Caran d’ACHE 777
My first Caran pencil reiew here. At first glance it may look like it is just a normal ‘yellow’ pencil but on a little closer inspection you realise this is carrying a quality finish.
The company
Caran (d’ACHE) is a company I feel will always produce quality. Maybe it’s just because they are Swiss, and all things Swiss just start out with a reputation of quality.
The company formed in 1915, with their headquarters in Geneva.
I don’t own too many items from Caran, but I have a few, and recently had the pleasure of staying in a hotel (in Porto, Portugal), that had a predominantly Caran Stationery shop in its reception (the whole hotel used to be a Stationery shop, and having the shop still in reception is a really nice nod to its past). Everything I’ve seen from them feels like a quality item.
The pencil itself
This may be a yellow pencil, but it does not come across as your normal American style ‘every day yellow pencil’. The finish on the pencil is good, and the embossing is of excellent quality. The end cap is OK, but could be a little smoother.
The pencil is listed as being made from Cedar, which given the expected level of quality here, that is what I’d expect.
How does it write
It’s smooth. It feels good in the hand (I’m quite happy sat spinning an twirling the pencil). It writes just fine, but is probably a little on the hard side for me for an HB. The line is just about dark enough for me to use, but a little darker would have been nice.
Sourcing
I’m pretty sure this is not something you are just going to wander across on your highstreet. iirc, mine came as part of an internet shop speciality pencil grab by me - that is, I went and selected a bunch of pencils I didn’t own for delivery, just one or two of each. I only have one of these.
Sourcing off the internet is not difficult, they seem available. They are however not cheap - at >£2 each, even in bulk. I guess for me then I cannot rate these as ‘value for money’, there are other pencils equally as good that are significantly cheaper.