Hey everyone,

I'm trying to pick out a nice fountain pen that my wife is going to get me for Christmas. I know, essentially I'm buying it myself but it's going to be a present for me. :-)

I've done some looking around and two of the pens that are in the running are the Montegrappa NeroUno and the Visconti Opera Club. Both of the ones I'm looking at are black (I know, many of you may think that's boring).

Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to know how they compare on a few different levels - workmanship, writing feel/quality, frequency of repairs (will it work right out of the box), etc. I know no company can guarantee that every pen they produce will work the first time every time. I'd just like to pick a company that has a pretty good track record. In case it matters, I'll probably end up going with a M nib.

Also, how do these two companies compare? Is one more "respected" than the other in general?

Thanks for your help! As you can tell, I'm still new at this.

Rob

I have a Montegrappa Extra (not up to speed on the Nero Uno, sorry) and 3 Visconti Opera Clubs (but not a black) I think the Operas are my favorite between the two. I love the shape and the colors pop off the Viscontis. They all write extremely well, no skips, stutters, etc. I like the weight, a little heavier than most pens and the balance with them posted is almost perfect. I have two fines and a medium. I prefer fine nibbed pens but I can use this Visconti medium. It's not so bloody thick when the line goes down on paper as a lot of mediums are. I would call them on a scale of 1 to 10 for wetness out of the box maybe a 4/5. (10 being the wettest) Then again there's nothing shoddy about my Extra. I picked it up pre-owned here on the marketplace and it had a Richard Binder tweaked and smoothed nib. A lovely pen but large and heavy. This is also a med wet pen but I don't know if Richard adjusted the flow when he worked on it. The nib is obviously not stock but I'm lucky to have a typical superb Binder tune on the nib which makes using it a joy.

For a good value on a really nice pen though, look at the Opera's.

Astro,
I do not own these two pens, but since you were asking general questions about the companies, I'll give you my two cents:

- Visconti is a relatively young company, established in Florence during the late 80s. It has a reputation for expensive and good quality LE fountain pens, often based on innovative design. Though, it does not produce its own nibs (they are outsourced in Germany).

- Montegrappa is one of the oldest FP italian firm, being established in 1912. It is now owned by the Montblanc group. Montegrappa has a range of writing instruments more on the "classic" side, and the NeroUno, just launched this fall, is one of the more "modern" FP ever built by them.

My advice would be the NeroUno:

- Overall quality is higher
- Company reliable and world distributed
- Brand new pen and design
- I like the hooded nib, the rotating sphere on the clip and the signature engraving on the cap...
- Bassano del Grappa is close to my place

disadvantages: it will cost you more. I noted that these days Viscontis are often on ebay at good prices.

Ciao,

Thanks for the information guys. A tie between the two pens -- still a tough decision.

So does Montegrappa make their own nibs or do they outsource for those?

Well, to be honest I thought that Montegrappa, being part of the MontBlanc group, somehow got a common plant/source for nibs within the group.
But then I found this article where it is mentioned that their nibs are "buyed outside" the company... then: Bock again? life is so boring...

Did you solve the doubt? It's Visconti or Mgrappa?

Cheers,

Your question got me looking and aestetically I'd go with the Visconti. the nerouno's nib looks out of place/ odd to me.


my opinion,

Kurt