REVIEW: OTTO HUTT DESIGN 03 FOUNTAIN PEN

Of every Otto Hutt fountain pen I've tried so far at this point, I think the one that surprised me most is this one: the Otto Hutt Design 03! It's inherently a pen that wouldn't be my first pick, the only reason for that being the quite slender design. Though in the end, it turned out to be an incredibly interesting pen, for multiple reasons! 

The Design 03 is one of the newest Otto Hutt pens, the first pen that came out after they updated their brand for a more modern look and feel. Modern is certainly the word I'd use to describe the 03. The design game is absolutely on point with this one. The pill-like overall shape (technically it's called a stadium shape) that ends in two flattened-out finials (slightly convex finial on the back, a subtle - but noticeable convex shape on the cap finial!), immediately gives a very space-age look to the pen. 

The design is further accented with a small center band that's unadorned, and a clip-on clip that sits flush with the surface of the cap (I guess it's technically removable, but I definitely WILL NOT try that). I especially love how the angular and straight clip contrasts the smooth and rounded shape of the pen. On the fixture of the clip is the Otto Hutt branding, as well as a unique serial number.

The available colorways of the Design 03 again reflect the more modern approach of Otto Hutt since the rebrand, with matte coatings and trendy rose gold or black PVD trims. I'm most attracted to this matte, 'all-black' version, rounded up with glossy black PVD trims. Worth noting is that you'll see a two-tone gold and rhodium-plated nib in my images, but they now switched to all black PVD-coated nibs for the pens that have black trims - which rounds up the sleek all-black color scheme. 

A somewhat unusual design quirk in the finish of the 03 are the two thin glossy black lines that are painted across the cap and barrel. It's super subtle, but it definitely sets the design even further apart from anything else. The new 'o | h' logo is also visible interrupting this line on the barrel, but the attentive reader will notice that it's actually upside down for right-handed writers... an interesting choice? 

 

L to R: Pelikan M1005, Pelikan M805, Otto Hutt Design 04, Design 06, Design 03, Design 07, Lamy Safari, Lamy 2000

From the size comparison above, you'll see that the Design 03 is a fairly average-sized pen, I'd say. At 14 cm (5.51") capped, it's only a hair shorter than a Lamy Safari. It is, however, noticeably skinny (11 mm/ 0.43") across the entire length of the pen. Especially the section is noticeably thin, it tapers down to just 8 mm (0.31"), which required some getting used to because I don't often use thinner pens like this (the comparison below shows how thin it really is, compared to other Otto Hutt pens). The diameter, and a rather aggressive step towards the barrel, could potentially be a deal-breaker for some people. The snap cap means that there are no threads to be bothered by, though.

Top to bottom: Otto Hutt Design 03, Design 06, and Design 07.

The weight though! This pen has an incredible - sort of satisfying - heft to it, which totally caught me off-guard the first time I pulled it out of its box. Despite the fairly slender form factor, it still manages to hit about 58 grams on the scales. That's because the entire pen is made out of metal (build quality and overall fit and finish are excellent, btw!), brass I assume.

Uncapped, over half of that weight lies in the barrel, so it's a bit back-heavy. The Design 03's shape does not allow for the cap to post, but it measures a comfortable 12.5 cm (4.92") uncapped so I personally never found the need to post the cap anyway.

As mentioned, the design of the nib is actually not how you'll find it on the pen you can buy in-store today (both the steel and 18k gold nibs are now black PVD coated on the colorways with black PVD trim!). The two-tone 18k gold nib has quite a pretty logo imprint, and I actually don't mind the two-tone plating on it. Although as you can see, this particular example isn't plated very accurately on the design, which I assume is due to the fact that this is not an exact retail version of the pen - Other Otto Hutt pens I've seen have all had an impeccable plating finish on the nibs.

Otto Hutt likes to stick to smaller nibs on all but the Design 07, which means the 03 is outfitted with a #5-sized nib. For once, I actually think the slim and not-so-large footprint of the Design 03 is a very proportionate place to fit a #5 nib.

Enough about looks though, because this 18k medium nib is a FAN-TASTIC writer! It reminds me a lot of the writing characteristic of Montblanc, which is a pretty big compliment I'd say. The nib has a perfectly balanced smoothness to it - almost buttery, but not so much that it becomes unreliable in terms of skipping or hard starting. The ink flow is on the heavier side, which is right up my alley. It's a reliable writer, it starts right up, even after long periods of being unused, and I found that it had a remarkably forgiving sweet spot. 

I think Otto Hutt's rebranding was the best move they could've made to get some new exposure. The more modern design language of the Design 03 is a refreshing departure from the more classic older Otto Hutt pens, and it's very well-executed. The slightly smaller and slim form factor combined with its considerable heft makes for an absolutely fascinating pen to pick up and play around with. Though at the same time, writing comfort might be the 03's most controversial aspect - you either love how different it is or absolutely hate it. What's not controversial, is the nib performance: it's just all-round excellent. Their steel nibs are already, reliable, good quality writers, but this gold nib takes the entire experience to the next level! 

The Otto Hutt Design 03 prices start at 160€ and go up to 190€ for this all-black version - that's with a steel nib. The 18k gold nib is a 110€ option. Given the quality and excellent writing experience you get, I feel like 300€ (for the most expensive version) is actually a correct price point. So far, the Design 03 is not as widely available online as other Otto Hutt pens. You can order directly from the Otto Hutt webshop (although you might need Google translate to navigate the german site), or our site sponsor Penworld also has them in stock!

NOTE: This product was provided by Otto Hutt, so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affiliate links.