A delightful accessory, this pen knife by Victorinox sports the colours of the Tombow 8900 pencil.
The 8900 is a general purpose pencil whose packaging continues to use traditional graphics.
What a great idea! Tombow was founded in 1913, so they have a big anniversary approaching – I’m sure we’ll see more special products from them.
Lovely! Is it a Bundoki item?
Victorinox are a very nice brand for the kind of knives they produce…I’ve always preferred them to other makers of “Swiss Army” knives. The specific choice of the 8900 is a little strange to me, though I guess I can understand if they considered its artwork and branding to be iconic and a nice retro alternative to the Mono series (and probably a lot more usable for a Victorinox knife than Kodomono or Ippo!). I picked up a set of the Tombow 8900s recently and though I do enjoy the classic box art, I didn’t really find the pencils that convincing in appearance or performance. They were good, definitely usable, but I found I preferred the Mitsubishi 9800 in both aspects, despite the wonky quotation marks.
I always wondered why you didn’t have a deeper review of the Tombow 8900 and Mitsubishi 9800, as they are certainly popular pencils that have a rather distinct identity from the Mono and Uni brands.
Adair, thank you. Yes, the knife came from Bundoki.
For some further information, Tombow’s press release is here. An online translation tools suggests the product is part of a Swiss-Japanese collaboration series, and commemorates Victorinox’s 125th anniversary. The choice of the 8900 seems to also be mentioned, but the translation tool may not be conveying the subtleties. As I read the translation, the pencil’s colour (olive) and the box were meant as symbols of post-WWII peace and reconstruction.
Robert, yes, those pencils should be looked at. Lexikaliker had a positive review of the 9800 last year.
The pen knife looks fantastic. I hope the nice print will not be rubbed off easily. The reflection on the last picture makes me think there is a clear layer of paint above the print, is that true? I am asking because I have a different Victorinox pen knife on my key chain, the print rubbed off within a few months.
Hi memm, other than by attempting a scratch test (which I am reluctant to do), I don’t think I can visually detect if there is a separate clear layer on top. I would hope there is.
Memm, Penciladmin: I’ve owned two Victorinox knives in the past (both, sadly, lost in action), and even though they didn’t have a print on them, they did have a clear lacquer on the plastic part of the handles, which acted as a sort of scratch-proofing. I only found out when I dropped one of them against a stone and chipped off a small piece of the lacquer. As such, I’d be very surprised if this one didn’t have the same coating.
I’m using a Tombow 8900 as my main writing pencil just now. I got it in with a whole bunch of other pencils I bought from Pencils.jp recently. They’re nice pencils, relatively smooth and darker than a U.S./European H.B. grade. Not on a par with the Mono 100 in terms of finish or smoothness, but easily the equal of a F–C 9000. I wonder if it’s green and called ‘8900’ to bring to mind the Castell 9000?
Thanks for the report, Mike. Your hypothesis about the name might be correct.
Hello where did you purchase the victorinox
Tombow classic
Keith, as mentioned in the prior comments, it was purchased at Bundoki.com. Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced my knife. :-(