The Silent Cartographer: February 2015

Sunday, February 22, 2015

A dialogue with the Lamy Dialog 3

MOTIVATION

A collection of fountain pens is never complete without the retractable ones in your armoury. And the ones, which immediately strike an already covetous mind, are of course the Pilots (VPs, decimos and the fermos). Then there are pens like Lamy Dialog 3, Visconti Pininfarina among a few others equipped with a relatively small-sized non-hooded nib. Somehow, the idea of yet another hooded nib became quite less appealing, when I saw the Dialog 3. I knew it would be quite a heavy pen for the capless clan, but so was the Fermo. The Dialog 3 was launched by Lamy back in 2009 designed by one of the contemporary designers, Franco Clivio. The Lamy Pico is another pen by the same Swiss designer. As per LAMY, Franco innovates with basic shapes – circle, square and triangle, foregoing anything superfluous in the process to achieve technical necessity.

As you would have already discovered, there are no dialog 1 or 2 in their fountain pens range. Dialog 1 refers to a ball-point pen whereas Dialog 2 is a roller-ball pen, and interestingly enough, they belong to different designers.

PRESENTATION (6/6)

How do you ensure minimalism with luxury? By establishing extravagance incrementally, in step-by-step. A paper sleeve encases a much more attractive black cardboard box etched with the LAMY name. With the usual papers and a cartridge outside, a thin sheer cloth then encloses a beautifully polished gift box made out beech wood, closed with a magnetic rim.

The beauty of the beech-wood box is that it’s alluringly small enough to slip inside your pocket, the pen still dreaming inside with a soft cushion under her head.
PS: However, with the dialog 3 inside, it could be heavier than your cellphone.

DESIGN (6/6)

A twist-action fountain pen with an advanced design, it comes with four variants now – matte-black, pianoblack, pianowhite and palladium finish, with six nib sizes – EF, F, M, OM, B & OB.

The silvery palladium finish with chrome polished clip reflects its immediate environmental colours. An etched pair of parallel lines run along the barrel & grip pieces represent the final nib retraction point, when in sync. LAMY is etched between the lines at the end of the barrel. Half-a-twist clockwise from the barrel top-end will open a ball-valve at the nib end of the grip and the nib extends to a click-stop, keeping the pair of parallel lines at diametrically opposite ends. Anticlockwise, post the parallel sync, the barrel can be unscrewed from the grip+clip section, to take out the nib + filling system. There might be an odd slippage in the twist mechanism, but once I tightened the barrel and grip section, it did not occur again. Simply Elegant!

A chrome ball-valve at the end of the grip section protects the nib from damages of dust and drying, acting in sync with the twist-mechanism. Secondly, the clip lifts and rescinds with the twist to either facilitate an easier grip or enable clipping it on your pocket.

From the aesthetics of design, the dialog 3 is really majestic.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

The sum of parts for me is greater than a whole. It’s less fun taking the pen apart, because it’s meant to. Once the barrel is unscrewed anticlockwise beyond the synced parallel lines, it separates out to reveal the nib & fill system. The nib/fill system can be unscrewed anticlockwise from the grip section. You will find a standard Z26 converter fitted into the nib section. Again like the 2000, the design elements appear to be fluidic in both nature and function. The standard capacity is around 0.7-0.8 ml for the Z26 converter, as per various FPN reviews, is quite good for a retractable one.

Once you fill her up, you can put the pen together and then comes the wow moment.

NIB (6/6) - ALL THAT MATTERS

The 14k two-tone nib comes in four standard widths (EF, F, M, B) and two special widths (OM and OB). Elegantly, designed although in a modern geometric fashion, the white rhodium decor occupies the tines and the tail parts of the nib, while a golden streak runs from the breather hole and diverges itself at the tip end of the nib. Embossed near the tail end are the usual specs of nib size (F), content - 14k-58.5% and of course the LAMY logo.

By the way, this nib runs extremely smooth like warm butter. The plastic feed is a rather small one with a big feeder hole, and it does ensure a wet and smooth flow of ink. The tip is quite a sphere.

One thing I did observe, is the difference between the tipping sizes of 14k-fine nibs of Lamy - a 2000 with a Fine nib in this case, which is in my current rotation. Though, the 2000 had its nib replaced with a somewhat older-service stock of Fine nibs, you can clearly see the difference between their tipping sizes, even without using a loupe.

PHYSICS OF IT (4/6) - RELATIVELY

A cylindrical body with a 1.3 cm diameter having around 50 grams of weight, might seem to be a heavy proposition to wield as a pen. The length of the fully extended pen is similar to a posted MB146. Taking these into account, this pen does not seem comfortable for extended writing sessions. However, as far as short note taking sessions or signatures are concerned, believe me it could be the dream pen to write with. The illusive weight, the copious flow and the buttery nib will ensure a silky glider.

Retracted Length ~ 13.8 cm
Extended Length ~ 15.7 cm
Nib Leverage ~ 1.8 cm
Weight ~ 50 g

ECONOMIC VALUE (4/6)

With a street price of USD 250-260, it falls right into a category where you would probably think thrice or may be more, before buying the pen. There is always some discount running on MRP of USD 385 in local stores, which brings the price closer to street price levels.

OVERALL (5.3/6)

A flawlessly efficient pen as far as the vital parts of the pen are concerned. It has never skipped and all the twist mechanisms operate with firm intents of functionality. The d3 fine nib has quite a soft touch, decent spring, runs wet like rains & smooth like butter laying a broad line. With a relatively dry Pelikan 4001 ink, the wet lines laid by the Fine nib, run broader than a 2000-fine and a Platinum President Broad nib running the wettest of Diamine inks. The lines take around 30-35 seconds to dry Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue ink on MD Paper.

A pen you cannot ignore, if you wish to have a retractable one with the smoothest of nibs.

Hope you liked the review. The Lamy 2000 is reviewed here.
You can find some more pen and paraphernalia reviews here.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

A LAMY 2000 story (with a little zen tale of maintenance)

MOTIVATION

This might sound pretty clichéd.. but it is actually true. If you love fountain pens, it is difficult to stay away from the Lamy 2000 for long. The 2000 is often quoted to have a timeless design, a masterful construction and a rather envious efficiency. And, it comes with a small 14k platinum-plated gold nib. The first of the Lamy 2000s are said to have been launched in 1966 and have well succeeded to become the flagship product of the company. To get the 2000 designed, Lamy had drawn a joint-project with a free-lancer (a top designer in the industrial space during the 1960s), Gerd Alfred Müller – of Braun fame. Incidentally, he was one of the first salaried designers of Braun and one of the advocates of the Bauhaus movement (‘form follows function’ maxim). And that project ended up with a piston-filler fountain pen made out of rigid fiberglass-reinforced makrolon polycarbonate and brushed stainless steel along with a gold nib.

PRESENTATION (6/6)

The L2k arrived in a small tri-folded black cardboard box (with a thick paper outer-sleeve), that locks the third fold on a silver colour plate bearing the ‘LAMY’ logo. These folds reveal the pen resting on a zig-zag felt-like paper floorboard along with a leaflet/manual.

DESIGN – CAPPED (6/6)

The pen in its final elements apparently bestows a fluidic design. Even though it is often quoted to have an understated appearance with the brushed black makrolon matter, I feel that that’s the way the pen truly differentiates itself from others. The spring loaded clip made out of brushed-steel, is both efficient and stunning at the same time.

DESIGN – UN-CAPPED (5/6)

Then there is LAMY embossed on one of the mount-sides of the clip, with GERMANY 2 written on its underside. As per some FPN posts, the GERMANY 1 or 2 could refer to the cavity number of the die in which the clip was made. Once uncapped, the pen depicts a engineering marvel, the one without boundaries. Concealing all the seams of individual parts starting right from the piston knob and ending with the nib, the lamy 2000 plays an effortless symphony, from the blackness of makrolon body through the subtle set of glassy ink windows (0.25 cm) towards the silvery brushed-stainless steel grip section ending with a hooded metallic nib (14k – Gold: Platinum plated). And that’s when you do realize a splendid piece of industrial design, by Müller!

I do find the snap-cap a blessing, when it comes to taking quick notes. Once uncapped, the pen becomes quite susceptible to rolling and falling off from smooth surfaces even with a little hint of slope. [That’s why probably a Minus – 1]

There is a stainless steel disc adorning the end of piston knob, ending the sweet sonnet of an eternal design with a silvery look which once started with the steely grip and clip.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

The piston knob is adequately large and quite comfortable to operate. The brushed surface ascertains a firm grip. Initially, the piston knob was too snug for my comfort, but it worked like a charm after lubricating the piston seal. In fact, it now is apparently smoother than the nib itself. More on it later.

The pen draws and expels ink through its breather hole (below pic), located on the underside of the hood. Rather, the mechanism gushes ink in or out with remarkable efficiency. The ink capacity is said to be around ~ 1.4 – 1.5 mL.

PHYSICS OF IT - RELATIVELY (6/6)

From the perspective of writing comfort, I would prefer the whole 25 grams and keep the pen posted. For short notes, I am comfortable to use the pen un-posted.

Dimensionally, it is quite similar to a Pilot Custom Heritage 91/92 and is a rather medium sized pen. The hooded nib seems small but an elusive unification with the metal grip gives the pen an unexpected leverage with a somewhat bottom heavy design. So you might never feel the absence of a big nib.

Capped Length ~ 14 cm
Uncapped Length ~ 12.5 cm
Posted Length ~ 15.4 cm
Nib Leverage ~ 0.75 cm
Total Weight ~ 25 g
Body Weight ~ 15 g

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (5/6)

Below, is the complete nib-section which is hidden under the hood. It’s a rather small nib but to reiterate, it’s a supremely efficient and an effective design. And thanks to Müller, apart from the most elegant of appearances, LAMY also managed to save some costs on the gold part of the nib.

Mine was an EF nib and was yet another QC victim [Minus –1]. I did smoothen it up, but again the angularly-varying nib widths were not pertaining to my taste. But thanks to Lamy India Customer Service – by William Penn, they replaced it with a F nib in three weeks, totally free of charge. I was assured by them, if any Lamy is within a year of purchase (from anywhere across the globe), William Penn will happily service the pen at zero cost. The replaced nib is quite smooth and I believe it’s one of the older pieces in their service stock. It does draw a line quite similar to a pilot FM nib or a pelikan EF.

DISASSEMBLY (5/6)

The best part of the pen is the ease of dis-assembly without a need of a tool. (The only part in which you would probably need a tool is probably pushing out the piston rod and seal out of the barrel)

The steel grip section can be unscrewed off from the barrel in a clockwise manner, with the piston end on top. Be careful when you push out or push in the nib section, for I had used a cloth to hold the nib + feed, while gently pushing out the nib. While putting it in, I would suggest making sure that the convex opening of the grip section is well-aligned with the nib and feed faces the breather hole. It should smoothly fit-in, else it’s not aligned. The nib can be easily damaged during this exercise and secondly, there are multiple o-rings – metal (grip section) and rubber ones (nib section) to take care of. [Minus –1] I recommend staying away from the force (forcing the nib section in), even when The force is with you!

The piston knob can be screwed off in a quite similar manner of operation. After a stop, once it’s rotated anti-clockwise from top a few clicks are heard and it comes out completely revealing a plastic internal end cap for this version.

Since, my piston knob was quite snug from the beginning, I took the liberty of disassembling the pen to apply some silicone grease on the interiors of the barrel, with an ear-bud. After turning the piston knob in and out for a few times, it was magically butter-smooth to operate. I referred to this video by Brian Goulet.

ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6)

I was able to win the pen at USD 120 on an online auction. I am not sure whether I could have got it for less. It probably sells at a street price of USD 150-160 and retails at USD 200+ in India. And, post the nib-replacement I am pretty happy with the pen.

OVERALL (5.5/6)

Know what! If you haven’t already, you must get it. It deserves a place in your collection. PS – It was 1966 not 68

ADORABLE REFERENCES

The Lamy 2000 Bible by Brandon

Applying Silicone Grease Video

Thank you for going through this review. Hope you enjoyed it. The Lamy Dialog 3 is reviewed here.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

A Tale of the lesser flagship of Montblanc : The Meisterstück 146

My holidays rarely match with others’ in the family. So, last afternoon, while I was staring at the chessboard to play yet another game, I thought of putting the board to a better use than just moving the pieces against myself. So, why not take three big nibs out of their temporary resting places and give them a try. In this fast-paced world, fountain pens have most certainly embarked the sail of luxury, consistent with properties of both time and money. These days, keyboards – physical, on-screen or speech-engine ones have taken over a Pen’s traditional space-time. Thankfully, notebooks and writing pads are still there to keep them alive, even if people have started to take notes in their tablets, phones or phablets.

Not being a fan of very big pens, I usually go for the nearer to flagship models. They seem to be appealing from twin perspectives of economy & convenience.

A BRIEFER HISTORY IN TIME

MONT BLANC

I came across a real Montblanc pretty much later in life, though used to love a pen called Camlin Premier during school days. It came with a 1-pen leather pouch, an additional screw-fit nib and it did have those striped ink windows. I say I loved it, but never wrote with it since it belonged to my dad and I was a small kid. Back in 1999-2000, it cost around USD 5.00 and it was a hefty price tag for a locally made fountain pen. Later I did realize that it was yet another MB 146 inspiration, when I went to a pen store in Calcutta.

As most of you would know, Montblanc was started in 1906 a Hamburg banker, Alfred Nehemias, and a Berlin engineer, August Eberstein as Simplizissimus-Füllhalter which means Simplistic Fountain pens, after they learnt about fountain pens with ink tanks from the US. By 1908, three other people by the name of Wilhelm Dziambor, Christian Lausen and later Claus Johannes Voss had taken over the business and the company took the name “Simplo Filler Pen Co.” which referred to a fountain pen design with a built-in ink-tank.

In 1909, a safety fountain pen made up of hard rubber called “Rouge et Noir” was launched, which actually means Red and Black. The pen consisted of a red cap and a black body, perhaps inspired from a card-game. You can also find a limited edition of the same. In 1910, the company became Mont Blanc, inspired by the highest peak of the Alps (4810 m) and a pen called Montblanc was introduced with a white tip (which would later evolve into a white star in 1913). In 1926, the Meisterstück was launched. By 1929, the nibs were engraved with 4810, the official height of Mont Blanc peak, as an allusion to supreme quality and craftsmanship. The flagship Meisterstück 149 was launched in 1952, evolving from celluloid & brass mechanism to resin & plastic mechanism over the years. For the Meisterstück 146, the ink windows were modified to striped version somewhere around the 1970s from clear blue window and the the two-tone nib was introduced in 1993-94.

As far as the model numbers XYZ (146) are concerned, MB did traditionally follow a naming convention, albeit in a rather loose manner

X or 1: Tier of pen, 1 - Top class or Meisterstück 2 - Medium range & 3 - Economy

Y or 4: 0 - Safety filler, 2 - Button Filler, 3/4 - Piston Filler

Z or 6: Nib size, 9 being the largest

MB eventually stopped production of all economy pens in 1992.

DESIGN (5/6)

The pen is made of glossy 'precious resin' (a custom variant of Polymethyl methacrylate aka PMMA) and is adorned plated rings and bands. Glistening golden with the subtle shine of black preserve a culture while adding a modern luxurious touch. This specific cigar shape was later copied around the world by many leading pen makers, over decades till date. The cigar shape was invented by Sheaffer Balance in 1928. The 146 also comes with platinum plated trims. The resin does feel substantial to hold, but it's also prone to scratches, if due care is not exercised.

With a minimalist piece of design, the clip does start with a tiny piece of elevated ramp. The cap bands and the rings follow the same equation till a ring separating the piston end concludes both dazzle and design. The clip is tension fit and carries a serial number and GERMANY along the ring. On its underside it may or may not carry the engraving of Pix, depending upon the year of manufacture. Montblanc included the trademark post 1997. There are a lot of Chinese fakes flooding both online and offline channels, which is why Montblanc has to come up with newer and innovative trademarks with every model.

The cap unscrews with a single turn revealing a dazzling two tone nib along with a striped ink window. I like the ink-windows very much.

The cap does mention MONTBLANC - MEISTERSTÜCK etched across the broader of the concentric golden bands, in a cross-hatched font while two thinner bands above and below render the differential aesthetics. The finial carries the white-star.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

The piston is distinguished by a golden band and has an easy and a hassle-free mechanism. The piston end unscrews with less than three rotations and as the white piston head moves along the ink-windows, ink gushes into the barrel. A brass connector gives the necessary weight to the barrel.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The dazzling two-tone nib is tested by hand, and it comes in eight different widths including the common widths of EF, F, M & B. And this silvery rhodium finish provides both glitter and glamour.

A golden decor runs along the shoulders of the nib and it converges across the outer tines onto an iridium tip, while the rhodium silvery finish diverges from the breather hole across the inside of the tines and over to the tail.

A bounded layer of arabesques & curves segregates the rhodium and gold decors. Then, there is a dazzling white M logo resting inside the encircled star, above which rest the height of Mont Blanc peak, 4810 (m). This one is a fine nib and writes quite wet and smooth. The tail end specifies the composition (58.5% Au) of the gold-alloy used. Above it rest the specification 14K and brandname of MONTBLANC. There is no width specified on the nib itself, unlike others.

A standard black plastic feed with finely spaced fins (earlier ones had ebonite feeds) ensures a good ink buffer for the awesome wetness and prevents hard starts. By the way, I just love the ink windows.

PHYSICS OF RELATIVITY (6/6)

It does give a comfortable feel to write with the pen without posting the cap. The overall capped length is around 14.2 cm. The pen can be used posted without any feeling of top-heaviness as the weight of the cap is less than a third of the total weight. The section has a comfortable grip of around 1.2 cm.

Uncapped Length ~ 12.4 cm
Posted Length ~ 15.6 cm
Nib Leverage ~ 2.4 cm
Overall Weight ~ 31 g (Cap Weight ~ 9 g)

Below are the pictures along with a Pelikan m805 and a Pilot Custom 823 for your reference.

ECONOMIC VALUE (3/6)

This one defies both logic & gravity and the pen retails at more than USD 750. The price puts most of the fountain pen people off, while getting a pre-owned one from your uncles (well nothing like that! or buying it at a good discount) can save some money. You can also get hold of a MB boutique sales person selling off some older generation demo pens at a good discount. When it comes to the internet, one has to be careful regarding the abundance of fakes in the online marketplaces and the best fakes are costly and are quite difficult to identify without experience.
Value for money? I doubt.
Heritage Value? High.
You can probably pass on the pen to your next generation and they would still recognise it as a brand. Can I pass on the same emotional value with a say, Pilot Custom 845, outside of Japan? I doubt. This will probably need some internet searches, before one realizes the true value of the pen.

OVERALL (5.2/6)

The writing experience is amazing although I do find the pilot custom 823 and m805 being equally good when it comes to nibs of similar size and constituency. There is a hint of spring and softness in the nib and an absence of any line variation between the horizontal and vertical strokes. The lines dry relatively quickly with a MB Toffee Brown ink taking around 25 seconds on MD Paper. And you get a nice shading too.

Comparatively, a custom 823 with a medium nib, draws a line, thinner than both 146 and m805 fine points and dries quickly. On a smooth MD paper with stock pelikan 4001 inks, it took more than 30 seconds to dry the dots put by the 146 (as well as the m805).