20 years personal experience with Pilot/Namiki pens

[jar]

Let me preface this with an acknowledgement that my knowledge and experience with Japanese fountain pens has been far shorter than when talking about USA or European pens. I got my first Japanese pen in the early 90s, a Vanishing Point. I eventually ended up with three of them and added some other Pilot/Namiki, Sailor and Platinum/Nakaya pens but even looking at all the Japanese pens I've owned it is still a smaller sample than say Sheaffer or Parker or Waterman or Montblanc or St Dupont or Conway Stewart or Montegrappa. So please understand that what follows is simply a personal journey, a snap shot, a momentary experience and forgive any errors, omissions or foibles.

So let's begin by looking at the relative sizes of three Pilot/Namiki cigar/torpedo/balance shaped pens in the 74, 742 and 743 sizes. Pilot uses the same pieces parts for quite a few different models and across both the Pilot and Namiki branded product lines; sections, bodies, caps, nibs are often the same with only the details, finishing, materials and decorations being different.

So without further ado here we go.

From left to right we have a Pilot branded Nippon Art studio (no single signature so either basic design silk screened and details done by one or more members of the studio) that was introduced in 1995. It is based on the Custom 74 form factor body that in reality is the slimmest and shortest of the three. The nib dates from 8-95 and is a #5 fine nib. Next is a later Namiki branded Nippon Art fountain pen that is based on the Custom 742 body size. It is also a studio maki-e so the signature is of the studio not an individual. The nib is the slightly larger Namiki branded #10 in fine. Finally we have a Pilot branded Custom 743 with the larger Pilot branded (on Namiki pens the similar nib is stamped as a #20) #15 nib in medium.

I've never found Pilot/Namiki fine nibs really pleasant, they have all been okay, usable but simply not fun or joyful. The larger Pilot/Namiki medium and broad nibs have always be fine, smooth and reliable right from day one. And as those who read my Pilot Custom vermilion 845 review know the BB nib on it was near useless unless I used a really dry ink like Pelikan 4001.

So how do the pens from Pilot compare in size to those from Sailor and Platinum? That got pretty interesting. Here you can see a small assortment of pens from Pilot/Namki beside ones from Sailor and Platinum.

At the far right is the Pilot Custom 743 (the Custom 823 is the same size) next to a Platinum President. The 743 is slightly longer while the President is slightly wider. The Pilot Custom has a 14K nib while the Platinum President has an 18K nib.

Next is a gab and it's there for a reason. The third pen from right is a sailor 1911L size pen and it is just slightly shorter that the other two but about the same size as the next two so Sailor doesn't really have two pens but one that is right between the larger Pilot/Namiki or Platinum pens and their midsize versions. The Sailor 1911L has a 14K H-F nib that super smooth, responsive and reliable; a joy to use. It is also a studio maki-e and so not signed by a single artist.

Next to the 1911L is my Platinum Century #3776 that is about the same length and width as the 1911L but it has one honker music nib. After the #3776 is the newer Namiki branded Nippon Art. It's slightly longer but slimmer than either the #3776 or the 1911L.

The last trio starts with the older Custom 74 size Pilot branded Nippon Art then a Platinum Modern (Platinum also offers the Modern in the rounded ended version) and finally the smallest of them all, Madeline...err, the 1911S.

[Juantxo]

Fantastic. I particularly like the Platinum Modern, but they are all amazing pens. Thank you, Jim.

[jar]

I think the lesson for me is that Pilot pens remind me of the kids poem:

"There was a little girl
who had a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
and when she was good
she was very very good
but when she was bad she was horrid."

I've found Pilot/Namiki pens to be like that; when they are good they are very very good but when they are bad they are horrid.

[Bisquitlips]

The Japanese have taken the fountain pen to the place of a true work of art in every regard.

The lacquers, hand painting, and over all beauty of them is truly astonishing to me. Some of them take 6 months to a year to create given the drying times of the lacquers and the hand workings that go into them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHoeZ-q3Sws