German Music

The pen of the day is not Japanese, but German. In fact, it is a full fledged Montblanc in its biggest and more representative model—the 149. But this is not any 149, and to see that we only need to check the truly amazing nib.

A regular Montblanc 149?

Its three-tined music nib is a bespoke unit ordered by the proud owner. It was commissioned to Montblanc Hong-Kong, which was cheaper than its Japanese counterpart. The order took two months to be completed and delivered.

A 18 K gold nib. On the side it reads "Handcrafted". By hand-really?

Now, is it just a three-tined nib? Not so easy. On the reverse side, we can see up to five tines separated by four slits. All in all it is a very wide, 6B, stub nib with a complex slit structure. Exquisite work.

The back of the nib shows a more complex structure than just those three tines visible on the front. Please, excuse the out-of-focus picture.

This nib proves Montblanc could make actual working fountain pens instead of mere symbols of status. But they do not come cheap.

My thanks to Mr. Suzuki.

Pilot Custom 74, music nib – Pilot Black

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, February 3rd, 2014
etiquetas: Montblanc, plumín, plumín musical

Pilot Capless - 1964 - C-300SW and variations

Introduction:

Pilot was quick to react to the limited success of the expensive C-600MW, and released a cheaper Capless less than one year after the previous model. The price was initially halved, and soon afterwards it was further reduced to JPY 2000. It is questionable whether these pens were different models or not. Their nib units are perfectly compatible.

C-300SW.

C-300GW.

C-200SW.

Features:

Codes.	C-300SW, C-300GW, C-200SW. The first one, from March 1964, has a silver trim and the push button is totally metallic. The C-300GW golden trimmed, and keeps the all metal push button. Finally, the C-200SW –from August 1964— is silver trimmed, and the push button is made of plastic with a metallic crown. In year 1969 there was another version of the C-300GW with nib units with B points.
Original_price.	JPY 3000 (C-300SW and C-300GW) and JPY 2000 (C-200SW).
Production_years.	1964-1971 (?)
Nib_unit.	Type II. Gold 14 K. There are three variations on this type.
Filling_system	Double spare cartridge, 2 units. CON-W can be used.
Opening_system.	"Knock system" (push button). The button has two positions. The first one, the first knock, releases the nib. The second retracts it. If, when closed, pushed the button deep inside, the nib will return to the closed position.

C-200SW.

Dimensions:

	C-300SW / C-300GW	C-200SW
Length closed	142.5 mm	143 mm
Length open	137 mm	137 mm
Diameter	12 mm	12 mm
Weight	19.0 g	18.4 g

Nib unit:

Type II. In 14 K gold. There are three variations, labeled as IIa, IIb and IIc, with the same dimensions and perfectly interchangeable. These labels do not reflect possible changes in the color of the feeds--either black or transparent. IIa unit is usually associated to models C-300SW and C-300GW, and model C-200SW can be seen with both IIb and IIc types. However, it is very likely that there existed exceptions to this rule.

Type IIa, usually associated to model C-300SW and C-300GW.

Type IIb, seen on model C-200SW.

Type IIc, usually associated to model C-200SW.

The differences among the three types of nib units are on the nibs. From top to bottom, types IIc, IIb, and IIa.

Additional data.

These models were made in a very wide number of colors. In fact, Pilot is not aware of how many color variations were released.

Nibs and bodies are engraved with the production place and date.

Assorted C-200SW and C-300GW models.

Back to the "Pilot Capless - 50 years" page.

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 2014
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless

Hidden Origins

A simple and obvious observation for today. And an implicit classification as well.

The number of fountain pen companies that actually manufacture their own nibs and feeds is not that numerous. However, many of those using third-party nibs hide this fact. Some, very actively: they label the nibs as theirs and hardly disclose their origin.

A second group imprints those nibs with their own logo, but they reveal the name of the manufacturer promptly if requested. In Japan, Hakase –Sailor and Pilot nibs—, and Ohashido –Sailor nibs— belong to this group.

A Pilot nib, a Hakase pen. It is labeled as Hakase.

A Sailor nib of an Ohashido pen labeled as Ohashido.

A Bock nib in a Nebotek pen. The nib has no marking other than the Bock logo.

Finally, a small group keeps some signs on the nib that allow for a quick and easy identification. At least, for most aficionados. Stylo-Art Karuizawa –which implements Pilot and Platinum nibs— and Nebotek –Bock nibs— are clear examples of this policy.


P. S: Around January 2014, Nebotek pens changed its name to Eboya.

Ferme pocket pen, 18 K nib – Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 28th, 2014
etiquetas: plumín, Hakase, Stylo-Art Karuizawa, Ohashido, Nebotek, mercado, Pilot, Bock, Sailor, Platinum.

Pilot Capless - 1963 - C-600MW

Introduction:

The first Capless model by Pilot was released on November of 1963. Some associate it model to the incoming celebration of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964. It was a luxurious and expensive pen, JPY 6000 was a decent monthly income in Tokyo at the time, and had a limited success.

C-600MW.

Features:

Codes.	C-600MW (basic model). Other variations encoded as C-1000DW and C-1000GW.
Original_price.	JPY 6000 (C-600MW); JPY 10000 (C-1000DW and C-1000GW).
Production_years.	1963-1965 (?)
Nib_unit.	Type I. Gold 14 K.
Filling_system	"Double spare" cartridge. 2 units.CON-W converter can be used.
Opening_system.	"Belt system". The barrel rotates with respect to the gripping section, thus releasing the nib. However, the whole releasing mechanism is inside the section of the pen. The mechanism actually pulls the nib in and out of the pen.

Dimensions:

For the basic model C-600MW.

Length closed	140 mm
Length open	146 mm
Diameter	13 mm
Weight	20.5 g

Nib unit:

Type I. In 14 K gold.

The type I nib unit. 2 double spare cartridges are attached to it.

Additional information:

There were, at least, two other versions—a gold­ plated one (C­-1000GW, JPY 10000, 1963), and a clipless unit with maki-e (seirei­nuri) decoration (C-­1000DW, JPY 10000, 1964). This was a limited released of 20 units.

The gold plated model C-1000GW.

The maki-e decorated C-1000DW model.

This pen carries two plastic dots on the section, perpendicular to the movement of the nib. On the first units, their were yellow. Later in 1964, it changed to white.

As is the case of most Pilot pens of the time, both the nib unit and the body are dated.


Back to the "Pilot Capless - 50 years" page.

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 2013
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless

A Project

Shortly, but without any fixed periodicity, I will be publishing a series of files to document all the Pilot Capless models released along its 50 years of history. Most, if not all, of these data have already been published on these Chronicles, but often in a fragmentary way, scattered among several entries.

The final destination of these files will be a separated website a fellow stylophile and I are now preparing.

Pilot Capless (1998 model), steel nib in M – Pilot Petit Black cartridge

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 24th, 2014
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless, metabitácora

Ferme (I)

Ferme was a minor brand of fountain pens and other writing tools about which not much is known. Andreas Lambrou and Masamichi Sunami, on their Fountain Pens of Japan (2012), simply say that this company had been founded in 1928 in Tokyo, made some good quality pens, collaborated with the company Ishikawa Kinpen Seisakushô, struggled with a small production of pens by the late 1960s and 1970s, and went out of business around 1985.

This W was the logo of the brand Ferme.

On the graphic part, Mr Sunami (who was the actual author of most of the book) shows a Ferme pocket pen with a beautiful three-tined music nib among half a dozen examples of this brand, all of them dating from 1969 on. All of them are cartridge-converter fillers.

The Ferme 59.

The JIS engraved nib. It is probably made of steel, but I have not been able to disassemble it from the section.

But it is possible to find older Ferme pens, although there are never common finds. The following is a Ferme 59, a regular size, aerometric filler. It uses a (presumably) gold plated nib imprinted with the Japan Industrial Standards (JIS) logo. The size and the general structure of this pen is half way between the Parker 51 and some Pilot Super models of the late 1950s.

The filling system is aerometric. The pressing plate is engraved with the brand name.

These are the dimensions of the Ferme 59:

• Length closed: 134 mm
• Length open: 124 mm
• Length posted: 144 mm
• Diameter: 11 mm
• Weight (dry): 16.0 g
• Ink deposit: 0.7 ml

Pilot Custom 742, falcon nib – Sailor 土用 (Doyô)

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 21st, 2014
etiquetas: Ferme

Platinum Changes

Platinum has released what seems to be just a new presentation of its traditional line of inks—that is, those that are not pigmented not belonging to the Mix Free gamut. Up to now, Platinum offered three inks –red, black and blue-black—in 30 ml inkwells for JPY 400 (plus tax). The blue-black ink, might be worth to mention, was an iron-gall formulation.

The by now old 30 ml inkwells of Platinum ink. Only the red ink is missing from the picture. The blue-black is an iron-gall ink. The price of these inks was JPY 400, plus tax.

The new presentation are 60 ml inkwells with the same design as those of the remaining inks (pigmented and “Mix Free”), albeit with the novelty of an inner cup to help using the last milliliters of ink in the inkwell. The price of this new presentation is significantly more expensive—60 ml of ink for JPY 1200 (plus tax). This price represents a 50% hike over the old 30 ml inkwell presentation.

The new inkwells of 60 ml at a price of JPY 1200, plus tax. Are these inks the same as those on the previous picture?

Now, are these inks the same as before? Hard to say, as Platinum incurs in several contradictions on its website and on the new packaging.

On one hand, on its website, Platinum speaks (look for reference INK-1200; as read on January 15th 2014) of these inks as dye inks—“dye stuff ink”, it literally says. However, in the past and even today, Platinum had already stated that the blue-black ink was a ferro-gallic ink (as read on January 16th 2014).

The new, or not so new, black ink together with the pigmented "Carbon Ink".

The "water-based pigmented" blue-black ink together with the "Pigment Blue" ink, both by Platinum.

And on the other hand, the new packaging the company labels these new inks as water-based pigmented inks. Inside, it also mentions they should not be mixed. And in the case of the black ink, there is an additional note saying it contains a “special resin component for improved water and light resistance”.

The notes on the box speak of a "special resin component" included for the black ink.

The new/old inks are not to be mixed, the box says.

So, what should we believe? Are these dye-based inks or pigmented? We might need to perform our own experiments, although this 50% price increase is a discouraging argument to buy this –or any— Platinum ink.


NOTE ADDED ON JANUARY 17th, 2014: Commentator Gary added some insight to the basic question of this Chronicle. In his opinion, the whole problem is due to a confusion between the terms dye and pigment when translated from Japanese to English. The experiments he described on his blog showed that the "new" blue-black ink is still an iron-gall formulation.

But then, the price hike --that unjustifiable 50% increase-- can hardly be understood.

Pilot Capless (1998 model), steel nib in M – Pilot Black

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 16th, 2014
etiquetas: Platinum, tinta, mercado.