The re-release of the Rotring 600 ballpoint in 2018 was a historic moment for pen collectors. The Rotring 600 ballpoint returned to the market, to the excitement of everyone who didn’t get one in the late 1980s or early 1990s (or didn’t spend a fortunate on Ebay).
Since that point Rotring did little with the 600 and 800 ballpoint (the 800 being the re-release of the Rotring 600 gold edition), but that could be changing early next year.
Recently this catalog clipping appeared on Twitter, featuring a red and blue edition of the Rotring 600 ballpoint.
The tweet was made by Penstore_, a Japanese pen store and Rotring dealer. The catalog page looks to be official and while we have no other confirmation of its authenticity it does look to be legitimate. (Update: a popular pencil blog has posted the image as well and was likely the source.)
The catalog page has images of the following new pens and mechanical pencils:
- Red Rotring 600
- 0.5 mm mechanical pencil (model 19800)
- 0.7 mm mechanical pencil (model 19973)
- Ballpoint pen (model 19797)
- Blue Rotring 600
- 0.5 mm mechanical pencil (model 19971)
- 0.7 mm mechanical pencil (model 19974)
- Ballpoint pen (model 19798)
In the catalog there is mention of the Rotring 600 in a camouflage green in 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, and ballpoint as well, but it’s not pictured.
And then the black Rotring 600 appears in the catalog as well, with the 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, and ballpoint pen — as expected. Silver is not pictured.
The blog says to expect the red, blue, and green Rotring 600 models in February 2020. It’s not clear if these will be limited edition models or not, but the model numbers suggest that they will not be. It’s our guess they won’t be limited or special editions, but rather a new addition to the line-up.
The price for all the pens and pencils is listed at 3000 JPY, or about $28.
The page is notably missing a 0.3 mm Rotring 600 mechanical pencil, which fans have been waiting for. And it’s not clear if the Rotring 800 will be updated as well, but it seems unlikely that it would get the additional colors.
Rotring 600 Discontinued?
There have been rumors lately that these the Rotring 600 and 800 pens would be discontinued, because neither of the pens appear on Rotring.com’s ballpoint pen page (they had been there up until a few weeks ago).
Based on this catalog clipping it appears that this might not be entirely accurate — perhaps the pens will still be made but simply not sold in the US. If this is the case then it’s safe to assume that the red, green, and blue editions will have to be imported as well, but this is all conjecture at this point.
Interestingly, the Rotring 600 ballpoints are missing from Rotring’s Japanese ballpoint page as well, which means maybe the pens aren’t being discontinued in the US, but based on emails we’ve received from readers this does seem likely.