Accidental?

Much to my surprise, my chronicle March Inks has received a lot of attention. That single entry increased the traffic to these texts by a factor of four or five for a couple of days. And fellow blogger Morgana claimed I had discovered these inks for the world—for the world outside Tokyo that is. Thanks, but hard to believe and, certainly, totally unintentional.

Even more so when my text took two weeks to be published: I learned about the Mix-free inks at the Wagner Pen Clinic in January 30th, and I finally published my chronicle on February 14th.

The 60 ml inkwell of the Mix-free range of inks.

However, at least one Japanese website –Office Magazine—had published some news as early as on January 26th on the Platinum event celebrated between January 25th and February 3rd at Itoya’s main shop in Ginza, Tokyo. Among other products, Platinum showed their new gamut of inks and demonstrated their mixing capabilities. But that text was only in Japanese—that obscure language spoken only by 130 million people…

The display table at Itoya's shop.

I wonder if all this unannounced presentation –unannounced, at least, for so many— was nothing but a marketing strategy by Platinum. I am sure nobody in the advertisement business ignores how fast news propagate nowadays through the Net. As Brian Goulet said on his Ink Nouveau site, it only takes a cell phone to make breaking news a couple of seconds after the event had taken place.

The objects of desire.

In actual terms, this presentation has raised a lot of expectation among pen enthusiasts, as can be seen on fora (I, II, III). Will this translate into sales? Most likely so, I am afraid.

The question, anyway, remains open: was this strategy accidental or deliberate?

And on a coming text, I will discuss about the actual necessity to have nine inks to mix.

(Twsbi Diamond 530 with a Pilot 5 nib – Sailor Yama-dori)

Bruno Taut
(Madrid, February 18th, 2011)
[labels: Platinum, mercado, evento, tinta]

Number 4

The past Wagner Pen Clinic was a perfect opportunity to see some interesting pens. This Sailor number 4 was one of them.

The "Sailor".

It is a BCHR eyedropper with the regular safety valve operated from the culotte. It dates back, probably, from the 1930s.

The pen, closed.

Disassembled, showing the shut-off valve.

Its overall condition was excellent save for the stains on the gold plated steel nib. The embossed pattern is in perfect condition and, as many a collector favor, the original price sticker remains attached to the pen. A whopping JPY 3 was the price back in the day, but sounds like a good investment. The current owner confessed having paid a lot more for this pen at a Tokyo antique fair.

The gold plated steel nib. Its engraving says "WARRANTED / 14 KT / GOLD / PLATED / MADE IN / JAPAN".

My thanks to Mr. Furuya.

(Sailor Black Pocket Pen 21 – Sailor Black)

Bruno Taut
(Madrid, February 16th, 2011)
[labels: Sailor]

Stars (II)

The star system –hoshiawase— was one of the technical solutions Pilot/Namiki tried in the 1920s in its pens. By crossing the stars engraved on the section, as had been described on a previous chronicle, the ink reservoir was nominally sealed and the risk of embarrassing ink leaks was, if not eliminated, certainly reduced. Other than that peculiarity, hoshiawase pens were regular eyedroppers.

Today’s pen is one of these relics—a BHCR from late 1926.


It is a small-sized pen—about 10 cm in length when closed, and about 9 grams in weight if uninked.

The eyedropper pen, showing disassembled in its three main parts.

The nib is a 14 K gold number 1 signed by Pilot. Quite flexible.

The feed is engraved with a patent reference: 60931. Behind the threads to close the ink reservoir, the two concentric cylinders of the hoshiawase system can be seen; especially, the holes in the outer cylinder to limit the rotation of the inner one.

The barrel is engraved with both the brand name—Pilot— and the company name —Namiki Mfg. Co. The logo is the old Namiki's N encircled in a lifebuoy. And, as usual, a “made in Japan” certifies its country of origin.

The old logo, showing the name of the founder of the company.

Its overall condition is fairly good, albeit with clear sings of having been used. A pen, indeed, in search of some ink and a writing hand.

(Inoxcrom Caravel II – Waterman Havana)

Bruno Taut
(Madrid, February 14th, 2011)
[labels: soluciones técnicas, Pilot]

Old Ink

How big the pen memorabilia can be? How big an object before we refused to take it home?

This banner is a 1950s ad for Pilot ink—Pairotto inki, ﾊﾟｲﾛｯﾄｲﾝｷ… “for fountain pen and general use”, the bottles say.


This time, the piece of memorabilia can be folded for storage.

As seen at the January meeting of the Wagner Association. My thanks to Mr. Niikura.

(Inoxcrom Caravel II – Waterman Havana)

Bruno Taut
(Madrid, February 14th, 2011)
[labels: evento, Pilot, tinta]

March Inks

First, an apology: I have been absent from these pages for quite some time. Too often we must take care of urgent matters instead of those truly important. And such was the case during this past month. Hope this hiatus in my writing is over by now.

Some days ago, however, I had the chance to take a break to attend the monthly meeting of the Wagner association. Indeed, the right place to catch up with recent news and with old pens.

Some Wagner association members brought the latest news regarding inks. Platinum seems to have finally understood the new trends of fountain pen ink business. Up to now, this Japanese brand was selling a very limited selection of inks: washable red, blue-black and black; and permanent —or pigmented— pink-rose, sepia-brown, blue and black. Some other colors are only available in cartridges to cater the market of the inexpensive range of Preppy pens.

The nine new inks. From top to bottom, Smoke Black, Aqua Blue, Aurora Blue, Silky Purple, Cyclamen Pink, Flame Red, Earth Brown, Sunny Yellow, and Leaf Green.

The new line of Platinum inks is composed by nine different colors with the generic name of “Mix Free”, in the best “Engrish” tradition. Their selling point is that these new poetically named dyes can be freely mixed among them. The ads include a chart with all the equally proportioned binary mixtures.

The mixing chart for binary compositions.

The indications included with these inks claim they are not washable, and advice against mixing them with those by other manufacturers.

The mixing kit, for sale at JPY 1200 (plus tax).

These inks come in 60 ml. inkwells at a price of JPY 1200 (plus tax) in Japan. They will be released this coming month of March.

My thanks to Wagner association members Terry and Yamada.

(Twsbi Diamond 530 – Pilot Blue-Black)

Bruno Taut
(Shinjuku, January 30th, 2011)
[labels: tinta, Platinum, evento]

Serene

The Waterman Serenité is a beautiful tool. As a pen, it certainly stands apart with its original non-straight shape. It is also substantial: 49 grams and 144 mm long when capped.


What is a lot less clear is whether this pen is really usable. It is well made, I admit. The nib axis is perfectly aligned with the curved pen so that it points down when writing. The cap posts tightly on the barrel, with the clip perfectly secured in an ad-hoc metallic depression.


Everything, I reckon, is designed to make this pen a real pen on top of a beautiful object, but I also have some objections. The weight is the main one. The beautiful shape has the disadvantage of making it hard to carry comfortably.

And, finally, the price tag—about €800. For that price there are hundred of pens. Most of them, more usable.


€800 should also buy a more striking nib. It seems that Waterman wanted to attract the attention by the general look and not by the nib. This makes me think this pen is more of a jewel than of a writing tool. A beautiful jewel, nonetheless.


An additional note. In some units of this pen, the ink converter does not fit inside the barrel. Apparently, the problem lies in the fact that roller and fountain pen have very similar barrels and can be interchanged. But the ink converter only fits in that of the fountain pen.

A number of Serenité fountain pens in the market have the roller’s barrel.

(Pilot Super 200 – Visconti Sepia)

Bruno Taut
(In exile, January 5th, 2011)
[labels: Waterman]

Matching (VI)

The controversy is always there: Is that pen original or a copy of another? Which company did father that idea? Sometimes, the answers are clear…

In the history of Spanish fountain pens, that sad history of multiple frustrations, Inoxcrom is the most successful brand. It is still alive, albeit amid harsh financial conditions.

This brand started its activities in 1942 producing nibs for other manufacturers. Then the company continued by assembling pens with parts from other companies. Finally, in 1955, Inoxcrom released the model 55. Even though some of the models marketed in 1950s and 1960s were copies of the Parker 51/21, Inoxcrom also managed to create some original products like the model 77 and the rare luxury 88.

Inoxcrom Caravel II.

In the nineties, the model to copy changed. Now Parker had lost some of its past luster and the successful icon was Montblanc.

The Caravel was the Inoxcrom copy á la Meisterstück. It was a cartridge/converter black torpedo with a smooth steel nib.


In fountain pen fora in Spanish there exists the argument that this pen was a good quality copy and Montblanc demanded to stop its production under the threat of legal actions. A couple of pinches of salt can be added to this argument. First is the fact that Inoxcrom released two Caravel models. The initial Caravel dates back from the early 1990s and has a two-toned nib and a screw-on cap. In 1995, the Caravel II appeared: smaller than its predecessor, single-toned gold coated steel nib, and a slip cap.

So, would anyone release a second black torpedo under those legal threats?

Pilot Custom 74 (on top) compared to an Inoxcrom Caravel II.

The second point is the proliferation of torpedo-shaped pens all over and, in particular, in Japan. And those Japanese copies are really good quality pens!

Sure Montblanc might be acting against these Japanese companies, but the production of Pilot Custom, Platinum 3776 and Sailor Profit/1911 has not stopped in the last thirty years or so… Cannot Montblanc reach that far?

(Inoxcrom Caravel II – Waterman Havana)

Bruno Taut
(In exile, January 6th, 2011)
[labels: Montblanc, Inoxcrom, Japón, España, Pilot, Platinum, Sailor]