Rotring 700 Fountain pen prototypes
Ref. : No refs
Production Date : Mid 1990’s
From the same source who provide me the Rotring 600 Gold-platted prototype, I also acquired these four lovely Rotring 700 prototypes. The aim was to test some finishing and some texture for the grip area.
They are all standard Rotring 700, just missing the little « Rotring » logo and « 700 » text that is stamped at the base of the cap on the regular model. The R&D department tested various metal coating, the most obvious is of course the gold treatment, which is nicely and lightly executed on the grip area. It’s the only prototype that remain with the regular « square grid » on the grip area, the three others receiving a unique « rounded pattern ».
My contact doesn’t remember exactly why none of these pens pass the prototype tests, but he think that may be the sales figures of the 700 line were not high enough to justify mass production. Anyway, here’s 30 pictures of these quite scarce pens.
If, like me, you are a fan of these lovely 700 pens, you can check this previous post about the regular 700 line [here]
Model I
Model II
Model III
Model IV