Thursday Drops: Roterfaden TGS_25, Inkvent Calendars, New Lochby, and a huge Zento and Anterique Restock!

While I took a couple days earlier this week to recover from last weekend’s festivities, we’re right back at it today with all sorts of new arrivals, including plenty of items that just cleared customs! Our pre-holiday shipment of Roterfaden TGS_25 Taschenbegleiters arrived today, with both the Dark Green and new Light Grey versions available for purchase immediately. This will likely be our last shipment for 2025, but I ordered a lot and I expect them to last.

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The Lochby Quattro v2 is longer and capable of holding larger pens more comfortably.

Diamine Inkvent Calendars have also arrived and are going fast. While I’ve yet to open one, I hear that this year’s calendar will feature permanent inks as well as sheen, shimmer, and standard versions. Finally, we have the 2026 Traveler’s Notebook Diaries and Special Accessories, new Lochby Cases and Notebook Covers, and additional Uni Zento gel pens and Anterique Pens.

We are open in-store this weekend, 1-6pm on Thursday and Friday and 10am-6pm on Saturday, but please keep in mind that the main shop has moved from Suite 113 to Suite 107. Come see these and many other products in person!

1. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter TGS_25. Our A5 Slim Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter has cleared customs, with a fresh shipment arriving today! I have made both the dark green version and new light grey version available for purchase. This will almost certainly be our last shipment of these before the holidays.

2. Diamine Inkvent Calendars. The Colorverse Advent Calendars sold out just in time for Diamine to arrive! We still have a handful of Inkvent Calendars remaining, and I don’t expect these to last through the weekend.

3. Bindewerk Flex Linen Cover A5 Journals. Those who enjoy textured paper should love these Bindewerk books, which feature a laid texture with light ruling on ink friendly Italian paper. Many different colors are available!

4. Traveler’s Company 2026 Dated Refills. We have both Standard and Passport sizes available, and these will also fit the A5 Slim TGS_25 Taschenbegleiter or the Lochby Voyager Journal Cover.

5. Lochby Mini Venture Pouch. Lochby has released the classic Venture Pouch in a smaller size, for more compact modular carry! These feature the same inverted design, with a pouch on top and a zippered pen case on the bottom. Watch a demonstration of how they work here.

6. Lochby Quattro v2 Pen Case. The original Quattro pen case has been a best seller for us ever since it launched, and the Quattro v.2 adds a touch of length and wider slots to hold up to 8 pens, if they’re slimmer and/or you don’t mind your pens touching.

7. Lochby Field Folio, Now in A6! Lochby has expanded the Field Folio range to include not just B5 and A5 but also A6. If you’re looking for a zippered cover for an A6 notebook (including a Hobonichi Techo), please give this one some consideration.

8. Pilot Prera Fountain Pens. Pilot recently released the Prera in a range of new vintage-inspired colors. You can read my own assessment of this excellent midrange fountain pen in yesterday’s post.

9. Uni Zento Flow and Zento Standard Gel Pens. The popular Uni Zento is back in stock, in both the metal barrel Zento Flow and the standard Zentos, in .38mm and .5mm tip sizes. More details here.

10. New Anterique Bicolor Ballpoints, including TGS Colors! I really stocked up on new Anterique colors in this latest order, after you all cleaned us out. Let’s just say I bought a lot of the Maroon and Black Colorway, for obvious reasons.

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Just a few of the new colors that arrived this week! We now have 20+ color combinations to choose from in the BiColor Pen section.

Pen Review: The 2025 Pilot Prera Revamp

Believe it or not, there is a very popular pen that I’ve never reviewed, and that pen is the Pilot Prera. The Prera has been around for years, and often recommended as a solid “next step” option for those upgrading from a pen like the Pilot Kakuno, Metropolitan, Explorer or other basic “entry level” pen. The $50-75 price range can be pretty sparse, and the Prera has long been one of the stalwarts in this bracket.

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Why have I never reviewed the Prera? Well, for years the Prera was only available to the U.S. market in a clear body style that never appealed to me enough to buy. Since I run a highly curated retail store, I never previously explored carrying the Prera since I tend to focus mostly on pens that strongly appeal to me personally and that I like to recommend. Was this 100% fair to the Prera? Probably not, but in any event, the recent release of four new solid colors (Porcelain White, Honey Yellow, Empress Teal, and Cinnamon Brown) caught my attention and prompted me to reconsider. I’ve been using a yellow Prera nearly exclusively for the past two weeks and I like it.

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The Pilot Prera compared to a Kaweco Sport, Pilot Custom 74, and Tom’s Studio Wren. The Kaweco Sport and the Tom’s Studio Wren are what I would consider true pocket pens, while the Custom 74 is more full-size so you can see how they compare.

So what are my thoughts? For starters, I can see why this pen is popular. Compact fountain pens such as the Kaweco Sport, Sailor Pro Gear Slim, and Pilot E95s are favorites for a reason, in that they “carry small and write big”. While I wouldn’t put the Prera in the “pocket pen” category (it has a friction-fit cap), it’s small enough to be portable, and it would fit nicely with a planner or small organizer. Posted, the Prera is large enough for me to use comfortably for longer writing sessions, and I’ve used it to journal nightly without issue.

Though labeled a medium, the steel Prera nib could best be characterized as a “Fine Medium” nib, IMHO. It’s a perfect width for my own everyday writing.

Pilot’s main draw, in my experience, is the brand’s rock-solid reliability. The stainless steel medium nib on my Prera is a smooth writer and on the fine side for a medium steel nib, which I prefer. While not inexpensive at $64, the Prera does ship with both a cartridge and converter, so you’re able to use both Pilot cartridges and bottled ink out of the box.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Though more expensive than the Metropolitan or Explorer, the Prera offers a more traditional flat-top format somewhat reminiscent of the Sailor Pro Gear or Pro Gear Slim. A reliable writer that will perform as expected, these pens are great for those seeking a fountain pen with a “professional” look, or simply a more compact writing instrument for use on the go. Personally, I think the new colors are outstanding, with Honey Yellow and Empress Teal being my favorites since they remind me of classic vintage pens. Cinnamon Brown is also more of a burgundy than a true brown, and not a color that you typically see from Pilot.

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The Prera is priced at $64 and ships with a squeeze converter included. Currently available with either a fine or medium stainless steel nib, I understand that additional nib options are on the way, including a steel stub/italic that I look forward to trying out once it’s available. For now you can find the new Preras in our own shop, and we may consider adding the clear Prera’s going forward if there is enough interest.

Come see these pens in person! Visit our shop, currently open Thursday and Friday 1-6pm, and Saturdays 10-6pm. Check this page to keep up to date on our current hours, which may change depending on travel schedules during pen show season.

New Arrivals: Linen Flex A5 Notebooks by Bindewerk!

I’ve been building up to including these flexible linen Bindewerk notebooks in our curation, and was finally able to bring in a fun selection of covers in dot, lined, and at least one blank variant.

Bindewerk notebooks are handmade in Germany, and feature lightly textured/laid paper with an unobtrusive dot grid that disappears while you write. The flexible cover opens and lies relatively flat, for a comfortable writing experience both on the go and at your desk. The paper is excellent with fountain pens, and absorbent with relatively quick dry times. I already have a yellow one lined up for my next journal!

Be sure to check out these and the rest of our Curated Paper offerings in both our online and brick-and-mortar stores. Our Nashville shop will be open standard hours this week, from 1pm-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. Please note that we have moved the shop/showroom area from Suite 113 to Suite 107, so look for us on the front of the building.

Sunday Reading for October 19, 2025

1. 2025 Empire State Pen Show - Recap and Report Card (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). Kimberly reports in from the inaugural Empire State Pen Show in NYC. Her recap is similar to what I’ve heard from others who were there - that it was a good “first show” in a new location.

2. The London Autumn Pen Show 2025: My Haul (via Fountain Pen Blog). This year’s London Pen Show was a two-day show, and the recaps are starting to roll in!

3. London Pen Show October 2025 (via Dapprman). Another review/recap with lots of great vendor pictures. This would be a great show to attend and see some vendors who don’t typically attend U.S. shows.

4. London Pen Show Autumn 2025 (via UK Fountain Pens). I love seeing the wide range of different purchases that people came home with, including this Onoto Heritage.

5. How the Book of Alchemy Jumpstarted My Morning Journaling (via From the Pen Cup). I’ve never used journaling prompts either, but lately I’ve felt uninspired. Maybe I should check out this book as it seems interesting. I also love Mary’s shelf of completed journals!

6. Larger Rings: The Notebook Cover Upgrade You Didn’t Know You Needed (via dwrdnet). The MeePlus binders resemble Plotters but feature a few tweaks that make them different and potentially more suitable to certain users’ needs, including larger rings and rounded edges on the metal spine.

7. Unboxing the Latest Gentleman Stationer Mystery Box: The Adjacent Edition (via dwrdnet). For the past year I’ve been assembling quarterly stationery boxes for my Patreon members, and Derek unboxes the latest release which was a smaller run. Occasionally I can do enough of these for a public release.

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In Case You Missed It…

This past week was spent moving our brick-and-mortar shop to a new location on the front of our existing building, and getting ready for our in-store event with Newton Pens and Vanness Pens. You can read more about my decision to expand the shop and how/why we’ve organized things the way they are in the third installment of my “State of the Shop” series. I also did a short recap of this weekend’s event, including our after-hours Middle Tennessee Pen Club meetup. Look for more of these events as we continue to build out our shop and meetup space. A special thanks to everyone who came out to support us and our guests this weekend!

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Oh, and in addition to the new products, the existing Lochby Field Journal Mini is now available in a Black Multi-Cam pattern!

This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop

Given all the chaos of the move, I’ve been somewhat slow to get new arrivals listed, but lots of stuff arrived this week, including a restock of Penco Pens (including the Perfection Pocket Ballpoint) and a new D1 Multi Pen, as well as the full range of Hightide Sandglasses. We also have new the new Lochby Mini Venture Pouch and an A6-sized Field Folio, just in time for Hobonichi season!

Finally, the dated Traveler’s Refills have arrived in Standard and Passport, along with the 2026 Sticker Sets, Pencil Boards, and Transparent Plastic Folders. We have a good number of these available to ship immediately, along with Diamine Inkvent Calendars, 2026 Teal Edition!

Diamine Inkvent

Lochby Cases

Lochby Notebooks

Lamy

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), and would like early/extra access to shop releases and special promotions, consider supporting us via Patreon. The T.G.S. Patreon includes early access and discounts on exclusive shop releases, a monthly updates newsletter, and of course our monthly meetups. Patreon supporters also have access to the first two episodes of a new podcast experiment I’ve been working on with Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens. More on this later, but for the time being the initial episodes are Patreon-exclusive.

Nashville T.G.S. Special Event Recap, Day One, Plus Saturday Details

It’s taken me about a year to get here, but a primary reason I wanted to open a store was so that I could host events like the current weekend pop-up with Vanness Pens and Newton Pens! While we have moved the main T.G.S. Shop to Suite 107 on the front of the building, making it easier to find, Suite 113 (the “old” store) will be opened for special events like this weekend, and will also continue to serve as our office, warehouse, and fulfillment location. Come see us today (Saturday) from 10-6pm!

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Sign work courtesy of Shawn Newton, Photo courtesy of Lisa @ Olive Octopus!

Friday turned out to be super busy! We kicked off the weekend with normal business hours, and everyone had fun shopping our normal offerings as well as Shawn’s custom pens and specialty inks, ink samples, rare pens, and accessories from Vanness. After the shop “officially” closed we had a special Middle Tennessee Fountain Pen Club event with food and space to spread out. As we get settled into the new store and organize our warehouse, I plan to add additional seating, table-space, couches, etc. so that it’s easier to plan and grow these types of events. If you’re in the Nashville area (or reasonably close by), be sure to join the Middle Tennessee Fountain Pen Club, which now has a website in addition to the Facebook Page, so you’ll receive the announcements.

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Pre-opening setup with some of the stuff from Vanness, including Rickshaw, Galen Leather, Robert Oster Inks, Nagasawa Pens, and more! There is plenty of stock so if you missed Friday you have all day Saturday from 10-6pm to catch up.

For those coming by today, there will be a sign on the sidewalk outside directing everyone to where we’re set up. Many thanks to all of you who came out to support us in the new location, and to welcome everyone who to visit from out of town. I look forward to hosting more of these events in the future and further growing the pen community in the greater Nashville area!

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Also: Diamine Inkvent Calendars Are Here In-Store!

The 2026 Diamine Inkvent Calendars arrived Thursday afternoon, and I was able to swing by to pick them up on our way in to Friday’s event prior to opening. They’re now available both in-store and online, but supply is somewhat limited so please be sure to grab yours while they’re available.

Our regular in-store hours are Thursday and Friday from 1-6pm, and Saturdays from 10am-6pm. Be sure to check our Google Profile or main store page for up-to-date hours and special event details.