Walking down the street dangling Goyard’s Saint Louis Tote is a dream many cherish. Now add to that scene the signing of a life-changing contract with a Goyard Clamecy in hand. No, it is not a handbag offering or leather goods; it is Goyard’s unexpected writing instrument called the Clamecy collection. The Parisian luxury house is offering three variants, substantial pens crafted from 925 Sterling silver, featuring a fountain pen with a platinum and rose gold nib, a Clamecy rollerball with Vauzelles calfskin case, and a travel rollerball version with lacquered solid silver and a calfskin-lined Goyardine case. Each pen flaunts its own identity in the form of numbers engraved on the cap.
Keeping the specs aside for just a minute and highlighting first impressions, I would pick the Travel Rollerball for sheer fun. It is the only variant with four colourways (green, sky blue, navy, and grey). The Clamecy rollerball travel pen (nearly $1200) is light, compact, and has a retractable nib with no lid. The 12.5 cm long writing instrument is the only one that is instantly recognisable as a Goyard. The lacquered Goyardine exterior doesn’t leave room for much guesswork. The others may require a second or even third glance, followed perhaps by surprise and then a smile.
For those who treat writing instruments with utmost respect, keepsakes that come out during milestones, and not meeting notes, the Clamecy Fountain pen is an elegant accessory to own with its own leather case. Chevrons on the lid and only black as a colour option make this 15 cm long, 70 grams pen a sober alternative. It is indeed a tad bit more serious than its counterpart, yet utterly refined in a world of Montblancs. The rollerball follows the same path. Interestingly, every current Clamecy pen is officially marked Made in Germany, rather than France as one might naturally expect from one of Paris’s most storied luxury houses.
Another perspective that comes to mind is that these writing instruments go beyond being a promotional product for a luxury label. A full-size Clamecy weighs 70 grams or 2.47 ounces and is solid 925 sterling silver, making it a sound investment with time. I guess when a trunk maker builds a numbered sterling-silver writing instrument, they make them just as robust. Beyond beauty and practicality, the writing instruments also pay an ode to the maison’s heritage. Clamecy is the ancestral hometown of the Goyard family, in the Morvan region of France. The trunks came into the picture much later; before that, generations of Goyards were river workers who transported firewood from the forests of the Morvan toward Paris.
History is clearly written not just with a pen but in the case of the Goyard pens becomes their very identity. The very first Clamecy pen by Goyard debuted in January 2013. But the association with travel and writing goes back over a century. Exactly 100 years ago, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, went to Edmond Goyard with a special order. The globetrotting writer wished to be able to write comfortably during his many travels. What Goyard delivered was a writing trunk that, on opening, could become a desk of sorts, complete with a folding writing table, a bookcase, a typewriter, storage, and compartments. Wittingly or unwittingly, the German-made sterling-silver Clamecy pens of 2026 have paid an ode to the incident that started it all.