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23 September 2012

Cocoon

Some media, FP Geeks among them, have recently announced the immediate release of a new pen model by Pilot—the Metropolitan. The name in Japan is Cocoon and has recently been released in the domestic market. It is actually a whole line of pens composed by a mechanical pencil, a ball-point pen and a fountain pen. All of them are made of "coated brass" and come in five different colors: silver, blue, bordeaux, titan, and metallic grey.


Regarding the fountain pen –our object of obsession--, its price is JPY 3150 (5% tax included, MSRP). It is a cartridge-converter pen with a stainless steel nib in F or M. An interesting detail is that this same nib is used in the Pilot Prera, and both pens cost exactly the same. The Prera demonstrator, let us remember, cost JPY 3675 because it includes the CON-50 converter whose price is JPY 525. Therefore, both pens, Prera and Cocoon, are lined up in the same market segment, apparently competing against each other.


Prera on the left, Cocoon on the right. The engravings are different, but the nibs and feeds are the same.
The pen in the presentation box.
Other products in the Japanese market in this price range are the Platinum Balance nibs in F and M) and the Sailor Lecoule (in MF only). It seems this might be a quite active area of the market and offering more models might increase Pilot’s share.

Platinum pocket pen, stainless steel with black stripes – Platinum black

Bruno Taut
September 22th, 2012
labels: Japón, mercado, Pilot, Sailor, Platinum

4 comments:

Bana Sıkça Yaz said...

Dear Bruno,

Thanks for sharing Cacoon with us. I hope we can see it in Turkish market, since Turkish distributor limited Pilot pens with its needlepoint pens. For 90% of people in Turkey, Pilot is not a brand but a type of pen which may lead Pilot to lost its brand in Turkey as their brand is becoming a generic name here.

Best,

24/9/12 16:23
Anonymous said...

Just stumbled across this. I think the barrel and cap are lacquered brass, or at least that is what the Japanese website says. I have one and the weight is noticeably greater than it would be if it were made of aluminium.

I made a post about it on FPN, but I guess I wasn't the first to write details about it having the 78G's section. You can unscrew a section from a 78G and swap it with the Cocoon's.

26/9/12 14:06
Bruno Taut said...

Thanks, Zeynep and XiaoMG, for passing by and for your comments.

For Zeynep (Write to me Often). My main concern is how much people will pay for these pens outside Japan. Globalization too often goes only in one direction--that of the producer to export its products at outrageous prices to customers who have few if any alternatives. But information crosses boarders much more easily.

For XiaoMG (Anonymous). Thanks for the correction. Pilot's website speaks of coated brass. Lacquer seems a bit harder to swallow in a pen of this price. Thanks for your comment pointing out my mistake.

Thanks again for commenting.

BT

26/9/12 16:36
Innah | Easel said...

I am one of the many people who do not mind spending more on pens and for some time already, I've learned to stick and stay satisfied with Pilot pens.

26/10/12 21:41

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