Fully Restored Olympia SM9 Portable Typewriter | PICA Font (10 CPI), Brand-New Platen & Original Case with Key

📖 Product Overview: The Undisputed King of Manual Portables

Meet the Olympia SM9 wearing the classic PICA Typeface (10 CPI)—a legendary writing machine built for sheer mechanical endurance and refined through comprehensive workshop restoration. Widely regarded by novelists, journalists, and collectors as one of the finest portable typewriters ever manufactured, the SM9 ranks squarely in our Top 3 Best Typewriters Ever Made.

How does the SM9 differ from the SM8?

While both machines share West German heavy-duty engineering, the SM9 features a full tabulator mechanism that can be set manually using the tab lever on the left side of the keyboard and cleared fully from the right side of the carriage. Additionally, its basket shift mechanism keeps shift-key pressure whisper-light on your hands during long typing sessions.

Meticulously overhauled for 8 to 10 hours at our UK workshop, this machine has been deep-flushed, precision-aligned, and upgraded with a brand-new recovered rubber platen roller (£150 value). It comes complete with its original carrying case in excellent condition—including its original working case key.

📊 Technical Specifications & Restoration Data

• Brand & Model: Olympia SM9 (De Luxe Portable)

• Origin: Made in Western Germany (famed for peerless mechanical precision)

• Keyboard Layout: American QWERTY Layout

• Mechanical Condition: 100% Fully Functional. Deep-cleaned, chemically flushed, and stress-tested for fluid, snappy key response.

Workshop Restoration & Hardware Upgrades:

• Brand-New Fitted Platen Rubber (£150 Value): Upgraded with a newly recovered high-grip rubber platen roller to ensure whisper-quiet key impacts, zero paper slippage, crisp print impressions, and long-term protection for your type metal.

• Basket Shift Advantage: Features Olympia's famous segment/basket shift—allowing the key segment to drop down rather than lifting the heavy carriage, drastically reducing hand and wrist fatigue.

• Fresh Two-Tone Ribbon Installed: Pre-installed with a brand-new Group 9 (GR9 ) 10-meter black & red ink ribbon on spools—poised to deliver vibrant, crisp impressions from your very first keystroke. It is a well inked ribbon, so Red , might look smudgy but gets better as its used. 

🎨 Cosmetic Condition & Original Accessories

• Cosmetic Presentation: Excellent overall vintage condition. The original cream/grey metal body presents beautifully with only minor, authentic surface rub marks on the front and sides from historic placement inside the case.

• Keytop Condition: Individual keys are meticulously cleaned, polished, and crisp to the touch.

• Original Carrying Case & Key: Includes its original protective carrying case in excellent example condition, complete with its rare original working key.

✍️ Typeface & Font Details

• Typeface Style: Clean, bold, and professional PICA Typeface. #12 as per Olympia Manuals 

• Font Pitch: 10 Characters Per Inch (10 CPI / PICA size), delivering a bold, distinct, and highly legible aesthetic—ideal for manuscript drafting, creative prose, and personal correspondence.

📋 Quick Specifications Overview

Why This Olympia SM9 Is Special

The Olympia SM9 stands out for its legendary durability, handsome PICA typeface, high-quality restoration, and newly added platen roller. Whether you’re writing on the road, collecting a piece of mid-century history, or simply want a dependable writing partner you can rely on day after day, this SM9 delivers both form and function in beautifully restored vintage form.

🌍 Global Shipping, Timelines & Tariff Information

🇺🇸 United States & 🇬🇧 United Kingdom Shipping (100% Free & All-Inclusive): Standard local & international shipping to the US and UK is completely free and included in the listed price. Furthermore, all US import tariffs and customs duties are fully prepaid by our workshop. There are absolutely zero hidden checkout fees, surprise border holds, or cash-on-delivery demands at your door.

🌐 International Shipping (Europe, Australia, Canada & Rest of World): We dispatch all website orders in less than 24 hours. We offer flexible, fully tracked premium shipping options calculated at checkout:

• Standard International Delivery: Safely delivered via premium air courier directly to your doorstep in 3 to 7 working days (with prompt EU dispatch and highly competitive rates to Australia and remote destinations).

• Express International Delivery Upgrade: Arrives at your door in just 1 to 3 working days for a small additional fee.

Proprietary Global Packaging Protocol: To ensure a 1930s classic survives international air travel perfectly, we mechanically lock down the carriage, insulate the outer frame in multi-layered shock-absorbing cushioning, and suspend the entire unit within a heavy-duty, double-walled outer shipping carton.

🤝 The "Ready-to-Write" Package & Lifetime Support

• Unbox & Start Writing: Your Imperial Good Companion arrives pre-installed with a fresh ink ribbon and our primary step-by-step startup instructions designed by our workshop team. Simply unbox, release the carriage lock, and begin typing immediately.

• Video Learning Academy: Your package includes a direct link to our dedicated YouTube video tutorial, teaching you exactly how to type on, care for, adjust the margins, and change ink ribbons on your specific Imperial Model 1 typewriter.

• Lifetime Technical Partnership: Your relationship with our workshop does not end at delivery. Every typewriter we sell comes with lifetime technical support. You receive direct email and video-call troubleshooting access to Walid and Joujou, the celebrated restoration experts from the BBC's The Repair Shop and major Netflix productions.

📖 Questions about pre-war Imperial typewriters or model history? Explore our master guide: Typewriter FAQ: The Ultimate 100 Questions Answered