Typewriter Profile: the Hermes 3000 

I was a typewriter technician in the early 80s for Electronic typewriter but was trained on mechanical/electric ones too, I really like when videos like this pop up in my RU-vid, it takes me back to very happy time, .. thank you

the Gold button is to save money by using the middle of a single colour ribbon. also a feature on Robotron Optima machines....

I think it's really magical when you are capable to use something that people in the past used. Objects that were so common back then. The only object from the past I use from time to time is my Gillette safety razor... Which was used by my great grandfather, grandfather, then my father, and now myself. Keeping it alive. Great video, as always.

Wow Wow Wow! Hermes 3000 is defiantly one of my dream typewriter. However, over here, they cost $1000+ for no reason! Exceptional. Great with the muscle ehhhhhhhhh.

I have watched this at least 50 times, it's because I really want one of these machines, and I have been looking for one, just don't want to spend a thousand dollars or more, The right one will come along, and when it does, I'll watch this again with it, as to learn with the machine in front of me, I'll also update this comment, letting you know that I got one... Until that Day, I've got this video to enjoy, admire, and dream of my very own. Thank you.

great video. really been enjoying these profiles, I especially like seeing the which machines notable writers used.

I have H3K 's all different decades. Love them. Thanks for the video ☺️

Great video. I like your knowledge of any typewriter.

I inherited this fine machine from my mother who used it in her office for my father's small landscaping business. The weird part for me at least is that she had a type font of 13 CPI or 2,00mm, which is quite small at least by American standards. I wish I could ask her why she chose to by this machine with that small font. Great video!

I bought a big old Underwood Noiseless typewriter (Pat. 1931) from a fellow student in 1970. I thought that decrepit old wreck was broken, to discover today that it was really a premium feature reserved for the very best of the best. When I graduated in 1973, I used that old girl to type letters of application for a variety of jobs that I was certain suited my talents. None of those ever paid off of course, as I’m sure the recipients all had a good laugh over the fellow that applied for exciting career opportunities with black and red fonts……….! I’ve laughed about it many times over the years. I never used it again and finally put it on the sidewalk in front of the bins. Within minutes, there were screeching tires and the old girl was gone - off to a new life……… Not done with typewriters though. I use three ultra portables from the late ‘30’s to the mid ‘60’s to make notes for book club meetings (Lettera 22, Empire Aristocrat and an old Remington with perfect action). The tapping of typewriters has never bothered me - unlike the blip blip blip of keyboards.

Yay thank you so much for this very insightful video! The best RU-vidr in my book :)

So I guess all that talk about the 3000 was justified. Not only does it look great, but has all that hidden features I had no clue of. My SM4 needs a friend I guess...

Thank you for this review! Great information.

Another great and informative video that I truly enjoyed watching, There is a Hermes 3000 somewhere out there - patiently waiting for me.

Just stumbled on this gem of a channel and I can’t stop watching! Thank you so much for these fun and interesting videos 👏🏼 I recently found a really well preserved Brother Deluxe 1510 which I’m planning to use at university but I cannot seem to find any videos on it whatsoever, is there any chance you could make one on it? 😊 Thanks again!

Well on a Continental Standard, you can press the button to set a tab, delete it by pushing uptht bar on the button and go to where you set by pressing it down. To delete all tab you can press the lever behind the machine on the left side of the carriage. Quickly set quickly delete.

Thank you so much, again - really useful!

Good video, one small remark, not all Hermes Baby were made in Switzerland. Payllard designed Hermes Baby were also produced in Brazil, Argentina, later versions of Hermes 3000 were also produced in Hungary. Our typewriter shop specializes in Hermes typewriters, so Hermes 3000 is a shop favourite, the ultimate writing tool, indeed.

Nice!!!

A friend told me about your channel and I’m so glad. I have a “boxy” 3000-I am one of the rare folks who strongly prefers that design over the earlier slope-shouldered ones. I’m curious about a few things. Mine was made in 1968, and it has the cream-colored keys rather than the green ones, even though I’ve seen green keys on machines from the same year. I wonder why. Mine is somewhat special because it has a 14” carriage and Techno type. I don’t know if that’s relevant. Another weird thing is that it has the driest, hardest platen in my collection, worse than a 1950 SCSilent. In fact, the surface is crazed with cracks. I love having a luxurious, long-carriage machine, but something prospective buyers should keep in mind is that they don’t come with that handy, snappy lid. My theory is that was never a problem for the original owner because it was used full time in an office for filling out forms; thus the long carriage and the sans-serif type. I can have an appropriate plastic case sent from France, but it will cost as much as I spent on the typewriter!

I want to point out a "defect" of the H3000 (and any other Hermes of the 60's and 70's): they're soft as silk. The touch is unmatched, sure, as long as the machine is in pristine condition. A tiny little speck of dust, any minor issue and a wonderful typewriter becomes a "meh" machine. In fact, the more than millimetric precision of the Hermes typewriters is exactly what makes them so... Let's say picky. But they've more than earned the right to be so due to their undeniable quality. Oh, and they're the embodiment of overengineering. Just take a look at the Hermes Ambassador! Not that I don't like Hermes, but going along the deserted island thingy I'd rather take a SM3

Great video- perfect primer while I wait for my “new” one to ship to me. Being a portable, though, do you feel the Hermes 3000 would be suitable/robust enough for heavy daily writing?

Hello. Thank you for this entertaining overview of such an iconic typewriter. At 2:56 , you can see a felt pad under your Hermes 3000. Where can one get such a pad for one's own typewriter?

Many typewriters do have the "gold" setting for the ribbon. It's intended for leveraging all ink of single color ribbons. So: blue = upper area, red = lower area, and gold middle area of ribbon. Tha's simple.

Okay I'm sorry I know I'm adding another comment and that most people just put them in replies under their original comment but I am sorry this deserves its own spot. I am very happy to announce.. yesterday for my birthday party there was a ginormous box on the table, and upon opening it clearing the styrofoam and bubble wrap there at the bottom was the very unique unmistakable seafoam green strange like cast metal looking case that texture and that unmistakable handle that green apple colored handle, I immediately started to freak out. I couldn't remember what I said but my wife hasn't recorded and it was a bunch of OH WOW!!! And of course it was hard to tell people I know what it was because of the case not that I somehow had peaked at the gift people that don't collect typewriters don't understand that their cases are very unique to what they are... And then I said however if I open this up and find that it's a bunch of socks I'm leaving. And so with that I am happy to announce that I am the proud owner of not socks thankfully, but a 1960s Hermes typewriter a curve body. It's the one where it does not have the holes on the sides of the space bar for the lid to attach. According to the typewriter database this is the trailing end of 1959 beginning of 1960s. Well my guess is my serial number is between the two years. I should probably figure out how to document it there. It works perfectly it has maintenance slips repair slips and a killer Page turning thrilling manual instructions. Lol... What an incredible machine to work on I absolutely can see why it's considered the world's finest typewriter. I have never typed on anything so nice, I mean at one time, long time ago, when I was younger, I do remember seeing one in an antique store for like $80.00 and typing on it, but I don't recall what it felt like then... This is otherworldly, it's like riding in a limo made of butter that was built by cloud people. And I mean clouds that have hands people. Imagine yourself slipping down a slip and slide that's full of nothing but oil and it's laying on top of a field of marshmallows it's that smooth. It's as smooth as the blink of an eye. And now having owned a few old typewriters of the Vintage era this is my oldest typewriter but I can tell you for its age and time this was a very futuristic typewriter it was very high-tech for its day and age. On a funny note I tried to tell my in-laws both of which were typist, I said you guys want to try this it's amazing the world's finest typewriter here, I got no honey we've typed before, As they walk on past, I thought to myself but it's the world's finest typewriter have you ever typed on the world's finest typewriter before.... yeah they were gone. I don't know about you but somebody says the world's finest anything that demands some freaking attention... Anyway, there it is very happy owner now, and I swear I heard the song "At Last" by Etta James in my ear when I opened it up. Although I'm a stepfather, I don't have any biological children myself, but if I were to have one, seeing it at birth and holding the child for the first time in my arms, this must be what it's like when holding this typewriter. 😂 Good Great Monday Morning!❤

Just a hypothesis , but I’m thinking that the extra ribbon setting gives you access to the middle of the ribbon in order to prolong the life of a single-color ribbon. If I had an all-black or all-blue ribbon and was running low on ink, perhaps the middle setting would give me another couple runs through it, on a part of the ribbon that wouldn’t otherwise be typed on…

Is there any operational difference between the rounded generation 1 and the squared off generation 2? White key vs green key, etc.

Does the Hermes baby (~60s ) have a tension rod? I can’t seem to find it online ! ( you might have seen another comment of mine 😅)

04/24/24 Yeah I'm back again. Starting to feel like that Ray Charles Song, "Here We Go Again" My birthday is exactly a week from today, (May 1st) and a month ago, I saw one of thses, spoke to the seller on eBay, they wanted $375.00, it had documents it had belonged in law enforcement, a judge, then 1 detective of homicide in New York, and then another in Los Angeles, then found its way up to Connecticut was in the Police department there, until sold in auction to a private collector who had it regularly maintained. I asked why the low price, seller said it a fair price without inflation from Tom Hanks lol. I may have mentioned this here, it had the strange legal Key, and I'm told rare Subsection Legal Paragraph sign/key looks like this: "§" usually means it was special ordered and was on a desk working for a Judge, a Lawyer, Police Department, law school or police Academy, Private Detective, and the like, that one was on the desk of to detectives from the late 50's (1958) through the 60's and 70's, man can you imagine how inspiring it might be to write a mystery story on a machine like that? It had written real murder reports...I suppose it would be both inspiring and macabre. I wrote its serial number down to look up, it was a 1958 model. Love that year. Anyway, I promised the little lady I wouldn't buy one, I should have she would thank me later, dont buy your own Birthday gift...or else hear from the God of War lol. My Wife is a terrible liar she can not lie to save her live, I asked her yesterday by chance did you buy me a Typewriter for my birthday? She said No..... she's not lying!!!! The prices on these are out in the thousands man, the Thousands! I know, I know, you said I'll get one when the spirits of fortune say it's the right time. I believe I will. I feel it will be mine under my finger tips crunching away. Just wish it was crunching away after my Birthday. Lol. Sigh, ......Damon, when you get this out to work on, I do hope you know how very lucky you are to have this exquisite machine at your finger tips. Okay, back to the program...😶

if you're incline to fix it, the carriage should not be grinding that loud upon return. Great video!

My 1973 Erika Daro mod. 41 also has four options for the ribbon selector. Perhaps the East Germans copied it from the Hermes, or did some other typewriters have this option before them?

The Olympia SG-1 has a similar ribbon color setting, except it uses a dial.

Thank you for this video, and your others too, very informative and entertaining. I just acquired a 3000 and noticed that one of the paper supports is missing. I tried searching for parts online without luck. Suggestions where I might find parts?

Where did you get a brand new Hermes 3000? ;-)

What type script is that on yours?

I really need to find one of these just so I can tap out a few lines. I’m sure the praise is justified, but I just need to try it for myself.

I am from India i want to buy a type writer in USA AND ASK MY MOM TO GET IT TO INDIA FOR ME …. SHES STAYING IN DALLAS CAN YOU HELP ME TO GET A PLACE TO LOOK FOR OONE IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION LOOKING FOR OLIVETTA OR HERMES

very expensive

3:28 liar