Ever since the news broke that TWSBI was releasing a new Diamond 580 in rose gold, I decided that this would be my first TWSBI pen. I have always been a fan of the combination of rose gold and black. I have a number of pens now with rose gold especially. This pen has the rose gold in the right places for me with one notable exception: the company logo on the top of the cap. It does not bother me, but I would have liked to see rose gold in the cap’s logo as well.
When I first opened the box, I was treated to the expected level of nice presentation from a pen at its price point. It was the standard presentation for this model from TWSBI, The underside of the plastic package the pen comes in also housed a small vial of silicone grease and a wrench needed to disassemble the pen.
The next thing I noticed about my first TWSBI was the weight. It weighs just about one ounce with the cap and it felt substantial, but not too heavy. Because of the metal piston mechanism however, the balance is a tad further back than I prefer when un-posted. If I were to post the cap, it would be too back heavy for me to use comfortably. Fortunately, I rarely ever post my pen caps.
Being a TWSBI, the pen holds just about 2 ml of ink, which is far more than most pens out there. The piston mechanism is smooth and easy to use. I really like how the clear faceted barrel nicely shows off the inner workings which are also rose gold plated. As lovely as this pen looks, I do think there is an opportunity for improvement. I would very much have liked to see a version where the entire pen was also the transparent smoke color, but as all pens in the 580 series have a clear barrel it is no surprise that this was not offered. To me though, that would raise the pen to the next level of elegance.
I had ordered the fine nib because generally that is best suited to my smaller handwriting. Twsbi has a nice chart on their website to help you select a nib size. For this model they do not have replacement nib sets yet available so you will want to be sure to order the right size for you.
For my first test of the pen I filled it with one of my usual black inks, Monteverde Raven Noir. I always like to use an ink I am familiar with for my first use of any pen. Right away I noticed the nib was very toothy on even the smoothest papers and downright scratchy on regular paper, I also experienced some skips and hard starts, much more than I would have expected with the ink I had in the pen. After examining the nib under magnification I found that the nib had baby’s bottom and one tine was just a hair longer than the other.
Knowing that TWSBI has a reputation for excellent customer service, I contacted them regarding the issue I had found. A representative from TWSBI replied to me in less than a day and soon after that, I was quickly sent a replacement nib and feed direct from their factory in Taiwan. I was only asked to cover the 6 dollar cost of postage which I was happy to do. The replacement arrived quicker than expected with only minimal delay due to Covid 19. It was also tested at the factory to ensure proper function.
Ok, take two. I was able to “hot swap” the nib without having to de-ink the pen due to the screw in design and in just seconds I was writing. Right away the difference was noticeable. I again examined the nib under magnification and it was perfectly aligned. The pen wrote smoothly with a western fine line that was a good size for my handwriting. It was comfortable to write with and the new nib had no skips or hard starts. While the pen had some issues at first, Twsbi stands behind their products and quickly took care of the issue. They really do live up to their reputation of excellent customer service.
While this pen is more expensive than TWSBI’s other Diamond 580 models due to the added expense and difficulty in the rose gold plating process, my enjoyment of it has outweighed the higher cost. I always love this color combination and the way this writes with its replacement nib has had me reaching for it nearly every day since I received the new nib. For anyone who has been on the fence about the extra cost, the TWSBI Diamond 580 Rose Gold II is really a beautiful pen that looks nicer in person than on the website. It wrote well and comes from a company that stands behind their products without question. I can definitely recommend this pen based on not only form and function, but the reputation of the company who makes it.
The Pen Blotter 
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