New Izumo (II)

As we saw yesterday, Platinum has announced a new Izumo series of pens with a relatively new nib—a #3776 made of 18 K gold.

It could be argued that Platinum had paid attention to a typical complain—the President nib looks small on the Izumo pen. But how do President and #3776 nibs compare? Is the #3776 unit going to correct that perception?

The fact is that the #3776 is just slightly bigger than the President, as the following table shows:

	. President . 18 K Au	.#3776. . 14 K Au .
Total length (mm)	25.5	29.1
Exposed length (mm)	20.9	21.8
Width (mm)	8.1	8.6
Weight (g)	0.6	0.7

And a similar effect can be seen when comparing a #3776 Century and a President pen side by side. These two pens are very similar in dimensions.

President (top) and #3776 Century (bottom).

Izumo Akatamenuri (top) and President (bottom).

On the Izumo, the problem is the actual girth of the pen, significantly larger than that of the regular President:

	Izumo .Akatamenuri.	.President.	#3776 .Century.
Length closed (mm)	155	143	140
Length open (mm)	134	122	120
Max. diameter (cap) (mm)	17.5	16.0	15.3
Barrel Diameter (mm)	15.7	13.4	13.3

So, will the #3776 nib correct the perception of a small nib attached to a big pen? Only marginally, I'm afraid.

The actual problem of Platinum is the lack of a big nib, a nib comparable to the Sailor super big (King of Pen) or to the Pilot size 30 (Custom Urushi). And that is a serious handicap if you wanted to design and produce a big pen.

Pilot Custom 74, Yamada Seisakusho – Diamine Teal

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, April 26th, 2023
etiquetas: plumín, mercado, Platinum