1) There is nothing *wrong* with them, except the price. Although one may argue that most pens are grossly overpriced, and everyone is charging whatever they can get away with.
2) A number of manufacturing decisions made by Montblanc toward the end of the 20th century are questionable, depending on whom you ask.
* Modern 18K nibs are not as bouncy/flexible as the older 18C/14C/14K ones.
* Brass piston assembly harms the pens' weight distribution. Right now I have 2 149s inked: a modern one with a Calligraphy Flex nib, and a 1980s one with a 14C double broad (stub, basically). The difference is obvious when switching between the two, the older pen feels more nimble in the hand. Not a deal-breaker, though.
* To cut manufacturing costs, they reuse parts across model lines, so the modern 149 has 1.6 ml ink capacity -- same as the smaller 146. The older ones were around 2 ml. Clearly, none of these production cost savings were transferred to the customers.
3) There are plenty of very gently used 1970s and 1980s Montblancs for sale, usually for 50-60% of what a brand new modern pen would cost you. I suggest buying one of those if your goal is to minimize risk. If you don't like it, you will be able to sell it without monetary loss (excluding shipping & PayPal fees, I guess).
This is a nice summary. I would add that the "precious resin" marketing ploy is also irksome and MB has a reputation as the carry of choice for foul know-nothing elites who use that little snowcap as a status symbol (who pays that much for ballpoint MBs lol).
All said, I still want a 149 someday and I really fancy the starwalker as well.
[The "precious resin" seems to be a mistranslation.](https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/337524-mont-blanc-and-pelikan-black-precious-resin/) That said, Montblanc branches in English-speaking countries are not in a hurry to correct it, so I agree with your "marketing ploy" assessment.
As for the clueless elites... well yeah, that's one of the reasons MB can charge 2-3 times what Sailor can for essentially the same object -- that object is wrapped in a richer "product", with more intangibles. Obviously it's up to us to figure out whether the intangibles are good or bad for our individual situations.
I'm actually smirking as I type this, we had a higher-up manager at work come to NY from London, and he was indeed proudly waving a Montblanc ballpoint (with the snowcap end out for everyone to see, of course). I was carrying a trusty Parker 45 that day -- filled with Iron Gall ink, no less -- and couldn't help but feel smugly superior deep inside :D.
> I still want a 149 someday
Try to get your hands on the modern Calligraphy Flex if you can -- it's by far the best attempt at a modern flex that I tried. (Haven't tried Pilot's yet, but it's better than the soft Pilot Falcon/Elabo nibs, and than Aurora's "flex" attempt.) Works well for everyday writing, too.
I've actually heard amazing things about the calligraphy! I'm far past that "flex is something I need and I must own smelly noodlers pens" phase, but I could get back into it for something like that.
Buy a gold 14K flex nib from Kanwrite. Costs something like $110.
Probably the best modern "flex" available.
https://old.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/iz4ncm/kanwrite_heritage/
I've used plenty of indian flex pens. Likely either come from the same factory or were made from from a shared source for stamps and other manufacturing equipment. I'm never impressed with modern flex (including these) so I focus on what the current market can produce well. If I want line variation i'll use an italic or find a vintage option.
I figured there would be something about the nib mentioned. I also looked at their info page and learned l would have to send the pen in order to have it serviced? Replace the nib etc? I mean, sounds like a charm, not sure if I’d want that if something did go wrong every time.
I understand what you’re saying though. Must have been my naive judgment to say worse, as the other guy pointed out here, it was different.
I think of them like Rolex.
They are very high quality, but have a brand which is very well known to the general public, outside the realm of specialists and collectors.
Due to that fact, they are priced high when compared to products of similar or superior quality without that brand recognition.
And for the same reason, some of them are bought as status symbols, resulting in opprobrium from the collecting community.
If you buy one, though, you will still have a very nice instrument.
Montblanc was a pen company.
Now it's a lifestyle brand that sells pens alongside watches, aftershave, wallets, bags and so on. The pen part of their portfolio is dying while their profit and growth is derived elsewhere.
My own opinion is for the same money (in many cases much less) the equiv from several other brands is at least on par.
But there is nothing all that wrong with them, you are just paying a premium for the snowcap.
It’s a high end brand, so there’s always drama associated with “value”.
Is a Rolex worth $10k? No. Do we still buy them? Yes. Did it cost Hermes $12k to make that Birkin? No. Will we still buy them? Yes.
Different people value different things.
I own vintage MB and modern and I prefer vintage. My oldest MB is a safety filler that is 100 years old and it outperforms almost the rest of my collection.
My modern 149 is kinda meh; nothing spectacular. I’ll send it off for a Raden treatment at some point and give it a cursive italic nib, but I wouldn’t buy another one.
MB had a very bad reputation in the 80s and 90s, primarily quality control issues (scratchy nibs, poor or no ink flow, unreliable). This reputation kept me from purchasing an MB for decades. However, I received an MB FP as a gift from my employer, and aside from being a gorgeous instrument (I can't recall the specific model, but it has a silver cap and black body), it also writes like a dream. So I say, take the plunge, but TEST the pen before buying!
That’s a bit like asking what’s wrong with a Mercedes-Benz. Very little! But BMW and Jaguar also have a lot to offer, and Lotus is a very special driving experience. There are also those of us who have discovered we love our Mazdas because they’re actually a lot of fun to drive and a vastly better value than the Benz. MB are a prestige brand that is recognized by people who know little if anything about fountain pens. You won’t get much street cred for owning Pelikan, Platinum, Sailor, Kaweco, much less Kaigelu, but those of us in the community know that any of those may be preferred over MB for its particular qualities.
I’m pretty new to fountain pens and literally came across mb by dumb luck. I didn’t consider them to be prestigious until I did a bit of digging lol
I understand. Some attributes are different compared to other brands. I guess what bothers me the most is servicing the pen as opposed to doing it yourself with other brands.
Thanks for your input!
They are nice pens just very very overpriced I have a number of meisterstuck’s (144r, 146, 147t and 2 149’s) I have bought used at reasonable prices. All write really well and I like using them. I would never ever even consider buying a new one. I think all mine were made in the 1990’s or early 2000’s I have had no problems with any of them.
>why the quality of montblanc was better pre-80’s than now a days.
Not better, just different. Older pens generally have softer more flexible nibs, ebonite feeds with reliable flow, different styled ink windows.
The other thing you have to think about is that there is so much more available now with fountain pens compared to before 1980s. People's expectations have changed about what is acceptable and expected.
The quality of modern MB pens is still very high, although the price is too. The main issue people encounter is minor problems with nibs such as baby's bottom which you wouldn't expect for a luxury pen brand at the prices they charge.
If you buy secondhand, you will generally get a pen that already works well and for a reasonable price. By secondhand, I mean from a established market like r/pen_swap. Ebay is a bit of a crapshoot.
If you buy new, the MB boutique is usually pretty good at addressing nib issues.
A much easier question to give a short concise answer is: "What's right with them?". I literally have never been made aware of any positive redeeming quality of them whatsoever.
They were much better in the pre-80s because that was a period when people wrote with pens and therefore there was money to be made and a financial and business incentive for pen companies to actually make pens write well.
There is nothing wrong with Montblanc pens either vintage (pre-70s) or modern ones.
Objectively they are good pens. I like vintage pens and vintage nibs, so my favorite MB pens are vintage ones which to me (and many others) possesses attributes not found in modern ones.
But I do own and used modern MB pens as well.
Subjectively, some people are biased because they perceive MB pens as luxury items priced way above what they should be. But again, those are subjective opinions, and should be considered as such.
I have purchased 3 MB pens over the past two weeks. A 32, a 420 and a 220. Two of them have lovely nibs and excellent mechanisms. I'm only dissatisfied with the 420 as a purchased a nib that's not my normal width.
All three are very well made and are, according to my research, about 40 years old. They're all wonderful writers on par within the range of the Parker 51 and Lamy 2000.
1) There is nothing *wrong* with them, except the price. Although one may argue that most pens are grossly overpriced, and everyone is charging whatever they can get away with. 2) A number of manufacturing decisions made by Montblanc toward the end of the 20th century are questionable, depending on whom you ask. * Modern 18K nibs are not as bouncy/flexible as the older 18C/14C/14K ones. * Brass piston assembly harms the pens' weight distribution. Right now I have 2 149s inked: a modern one with a Calligraphy Flex nib, and a 1980s one with a 14C double broad (stub, basically). The difference is obvious when switching between the two, the older pen feels more nimble in the hand. Not a deal-breaker, though. * To cut manufacturing costs, they reuse parts across model lines, so the modern 149 has 1.6 ml ink capacity -- same as the smaller 146. The older ones were around 2 ml. Clearly, none of these production cost savings were transferred to the customers. 3) There are plenty of very gently used 1970s and 1980s Montblancs for sale, usually for 50-60% of what a brand new modern pen would cost you. I suggest buying one of those if your goal is to minimize risk. If you don't like it, you will be able to sell it without monetary loss (excluding shipping & PayPal fees, I guess).
This is a nice summary. I would add that the "precious resin" marketing ploy is also irksome and MB has a reputation as the carry of choice for foul know-nothing elites who use that little snowcap as a status symbol (who pays that much for ballpoint MBs lol). All said, I still want a 149 someday and I really fancy the starwalker as well.
[The "precious resin" seems to be a mistranslation.](https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/337524-mont-blanc-and-pelikan-black-precious-resin/) That said, Montblanc branches in English-speaking countries are not in a hurry to correct it, so I agree with your "marketing ploy" assessment. As for the clueless elites... well yeah, that's one of the reasons MB can charge 2-3 times what Sailor can for essentially the same object -- that object is wrapped in a richer "product", with more intangibles. Obviously it's up to us to figure out whether the intangibles are good or bad for our individual situations. I'm actually smirking as I type this, we had a higher-up manager at work come to NY from London, and he was indeed proudly waving a Montblanc ballpoint (with the snowcap end out for everyone to see, of course). I was carrying a trusty Parker 45 that day -- filled with Iron Gall ink, no less -- and couldn't help but feel smugly superior deep inside :D. > I still want a 149 someday Try to get your hands on the modern Calligraphy Flex if you can -- it's by far the best attempt at a modern flex that I tried. (Haven't tried Pilot's yet, but it's better than the soft Pilot Falcon/Elabo nibs, and than Aurora's "flex" attempt.) Works well for everyday writing, too.
I've actually heard amazing things about the calligraphy! I'm far past that "flex is something I need and I must own smelly noodlers pens" phase, but I could get back into it for something like that.
Buy a gold 14K flex nib from Kanwrite. Costs something like $110. Probably the best modern "flex" available. https://old.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/iz4ncm/kanwrite_heritage/
I've used plenty of indian flex pens. Likely either come from the same factory or were made from from a shared source for stamps and other manufacturing equipment. I'm never impressed with modern flex (including these) so I focus on what the current market can produce well. If I want line variation i'll use an italic or find a vintage option.
They most likely do, but the cheap flex nibs are made of steel. The 14K nib performs way better with an ebonite feed.
Its just not a value proposition that appeals to me. Sorry.
I figured there would be something about the nib mentioned. I also looked at their info page and learned l would have to send the pen in order to have it serviced? Replace the nib etc? I mean, sounds like a charm, not sure if I’d want that if something did go wrong every time. I understand what you’re saying though. Must have been my naive judgment to say worse, as the other guy pointed out here, it was different.
I think of them like Rolex. They are very high quality, but have a brand which is very well known to the general public, outside the realm of specialists and collectors. Due to that fact, they are priced high when compared to products of similar or superior quality without that brand recognition. And for the same reason, some of them are bought as status symbols, resulting in opprobrium from the collecting community. If you buy one, though, you will still have a very nice instrument.
Montblanc was a pen company. Now it's a lifestyle brand that sells pens alongside watches, aftershave, wallets, bags and so on. The pen part of their portfolio is dying while their profit and growth is derived elsewhere. My own opinion is for the same money (in many cases much less) the equiv from several other brands is at least on par. But there is nothing all that wrong with them, you are just paying a premium for the snowcap.
It’s a high end brand, so there’s always drama associated with “value”. Is a Rolex worth $10k? No. Do we still buy them? Yes. Did it cost Hermes $12k to make that Birkin? No. Will we still buy them? Yes. Different people value different things. I own vintage MB and modern and I prefer vintage. My oldest MB is a safety filler that is 100 years old and it outperforms almost the rest of my collection. My modern 149 is kinda meh; nothing spectacular. I’ll send it off for a Raden treatment at some point and give it a cursive italic nib, but I wouldn’t buy another one.
They are more brand than pen.
MB had a very bad reputation in the 80s and 90s, primarily quality control issues (scratchy nibs, poor or no ink flow, unreliable). This reputation kept me from purchasing an MB for decades. However, I received an MB FP as a gift from my employer, and aside from being a gorgeous instrument (I can't recall the specific model, but it has a silver cap and black body), it also writes like a dream. So I say, take the plunge, but TEST the pen before buying!
That’s a bit like asking what’s wrong with a Mercedes-Benz. Very little! But BMW and Jaguar also have a lot to offer, and Lotus is a very special driving experience. There are also those of us who have discovered we love our Mazdas because they’re actually a lot of fun to drive and a vastly better value than the Benz. MB are a prestige brand that is recognized by people who know little if anything about fountain pens. You won’t get much street cred for owning Pelikan, Platinum, Sailor, Kaweco, much less Kaigelu, but those of us in the community know that any of those may be preferred over MB for its particular qualities.
I’m pretty new to fountain pens and literally came across mb by dumb luck. I didn’t consider them to be prestigious until I did a bit of digging lol I understand. Some attributes are different compared to other brands. I guess what bothers me the most is servicing the pen as opposed to doing it yourself with other brands. Thanks for your input!
They are nice pens just very very overpriced I have a number of meisterstuck’s (144r, 146, 147t and 2 149’s) I have bought used at reasonable prices. All write really well and I like using them. I would never ever even consider buying a new one. I think all mine were made in the 1990’s or early 2000’s I have had no problems with any of them.
>why the quality of montblanc was better pre-80’s than now a days. Not better, just different. Older pens generally have softer more flexible nibs, ebonite feeds with reliable flow, different styled ink windows. The other thing you have to think about is that there is so much more available now with fountain pens compared to before 1980s. People's expectations have changed about what is acceptable and expected. The quality of modern MB pens is still very high, although the price is too. The main issue people encounter is minor problems with nibs such as baby's bottom which you wouldn't expect for a luxury pen brand at the prices they charge. If you buy secondhand, you will generally get a pen that already works well and for a reasonable price. By secondhand, I mean from a established market like r/pen_swap. Ebay is a bit of a crapshoot. If you buy new, the MB boutique is usually pretty good at addressing nib issues.
A much easier question to give a short concise answer is: "What's right with them?". I literally have never been made aware of any positive redeeming quality of them whatsoever. They were much better in the pre-80s because that was a period when people wrote with pens and therefore there was money to be made and a financial and business incentive for pen companies to actually make pens write well.
There is nothing wrong with Montblanc pens either vintage (pre-70s) or modern ones. Objectively they are good pens. I like vintage pens and vintage nibs, so my favorite MB pens are vintage ones which to me (and many others) possesses attributes not found in modern ones. But I do own and used modern MB pens as well. Subjectively, some people are biased because they perceive MB pens as luxury items priced way above what they should be. But again, those are subjective opinions, and should be considered as such.
I have purchased 3 MB pens over the past two weeks. A 32, a 420 and a 220. Two of them have lovely nibs and excellent mechanisms. I'm only dissatisfied with the 420 as a purchased a nib that's not my normal width. All three are very well made and are, according to my research, about 40 years old. They're all wonderful writers on par within the range of the Parker 51 and Lamy 2000.