Together with the, quite well-known, Design 04 (review HERE), the Design 06 is probably one of the more popular pens that German manufacturer Otto Hutt makes - at least they are the first pens that come to my mind. But while the 04 is perhaps a rather particular design, probably not everyone's taste, the Design 06 seems more of a crowdpleaser. At least from my perspective, the 06 is about as inoffensive as pen design gets - I don't mean that in a negative way, it's just a very simple and elegant design. Maybe a bit more low-key, but very hard to knock.
The 06 - again - shows off Otto Hutt's forte of combining a fairly classic overall design (a strongly tapered cigar-shaped profile with flat finials) with very modern, simplistic details and clean, minimal branding.
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| Clip brothers! |
Probably my favorite small design aspect that Otto Hutt gets right on many of their pens is their fantastically sturdy, spring-loaded clips - Yes, I am a stickler for clips, and this is once again an excellent one: it's extremely robust but still functional and it clips in pockets easily, all while still retaining a simple and minimal design.
Especially in this black lacquer colorway, the Design 06 is a sleek and stylish pen with a certain 'ST Dupont-chic' flair (but more modern-looking than Dupont). It looks and feels more expensive than it really is, and would easily be suited for a formal or work environment. But again, Otto Hutt's balance between classic and modern design also shows in the available finishes: black with rhodium trim too boring? Pick one of the frosted colorways, or the rose gold or black PVD trims, and you instantly get a much more modern-looking pen.
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| L to R: Pelikan M1005, M805, Otto Hutt Design 04, Design 06, Design 03, Design 07, Lamy Safari, Lamy 2000 |
The Design 06 is a smaller pen, no surprises there, with Otto Hutt leaning almost exclusively towards smaller pens in their current portfolio (even the flagship Design 07, that I reviewed HERE, is still not an extremely large pen!). The 06 measures 13.8 cm/ 5.43" closed, the strongly tapered design wastes a lot of space inside the cap because you're left with a pen that's just 12 cm/ 4.73" when you take the cap off. That's cutting it close for me, being quite a bit shorter than what I'd consider my personal sweet spot.
Luckily, the 06's section design has an interesting profile with a very strong pinched shape (from 11.3 mm/ 0.45" near the threads to 8.7 mm/ 0.34" at the narrowest point!), which effectively pulls your grip towards the front of the nib and - despite being 'slippery' metal - keeps your fingers in place quite well. Another beneficial side-effect of holding the pen so close towards the nib is that you'll bypass the step, because yes...there's quite a step behind the threads (and it's noticeable when you grip right on it). The all-metal construction makes for a rather hefty 46 gram total, again a given throughout Otto Hutt's product catalog. Uncapped, the weight sits nicely balanced in the hand. The cap can be posted securely (and rather deep onto the barrel), which makes for a heavy pen but doesn't make it extremely back-heavy like I feared it would.
Comfort-wise, this is a very peculiar pen. A lot of elements that don't sound comfortable at first, come together into a design that's surprisingly decent for everyday writing. Would I call this the most comfortable pen ever created? Well, no, obviously, but it's actually not half bad, and I could certainly use it for longer writing sessions without any problems.
If the overengineered clip is anything of an indication of the overall build quality, you'll know that the Design 06 is a very well-made pen. The sturdy all-metal build means this pen can take a beating. Every part is well-polished, the black lacquered finish is spotless, no rough edges to be found. It really is an exceptionally solid writing instrument that just exudes quality, which is something I've found true for every Otto Hutt I've used so far.
Before we move on to the writing performance, the threads on this pen deserve a small word of praise. The Design 06 is, as far as I can remember, the only pen I've ever seen that uses quadruple-start threads! It takes just half a turn to unscrew the cap, which is insanely fast, and yet it still closes securely. It's a seemingly small feature, but it's certainly useful if you need to take notes quickly during class or in a meeting.
The steel #5-sized nib continues my positive streak of excellent nibs with Otto Hutt, this makes for four pens in a row that have all been excellent writers in their own respect. I've actually come full circle in my reviews of Otto Hutt pens: from a simple steel nib on the Design 04, to the 18k gold on the Design 03 (review HERE), a larger #6 18k gold specimen on the Design 07, and now back to steel, with a fine nib this time around. The bicolor plating fits this pen well, with its classic look, and it's cool that they color-match the trims when you go for a rose-gold or black PVD finish.
The fine nib is a wet writer and with that, lays down a line that runs closer to even some Western mediums. I'm pretty sure Otto Hutt uses JoWo nibs, and that's definitely noticeable in terms of having a reliable writing experience. It dries out ever-so-slightly after longer periods of time, but always manages to find its bearings after the first stroke, so that's ok. I remember in my review of the Design 04, I mentioned that it's hard to recommend going for the more expensive gold nib option, and I still think that holds true. Yes, Otto Hutt's gold nibs are excellent - maybe a touch smoother and softer than their steel counterparts - but the steel nibs are nothing to scoff at.
The Otto Hutt Design 06 is a fairly unassuming pen. Where the 03, 04 and 07 are all a bit more different and unique, the 06 is understated and elegant, but still retains the extremely high build quality that I've seen on other Otto Hutt pens. While not the most comfortable pen in the world, the 06 still managed to exceed my expectations in terms of the overall writing experience, and of course you can be quite certain that the nibs will be excellent, steel or 18k.
I have a lot of positive things to say about the Design 06, so I'd say it offers very good value at 145€ MSRP from Otto Hutt's own online shop (It's in German, but Google's auto-translate does a pretty good job), although the price does creep up when moving into the matte colored finishes, and rose gold or black PVD trim options. The 110€ extra for a gold nib is certainly not a bad investment, but IMHO it's not necessary to get a great writing experience.
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.
I was given an Otto Hutt Design 06 as a leaving gift and its been the most difficult fountain pen. At first it had an extra fine nib as that is what I normally use. The ink really just didn't flow. So I changed that to a fine nib. No improvement. I've cleaned the nibs thoroughly, tried different makes of ink but no improvement. So I'm stuck with a pen pleasant to hold, good weight and good to write with immediately after loading ink but no flow if left for even less than a day.
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