Pelikan Souverän M605 Marine Blue Review

The M4XX/6XX are usually considered to be next steps to an M2XX. As with the model numbers, there is a general increase in nib size & specs, in addition to overall dimensions, when you move from M4XX to M1XXX. Brass piston fittings in 8XX/1XXX series, render additional weight to these pens. The designs of the striped 400/600/800/1000 are pretty linearly recurring over the entire writing range except for several special editions. 405/605/805/1005s refer to the similar pens with silver accents, plated with noble metals (like Palladium or Rhodium), unless it’s a special or demonstrator model. The other model numbers refer to special/limited editions like the one reviewed here which is the m605 Marine Blue Special Edition. Another such alluring model is Souverän M 625 with sterling silver fittings (Ag 92.5%).

DESIGN - THE MARINE TRANSPARENCY (6/6)

Light and dark can play very differently with this pen. The m605 marine has a darker hue of blue which is as elegant as the deep blue ocean and it’s capable of refracting even a tiny shimmer of light with the palladium coated silver loops dazzling in utter consonance. Absence of light makes it adorn an almost blackish blue hue.

As you can see this blue is remarkably darker than the blue shade of a Pilot Custom Heritage 92.

The entire pen gleams with a revealing blue and silver with ambient light and these effects do proliferate with sunlight. The radiance is matched throughout the pen starting with a silver gleam from the famed finial and the pelican beak (clip) through the concentric bands in the cap before finally converging with the piston rings. The resin reflects quality and does not feel feeble or insubstantial on touch. 

The cap feels light and unscrews with a single turn, revealing a dazzling rhodium plated nib. The grip reveals another knot of glitter, towards the nib end. The transparency does reveal the inside works of its piston mechanism.

Two concentric palladium plated bands with a dazzling silver crown embossed with the pelikan logo, adorn the cap with a signature pelican beak-shaped clip. The thicker one carries the usual brand imprint of PELIKAN SOUVERÄN GERMANY. The logo on the finial is the one embraced by Pelikan post 2003, that of a mother pelican and its chick, gleaming in brushed palladium. You can see the distinct outlines of the cap insert here. The bands have an intrinsic association with the design rather than just differentiating the aesthetics element. 

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

A piston filler with a sturdy knob is embellished with two concentric silver loops. Apart from their enchanting looks, like any other pelikan, it's an easy and hassle-free mechanism. The piston end unscrews with three to four rotations and ink is sucked in, with quite a gush, once the piston is screwed back on. And of course, you can observe the entire thing in action. A plastic spindle connector in the M4XX/6XX limits overall weight. M6XX fills upto 1.4 mL of ink. However, given the wet flow of the flock, it does not last for a long time.

             One thing to note here is that these piston mechanisms for M4XX/M6XX are not supposed to be dismantled as they are friction fit under heat. In case of problems other than lubricating the piston seal, it’s better to send the pen to Pelikan Germany/Country Authorized Service Center. Pelikan does have an excellent customer service.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib comes in a rhodiated 14k design across four stock widths - EF, F, M & B. It has the standard pelikan scrollwork with the usual convenience of a screw-fit section.

              Like all its cousins, the nib is exquisite and efficient. With a standard m6xx feed, the nib-section is an ensemble of efficiency as well as art. And this monotone rhodiated finish does converge with the palladium coated trims in terms of both glitter and glimmer.

The tail end specifies the nib-width and composition (14 C, 58.5% Au) of the gold-alloy used. Three arabesques diverge along the shoulders of the nib with two of them converging near the circular breather hole. The third curve runs across the tines towards the shoulders ending with the tail end of the nib. There is of-course the dazzling mother-baby pelikan logo, resting above the tail. This one in the picture is a Fine nib and writes smooth and wet out of the box.

A standard black plastic feed (earlier ones had ebonite feeds) ensures a good ink buffer for the promised wetness and prevents hard starts.

PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

For me, this pen is quite comfortable to write continuously, while posted. The overall capped length is around 13.3 cm. The total weight of m605 has a third of contribution from the cap and it feels light without posting the cap. The pen does get some heft from the ink inside the barrel.

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.4 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15.4 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2.3 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 18 g (without ink)

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with its cousins - m400 and a m805 go below for your reference. There is also a posted reference with two similar pens (in terms of weight and dimensions) from Pilot (CH92 & C74) too.

ECONOMIC VALUE (4/6)

The m605 Marine retails at around USD 595, it does sound like a rather crazy spend. I have found it frequently auctioned on the bay with the final price dropping to 60% of RRP or even less. You can get a Pilot Custom Heritage 92 for USD 130 or less, although it will lack the finesse of a pelikan. I do consider the pen as a dependable workhorse.

OVERALL (5.6/6)

These 14k nibs are extremely smooth and have a very wet flow. The nibs are stiff & I absolutely love these nibs since I find myself quite ill equipped for flexible nibs. With a slight bit of spring and softness in them, there is absence of any noticeable line variation. Being extremely wet writers out of the box, the Fine nib puts a line which takes around 20 seconds to dry GvFC Moss Green ink on MD Paper. 

REFERENCES

Pelikan M4XX

Nib Adjustment

Pelikan M625

Patent

Piston mechanisms

Ink Capacities

Pilot Custom Heritage 92

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The Pilot Custom 74 Review

This one is my all time favourite pen and one of my first fountain pens with a gold nib. The Custom 74 (C74) was released as in 1992, sporting a Pilot#5 14k nib. I was planning to review it for a long long time but thanks to all the other pens, it never got the attention it truly deserves. The C74 was launched 74 years after the company’s inception (i.e. 1918), and as usual it does carry the first two digits of the model number as ‘74’ and the third digit is by default ‘1’ usually refers price at launch of the pen (i.e 1 X JPY 10,000). The demonstrators were released much later with the coloured ones specifically meant for the US market. I have always felt that the C74 along with the Custom Heritage 92 are the best starter premium pens.

                      The C74 (for the Asian market) comes packaged in a standard pilot gift box (Z-CR-GN) which is more of a protection than presentation and the pen also reverberates with this understatement.

DESIGN - THE CLASSICAL CIGAR (5/6)

The C74 comes in four standard designs of glossy resin - Black, Deep Green, Deep Red (or bordeaux), and Deep Blue, all in gold plated trims. The resin material feels strong though not heavy. There are also the clear and coloured demonstrators (blue, orange, violet and smoke) with silver trims and smoky finials, available at higher price points. I would personally prefer a piston-filling CH92 when it comes to demos. 

The cylindrical cigar starts with rounded off finial and a gold plated clip/ring syncing nicely with concentric cap bands before concluding with a golden dazzle at the end of the barrel. The glossy red resin shines moderately under light, preserving its business look. 

The cap is light and unscrews with little less than two turns, revealing a dazzling golden nib. The grip section is moulded from the same resin and a golden ring announces the beginning. 

But as usual the nib dazzles out from the rest of the pen. 

The two injection-moulding threads are somewhat visible at the threads of the barrel and grip. I would have preferred polishing them off, through there is little room for argument at this price point.

The cap with a rounded off finial preserves a classical look. A few things etched across a lower centre band include the model name of CUSTOM 74 and PILOT MADE IN JAPAN, separated by a *. An concentric narrow band above renders some differential aesthetics. The clip is tension-fit and has the shape of an inverted triangle, ending up with a golden sphere. PILOT is engraved vertically at the top. The design of the clip is reminiscent of Parker Big Red pens of the 70s.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

The barrel unscrews from the section with four and a half turns. As you can observe the section has metal threading syncing with the resin threads of the barrel. You can also see one of the feeble lines of injection moulding on the outer threads of the barrel.

                   The pen takes all pilot converters CON-20 (0.5 mL), CON-50 (0.5 mL) & CON-70 (1 mL) along with pilot proprietary cartridges (0.9 mL). I have used the included CON-70 converter with this pen with a push button filling mechanism. Mind you, the ink bottle with have some froth during the otherwise fun filling exercise. 

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib is friction-fit and comes in a standard 14k design across four stock widths - EF, F, M & B. In addition to these four there are eight special widths available across SF, FM, SFM, M, SM, BB, MS & C. It’s comes rhodiated for the silver trimmed demos although the widths are limited to F, M & B.

      The tail end of the nib specifies the month and year of manufacture. It has a standard scrollwork where the elongated hexagonal imprint separates the design from the outer shoulders and tines, with a decor running inside its circumference, encompassing the circular breather hole. 

The branding and nib specifications of PILOT, 14k-585 (58.5% Au Alloy) along with the nib size and width are imprinted below the breather hole.

A standard bluish grey plastic feed with moderately spaced fins delivers a buffer capacity and a decently sized feeder hole gives a decent ink suction.

The only difference I find between the C74 nibs and the rhodiated nibs of the CH92, is on the softness front, which makes the C74 nib more delightful. 

PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

I do not know why but the cigar shape of a pen does give an extremely comfortable feel to my hands. The cap weighs only 8 grams. It’s a comfortable grip section with around 1 cm girth. For my hands the un-posted C74 lacks a bit of weight rather than length. 

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.5 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15.5 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 20 g

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with a few similar pens in terms of dimension and heft like the Custom Heritage 92 and the Pelikan m605 go below for your reference.

ECONOMIC VALUE (6/6)

The C74 retails at around USD 160 for the rhodiated demonstrator versions in the US, although the glossy resin versions sell at USD 100 or less, in Japanese shops like Engeika or Rakuten. I had bought the first pen a long back for close to USD 100 from Engeika’s Indian Arm - Pensindia. I do find the C74, a terrific value for money. 

OVERALL (5.8/6)

This 14k nib is the smoothest of all my nibs and it has a moderately wet flow. The nib is sturdy and does not have any variation between horizontal and vertical lines. This medium nib has an exquisite level of softness with a fair amount of spring which makes it phenomenal. These wet lines take almost 25 secs to dry a wet ink like Diamine Majestic Blue on MD paper. The grids are 5 mm squares.

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ADORABLE REVIEWS

FPN Review

Blue Demo

The Pilot Custom Heritage 92 Review

I am not sure whether you too will get a Custom Heritage 92 (CH92) after falling intensely in love with a Custom 74 model. Many reviews do reveal this graduation of Pilot Love. Although my love for pilot pens can be absolutely blamed on genes. Initially, the CH92 were released as clear demonstrators around October 2010, sporting a #5 rhodiated nib. Since it was 92 years after the company’s inception (i.e. 1918), it does carry the first two digits of the model number as ‘92’ and the third digit which is by default ‘1’ usually refers price at launch of a pilot pen (i.e 1 X JPY 10,000).  However, there is a minor deviation here, the price at launch was JPY 15,000, since the Custom 74 was already priced at JPY 10,000. The coloured versions were released two years later in 2012. 

The CH92 (for the Asian market) comes packaged in a standard pilot gift box (Z-CR-GN) which may not be able to draw any attention, but the pen definitely does. I just fell in love with the ocean blue colour. The simplistic yet elegant design sustains the traditional functionalities in a modern garb. Definitely with the times, the ‘asa-gao’ ocean blue transparent body says everything about itself. Asagao refers to a bluish flower which is more commonly known as Japanese Morning Glory.  It also comes in Sunset Orange (Yu-yake), Smoke (Kirisame) colours. The box carries a user manual for a Type S fountain pen. 

DESIGN - THE COLOURED DEMONSTRATORS (6/6)

The CH92 comes in four standard designs of transparency - Blue, Orange, Smoke and Clear resin, all in silver trims. The resin material feels strong though not substantial like the Custom 823. Initially I went for the Asa-Gao Blue with medium nib which wrote beautifully, and I could not resist getting another. The second one was another Asa-Gao then a Yu-Yake Sunset Orange.

The demonstrators given their lightness, are capable of refracting even a tiny bit of light, while a silver shimmer running across the centre band along with the clip creates a photogenic contrast. The smoky finials at the cap along with the piston knob conclude its design.

The cap is light and unscrews with little more than a turn, revealing the dazzling nib. The grip section is moulded from the same smoky transparent resin as the finial (cap) and knob, with a metal ring segregating, the grip from the barrel. And its transparency does reveal the inside works of the piston mechanism.

The cap does mention a few things etched across a lower centre band, including the model name CUSTOM HERITAGE 92 and PILOT JAPAN. I somehow miss the stars in the other custom series pens. An apparently segregate band above (although its part of the centre band only), renders some differential aesthetics to the overall design. The clip is tension-fit and has the shape of the double-edged Japanese sword Tsurugi.

The subtle gradient created by the transparent body, along with the smoky black grip, finial (cap) and piston-knob sections converge the rhodium sheen to render a well-orchestrated symphony of colours. No component individually would seem as stupendous as the complete pen.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

A small but remarkably efficient piston knob unscrews from the metal ring to a quick end stop. And it does go the distance when the knob is screwed back on by filling the barrel upto a volume of 1.2 - 1.3 mL. The outer connector of the piston mechanism consists of a metal unit fastened to a inner plastic unit, and it can be disengaged with a TWSBI wrench (7mm) as shown here by Hari. This  helps add weight to pen and ensures that a metal wrench meets metal and thereby does not cause undue damage.

Cleaning the pen is a similar ritual accompanied by some shake. If there is some remnant ink left at the end of grip section, it’s an easy clean. You can repeatedly fill and flush the pen with the grip section dipped inside a bowl of water, or you can just remove the friction fit nib-unit and clean the insides with a soft damp cloth.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib is friction-fit and comes in a standard 14k rhodiated design across four stock widths - F, FM, M & B. The nib has the standard pilot design.

 The tail end of the nib specifies the month and year of manufacture. An elongated hexagonal imprint separates the design from the outer shoulders and tines with an arabesque decor running inside its circumference, encompassing the circular breather hole in between. 

The branding and nib specifications of PILOT, 14k-585 (58.5% Au Alloy) along with the nib size and width, which are imprinted below the breather hole.

A standard bluish grey plastic feed with moderately spaced fins and a decently sized feeder hole delivers the amazing ink suction.

PHYSICS OF IT (5/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

With a translucent resin body in form of a truncated cigar, it does give a comfortable feel of posted length. The cap weighs 8 grams. It’s a comfortable grip section with around 1 cm diameter.  Un-posted, its gives a lacking feeling of both length and weight. 

• Uncapped Length ~ 12 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 1.9 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 20 g

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with a few similar pens like the Custom 74 and the Pelikan m605 go below for your reference.

ECONOMIC VALUE(6/6)

The CH92 retails at around USD 220, and as usual it’s available at lower street prices towards a band of USD 130-140. I had bought the first pen at a cost of USD 130, and the subsequent ones at lower prices. Since pilot has stopped production of these coloured versions for some time now (as per two Japanese retailers), online retailers are selling off their leftover stock quite cheaply, getting as low as USD 110, to clear off old stock. May be Pilot is coming up with a new piston filler, who knows!

OVERALL (5.8/6)

This 14k nib has a smooth and wet flow. The nib is sturdy and does not have any line variation. It may lack the bit of softness and spring of a Custom 74 nib, but that’s purely my experience. There is absence of any significant variation among the horizontal and vertical strokes. These wet lines take almost 15 secs to dry a Visconti Blue Ink on MD paper.

Here are the adorable articles on Pilot CH92 which I referred: Hari & Losepus

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