I got a wild hair to try the Leuchtturm 1917 Drehgriffel Mechanical Pencil (0.7mm, £28GBP) and placed an order with Cult Pens recently and added this little cutie in my order. I had not seen the pencil version of the Drehgriffel and I’m not a big fan of ballpoints so a pencil was a great way to try the Drehgriffel. It’s a more premium mechanical pencil than a lot of the ones in my collection and I was curious how Leuchtturm 1917 would handle the advance and retract mechanism.
The exterior is a matte painted metal with a soft hex shape. The grip and end cap are matte black. This sets the pencil version of the Drehgriffel apart from the ballpoint and gel pens which mostly have white grips and caps (though there are some new gradient versions that hve these sections blended into the color of the barrel which is cool). To advance the leads, twist the end cap counter clockwise and it moves the lead down a designated amount. If you hold the cap in the twisted position, you can push the lead back into the pencil so it doesn’t break in transit. Honestly, being able to retract leads and not need to carry a sharpener is the best reason to keep a mechanical pencil in your kit. This is the Dusty Rose color, BTW, which looks like a beautiful orchid lilac color to me. Chef’s kiss on the color!
Interesting fact: there is a cartridge of sorts inside the pencil with a long cap that engages the telescoping mechanism. When you remove the cap, you can replace the leads as needed though I am concerned that over time the plastic cap might degrade or strip so that the lead no longer ratchets correctly.
The Drehgriffel branded lead refills I could find only come in a tube like every other 0.7mm lead refill so be very careful with the refill converter should you decide to purchase one of this pencils. Hopefully, at some point, Leuchtturm1917 will offer replacement lead tubes and caps for we the klutzy, forgetful and hard-on-our-tools folks.
Can we pause for a moment and talk about the logo branding on the Drehgriffel? I had the worst time determining that the first letter was a D. No one draws a capital D like that. And the lowercase g is wonky AF. I initially wondereed if the pencil was called a “irehyriffel” because it is so difficult to read. I get it. They are German company. Maybe Germans can easily read this but for an international audience, even typographic nutjobs like myself, this is almost indecipherable. The san serif they sue for the Leuchtturm 1917 branding is beuatiful and I have nothing against script logos but did you focus group this with anyone before you slapped in on thousands upon thousands of writing tools? Call me, Leuchtturm, if you need future design consulting. Sheesh. (Okay, rant over.)
Pencil Comparisons:
I decided it would be necessary to compare the Drehgriffel with its closest cousin, the Caran d’Ache 849 844 Mechanical Pencil. I added in a regular pencil (in the form of a Blackwing 24, collectible item. Don’t ask.) and a less expensive hexagonal mechanical pencil, the Kokuyo PS-PT112 0.7mm (no longer available via JetPens). The Caran d’Ache and Drehgriffel are very similar– metal, hex shaped, kind of fancy– but the Drehgriffel is ever-so-slightly wider around with a little bit longer grip section.
The Caran d’Ache is a tiny bit longer and includes a clip. And the Caran d’Ache is where I learned that the branding is hidden under the clip — very subtle and results in me now installing clips on my Kaweco pens the same way.
The Kokuyo is similar circumference, but its slightly longer and plastic so it feels different in the hand. Also, I guess its no longer available domestically so sorry about that. I didn’t know when I chose it for the comparison.
And finally, comparing to your standard, fancy-pants Blackwing, the Drehgriffel is heavier because its metal and designed to be that “sweet spot” length commonly called “Steinbeck Stage” in the pencil community. Woodcase pencils will feel different in the hand depending on the reamaining length though there are holders that can be used when pencils get shorter than Steinbeck Stage.
A woodcase pencil will also be lighter than the Drehgriffel and require sharpening but it does have an eraser on the end and only slightly slimmer overall. You can buy a whole box of fancy Blackwing pencils for about the same price as the Drehgriffel.
Final Verdict:
I am actually quite happy with the Drehgriffel pencil, quibbles about the logo aside. It feels nice in the hand, easy to hold but a little nicer than a woodcase or plastic mechanical pencil. What can I say, I’m a fancy pencil girl?
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It’s a nice feeling shell. I have the Bullet Journal version with a Japanese lead. I still like my Blackwing as a real pencil, but it’s not bad.