Capless 1963

On a recent chronicle I spoke of the Pilot Capless as one of the very few iconic pens made in Japan. Now I am showing the first model of that pen. It saw the market by the end of 1963, and it was an expensive pen: JPY 6000 for the basic version (C-600MW), and JPY 10000 for the luxurious gold plated (C-1000CW) and the clipless, possibly urushi-coated, (C-1000DW) pens: The later, though, was released already in 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympic Games. In all of them, the nib unit moves up and down along the pen by twisting the whole barrel, and the knurled tail simply offers a nicer grip for this operation.

The C-600MW, from 1963.

Detail of the gripping section. The upper side is shown with a subtle arrow.

These Capless pens are characterized by a very short clip. The reason behind this lies in its position, on the lower side of the nib. The natural grip allows for a short space between the nib and the fingers underneath the pen.

Another view of the opposing nib and clip. In this case, on the gold plated C-1000GW model.

Model C-1000GW. These pens use the double-spare cartridge.

The C-1000DW from 1964.

Detail of the nib unit. This was manufactured in Novemeber of 1963.

The following model in the history of Pilot Capless has already been covered on these Chronicles. It is a push-button pen released in 1964 whose cost was JPY 3000.

In the second hand market, these first models from 1963 are the most expensive among all Capless variations.

My thanks to Mr. Niikura.

Platinum Glamour – Sailor Sei-boku

Bruno Taut
July 24th, 2012
etiquetas: Pilot