen next to the Lamy original. I (finally) managed to obtain a Persona L222 ballpoint in the gorgeous platinum mirror coat finish, and it is really night and day!

The Persona featured an elaborately designed ‘diagonally slide out’ sprung clip that was deemed problematic and was eventually remade in a simpler manner for the Imporium. Me? I just dig the haptics of pushing the clip out.

Addendum : The original Lamy Persona was designed by Mario Bellini in 1990, and went out of production in 2005. The revised Lamy Imporium was rolled out in 2015.

[cytherian]

Some 16 years ago, I had the LAMY Persona fountain pen in palladium finish. I’d lucked out on a good buy as the seller had crappy photos. It cleaned up beautifully. The only downside was that the nib was a “B” (broad). It was too wide for my tastes, but it did have nice spring to it. I ended up trading it away to another fountain pen collector, but can’t recall what pen I’d gotten in exchange…

Anyway, I knew there was a ballpoint, but I’d not gotten around to tracking one down. Looks very handsome and stately.

[drifand]

Used Persona is still cheaper than a new Imporium, I think. But the metal bodies were notoriously prone to dents and the clip could be damaged from accidental abuse, like if you yank it up thinking it was hinged at the top.

[cytherian]

I remember the palladium finish was prone to abrasions that really couldn’t be polished out. The other thing is, the capped fountain pen had a rather fine edged tiny peg on the back side as an anti-roll device and while it did the job, I didn’t like how it felt. It could’ve been rounded off and still worked.