Family Portrait (IV)

If, as I claimed, the Pilot Capless family of pens is one of the very few icons in the Japanese pen scene, it truly deserves a family portrait. On the following picture we can see all the models of this pen. Color variations are not included here.


However, two rarities do figure on it—the transparent version, never for sale, of the Spring 1965 model; and the Platinum’s short lived Knock model.

My thanks to Mr. Niikura.

Pilot G-300V – Wagner 2008 ink

Bruno Taut
September 7th, 2012
etiquetas: Pilot, Platinum, Capless

Push

Push was the pen brand of the company Tanaka-Daigen-Do founded by Tomisaburô Tanaka in Osaka in 1918. The main technological argument in its early pens was a spiral-shaped ink channel that favored the ink flow and avoided the need to shake the pen —eyedroppers with shut-off valve— before using it. After the war. the company produced a number of very attractive pens with silver overlaid decorations.

A Push pen, made of celluloid, probably in the 1940s.

The clip is engraved with the name of the company and its logo.

The founder died in 1967, and its company survived him up to today. However, it stopped the pen production in the late 1960s.

The Push pen I am presenting now is made of celluloid; implements a lever filler, a stainless steel nib, and an ebonite feed. It is engraved with the brand name on the nib, on the clip, and on the barrel. These are its dimensions:

Length closed: 122 mm.
Length open: 108 mm
Length posted: 141 mm
Diameter: 11.5 mm (cap)
Weight: 12.0 g (dry)

The steel nib is engraved as follows: "ACID PROOF / PUSH / IRIDIUM / POINTED".

The beautiful feed made of hard rubber.

My best guess is that this pen dates back from the 1940s.

Pilot G-300V – Wagner 2008 ink

Bruno Taut
September 3rd, 2012
etiquetas: Japón, Push

On Sailor Nibs

Today’s chronicle is, basically, a description of the golden nibs Sailor offers on its catalog nowadays. The reason is twofold: first, there seems to be some confusion about what the company offers and on what sizes those nibs and nib points are presented. Second, this text might serve me well for future references. Actually, it shall serve me well…

Nowadays, Sailor golden nibs come in two purities –58.5% and 87.5% of gold, or 14 K and 21 K—and in three sizes named as medium (中型), big (大型) and super big (超大型) by Sailor; or junior, senior and king of pen in the translation for some markets. These nibs are implemented in the Profit (1911 in some markets) and Professional Gear series of pens. The Chalana line of thin pens is the only exception to this rule—these nibs are made of 18 K gold (75.0 %) and come only in extra-fine. The selection of nib points available in each size is summarized on the following table:

Big (top) and medium (bottom) nibs by Sailor. Both of them made of 21 K gold.

Some of those nibs can be rhodiated (rhodium-plated), bicolor, or black in appearance.

The Nagahara specialty nibs are based on the Naginata Togi nib in big size, but they can also be produced in the super-big size. The first Realo pen, on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the company, was equipped with a super-big Naginata Togi nib in M.

Sailor Realos in two different sizes: on top, the regular Realo, whose nib is of size big (大型). On bottom, the limited edition Realo, marketed in 2006. This is based on the King of Pen model and its nib size is super-big (超大型). It is a Naginata Togi nib in M.

From left to right: Naginata Togi big size, FM point; big size F point; medium size FM nib in 21 K; medium size with M point made of 14 K gold, old imprint.

A selection of Sailor nibs in sizes medium (中型) and big (大型).

According to the Japanese catalog, not all the points (in medium, big and super-big sizes) are available in both Profit and Professional Gear models. In general, there are more points available for the former than for the later. Again, according to the Japanese catalog of Sailor.

My thanks to Mr. Noguchi.

Platinum pocket pen in steel with black stripes – Platinum black

Bruno Taut
August 29-30, 2012
etiquetas: Sailor, plumín

Old Trick

Some brands, Pilot among them, might be approaching the ink business as if ink were perfume. And in fact, ink and perfume are not that different—both are easy-to-make consumables, yet so flexible in the final outcome, in color or fragrance, as to allow wildly creative names and displays. The basic difference, though, is that cosmetics sell seduction and sexual appeal, and inks have not yet reached that far.

There is another difference: inks need of a tool to be used—the pen. Then, pen brands came with this fundamental lie: only our inks are good for our pens. With other inks our pens might not work; with other inks the guarantee will be void; with other inks the pen will break; with other inks…

"Joker ink for fountain pens Joker".

Even the mostly unknown brand Joker tried this trick, which is frankly strange. Not many Joker pens can we see in the hands of users and collectors. Therefore, the market for its inks –"Joker ink for fountain pens Joker"– might have been quite limited.

Anyway, we know now this is an old lie in the hands of pen companies. But pen novices still ask about it on pen fora.

My thanks to my friend Kostas.

Pilot G-300V – Wagner 2008 ink

Bruno Taut
August 24th, 2012
etiquetas: tinta, Joker, mercado

Demonstrators in Japan

Apparently, along the nearly 50 years of history of the Capless family of pens, only the short model marketed in 1965 had a demonstrator version and, as was the case with most transparent pens, was not intended for sale but to show the internal mechanism. These were, in fact, tools in the hands of Pilot’s salespeople to convince retailers of the virtues of the pen. What most demonstrators intended to show was the filling mechanism, which was a primary battlefront in the market of pens. Then, cartridges became the filling system of choice and transparencies lost its ground, although with some exceptions. In Japan, this happened in the early 1960s, after Platinum had launched the Honest Cartridge in 1956.

The rare Capless demonstrator from 1965.

The Pilot Capless belongs to a different breed of pens. Instead of showing the filling system –a regular and uneventful cartridge-converter—it shows the retracting mechanism and the movable nib unit. And that puts on quite a show! Or, at least, an original one that many a user would be willing to buy.

The latest demonstrator by Platinum. It is named after one of the five lakes around Mt. Fuji: Shoji (精進湖). However, there is not much of a mystery inside the barrel.

And no show is provided by most Japanese modern demonstrators. Save a couple of exceptions –Pilot’s Custom Heritage 92 and Custom 823--, all of them are cartridge converter pens with nothing special to reveal. And, after all, cartridge and converters were removable and of easy access to the user.

Three demonstrators. From top to bottom, the cartridge-converter Pilot Custom 74, the piston filler Twsbi Diamond 530, and the piston filler Pilot Custom Heritage 92.

In the meantime, the Taiwanese brand Twsbi shows that it is possible to make affordable demonstrators with self-filling mechanisms. Now, a transparent modern Capless, that would really shake the scene!

My thanks to Mr. Hiroshi Shimizu.

Pilot L pocket pen – Sailor Sei-boku

Bruno Taut
August 20-22th, 2012
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless, Japón, Taiwan, mercado, Twsbi, Platinum

Marketing

The following video clip carries the signature of NHK, the national TV and radio broadcaster in Japan. However, it is far from being merely informative and, in fact, it is an instrument of advertisement and marketing for Pilot’s Iroshizuku line of inks.

It is an unlisted video, and it could disappear anytime. This is a summary of its contents:

The developer of Iroshizuku inks is a woman named Kiyomi Hasegawa, who spent 15 years behind the counter of a stationery shop. Customers, apparently, were looking for a broader variety of ink colors for their fountain pens. That drove her to create these inks as “this kind of product was not available from any other manufacturer”.

Iroshizuku, the speaker says, grabs the essence of Japan, and the beauty of the Japanese language. The ink names are inspired by “visual scenes in Kyoto and in the rest of Japan”. The unique bottle design is hand blown by professional glass blowers. The package is based on perfume products.

To enjoy these ink colors, Pilot developed a demonstrator pen [Pilot Custom 74 demonstrator]. The documentary ends with words about the ritual of inking a pen and about how the pen conforms to the owner with its continued use.

Couldn’t Pilot do better? Other than the empty rhetoric on the beauty of Japan, and on the beauty of the Japanese language, all we have is a collection of inaccuracies, wishful thoughts, and marketing justifications:

These four Iroshizuku inks were released in August 2011. So far, they are the last ones. Currently, there are 21 different colors.

-- Small selection of ink colors? No other company offered fancy-colored inks?
Does that mean Pilot did not know about J. Herbin or Private Reserve, both present in the Japanese market before Iroshizuku inks came to exist in December 2007? The Iroshizuku line started with five bluish hues, and even the Japanese company Sailor, in 2007, had five colors in its catalog, other than the black, blue and blue-black trio. If we spoke of the foreign market, the offer was a lot wider: Rohrer & Klingner, Diamine, De Atramentis, Noodler’s…

-- Hand-crafted inkwells blown by professional glass blowers?
Does this really add any virtue to the ink? Is Pilot only trying to justify the whopping EUR 33 these inks cost in Europe? Maybe Japanese customers do not deserve those hand-crafted bottles, as the domestic price of those inks is JPY 1575.

-- Packaged like perfume?
I guess that is the business model for inks nowadays. Perfumes, after all, generate a lot of profit—make them cheap, sell them expensive—and many a company would be happy with that source of benefits. Needless to say, Pilot can declare its intentions openly, but some of us might find this business model unsettling.

Another presentation of Iroshizuku inks. Even more expensive.

The conclusion is that this might be the future of inks--inks as luxury products. This is really a market driven by cravings instead of by need, and that does not benefit customers at all.

Sailor Profit Realo – Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown

Bruno Taut

August 15th, 2012
etiquetas: Pilot, tinta, J. Herbin, Diamine, Private Reserve, Noodler’s, De Atramentis, Sailor

Post scriptum (August 17th, 2012): I wanted to add a link to a blog entry by fellow stylophile Carlos Javier Contreras ( http://misplumasfuente.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/comparacion-de-precios-de-tintas-para-plumas-fuente/ ). On this text, the author analyzes the ink cost of several brands and compares them to the price of a very nice single malt whisky, a product that took 21 years to be produced under very strict conditions. Although the text is written in Spanish, I think there is not any problem to understand the graphs and the tables included on it. Those prices, in USD, correspond to the online shop Pen Gallery (as on April 11th, 2012) and do not take transport fees into account.

No Ordinary Capless

A couple of texts I have dedicated to the Pilot Capless released in spring of 1965: the first one on the pen itself, and a second one on its instruction manual written in Spanish. But there is more to this pen.

There is a demonstrator among those!

One of the holy grails of Capless pens is the model, or rather variation, I am showing today. It seems to be the only demonstrator version ever made of the Capless family of pens. Its purpose, in line with the traditional idea of demonstrator pens, was to show the nib-retraction mechanism and it was never for sale. I know of three units of this transparent pen: two of them in Japan; the third, in Europe, and this was associated to the instruction booklet written in Spanish. I know, though, this pen was purchased in Taiwan. Sure enough, there might be some other units.

The holy grail of Capless, with the possible exception of the short-lived Platinum Knock.

Demonstrator and regular pen, side to side. Note the absence of clip on the demonstrator.

This demonstrator pen has, let us note, the guiding mechanism made of steel. That was not the case on the regular versions—early models (spring 1965) had those made of plastic and later on, maybe by fall 1965, it was changed to steel. The demonstrator I am showing had its nib made of 14 K gold in January 1966, which seems to contradict my observation of these nibs made of steel. Carmen Rivera’s website on the history of Pilot Capless shows gold nibs in the later models (fall 1965 on) and steel on those earlier ones (spring to fall 1965). Both nib materials were likely to coexist during the later life of this model.

The golden nib of the demonstrator. It was manufactured in January 1966.

In any event, this Capless demonstrator is no ordinary Capless.

My thanks and appreciation to Mr. Niikura and to Mr. Syrigonakis.

Pilot Petit-1, 3rd generation – Diamine Teal

Bruno Taut
August 12th, 2012
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless