Caran d’Ache pens are visually stunning, yes, but just wait till you hold one in your hands. There’s a richness in the way it moves, a sort of creamy elegance.

Named after the Russian word for pencil (karandash), this erstwhile company was founded in 1915 when entrepreneur Arnold Schweitzer purchased the Ecridor colour pencil factory on the outskirts of Geneva. Over the years, Caran d’Ache have developed their range, making pens and pencils with the same delicacy and precision that their compatriots bring to watchmaking.

After all, we love the Caran d’Ache range for the finesse they put into the smallest of details, for their feel for luxury. Their pencil wood is often harvested from local Swiss forests, and the graphite is carefully selected, coloured and graded to produce a stubbornly strong tip. Their pens are carefully engineered objets d’art, capable of gliding over eight kilometres worth of ink. The end results are perfectly balanced writing tools that elevate themselves above the conventional and into the exceptional.