An Unusual Flat-top

The Custom 74 is the workhorse of Pilot in the very competitive range of pens around JPY 10000. This is the entry level to more luxurious tools and the big three Japanese pen companies play hard on this turf.

This particular model, the Custom 74 is, in a nutshell, a torpedo-shaped pen, with golden accents, a 14 K gold nib in size #5 and 11 points available. The filling system, needless to say, are cartridges and converters. This model came into existence in the year 74 of the Pilot era, i. e. 1992, and it is still manufactured nowadays (2018).

Then, what is the pen shown on the following picture?

A Pilot flat-top with golden accents...

It is a flat-top Custom 74. But this variation was never in the market. This pen is a private edition prepared for the share holders of the company, Pilot Corporation, in 1993.

This version is, in essence, identical to the regular Custom 74 save for the detail of the ending domes on cap and barrel. And all the parts are interchangeable.

The regular Custom 74 (top) and the private version made for the share holders of the company.

Years later, in 2009, Pilot launched the model Custom Heritage 91—a flat-top pen with rhodiated decoration, 14 K size #5 nibs (only 9 points available)… Almost a flat-top Custom 74, save for the very different clip.

From top to bottom, regular Custom 74, flat-top version of the Custom 74, and Custom Heritage 91. All of them carry the size #5 nib in 14 K gold.

These are the dimensions of these three pens:

	.Custom 74.	.Custom 74 flat-top.	.Custom Heritage 91.
Length closed (mm)	143	137	137.5
Length open (mm)	125	123	122.5
Length posted (mm)	160	156	156
Diameter (mm)	14.6	14.6	14.6
Weight, dry (g), with CON-70	21.4	21.8	21.4

The flat-top Custom 74 implements a “coarse” nib –a 3B point--, and I suspect that this was the only option for all those share-holders of Pilot’s. At least, the few units of this pen I have seen all carry this very broad point.

The "coarse" nib in size #5 implemented on the flat-top Custom 74.

Platinum pocket pen, Yamada Seisakusho – KWZ Brown #2

Bruno Taut
Nakano, February 26th 2018
etiquetas: Pilot