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Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618 Ed.


PigRatAndGoat

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INTRODUCTION: I never thought I would buy one, or even get the chance to. This pen has always stuck me as beautiful, but so expensive. However, I got my chance and here I am! Just like goodguy, I love Montblanc and could barely bring myself to not buy one of their pens as my next major purchase. Even though goodguy is do devout to MB, he decided to get one in the midst of WE collecting, so I decided to must be good enough for me too!

Oh, this is my first review and it is quite a length beast. Sorry for that!

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: When I first opened the postal package, it was definitely a wow moment. Inside was an extremely heavy, shiny, and gorgeous wooden box.

post-7942-1245885437_thumb.jpg

Not too shabby! B)

Opening the wooden box reveals a surgical looking caliper and, of course, the pen! Everything looks lovingly crafted and put together.

post-7942-1245891958_thumb.jpg

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Delicately lifting it out from the acrylic holders, I'm amazed by the heft it has. Definitely not just a plastic pen!

post-7942-1245891987_thumb.jpg

 

APPEARANCE, DESIGN, TECHNICAL: This the pen created by Visconti in recognition (is that the right word?) of the divine proportions. It is a ratio (1:1.618) that is seen everywhere in nature and is said to be the peak aesthetic ratio. It has been incorporated into the design of this pen with the spirals of inlaid silver, and the ratio between the cap and the barrel.

Now on to actual pen stuff...

This pen is made out of celluloid, a nice traditional pen making material. For this pen, it takes the form of a briar wood looking material, which looks really nice in person. This pen is also rather large, a tad longer than a Montblanc 149, at almost exactly 150mm capped. The pen uncapped is approximately 138mm from the tip of the nib to the end of the barrel; a fairly substantial pen in the hand, which I like! :thumbup: The weight of the pen in your hand seems to tend towards the butt of the pen, due to the heavy filling system.

The capping system is also all new, and patented by Visconti. It was created to ensure the bands of silver line up every time you cap the pen. They call it the "hook safe lock", which is an apt description.

post-7942-1245887695_thumb.jpg

It securely caps each time, and guarantees that you won't open up your pen pouch one day to find a cap dislodged from your pen during a tumultuous trip. I feel very confident about clipping this pen to a shirt without fear of a messy accident. All it takes is a simple push a twist motion. Very slick and effortless! The mechanism is actually quite simple when I looked at it. There is a soft rubber tube fixed to the inside of the cap that the grip section squished into every time you cap and uncap. This also acts to seal off the nib from the outside to prevent drying.

So overall, hats off to the crew at Visconti! Great original design and execution!

post-7942-1245886229_thumb.jpg

 

CONSTRUCTION & QUALITY: The inlaying of silver is very well done. Running a finger nail over where silver meets celluloid, I can't detect where it happens with my eyes closed. However, I do have some bones to pick with the quality:

post-7942-1245886893_thumb.jpg

The shot above is of the trim bit at the filling window. For a product that has a MSRP of $1618, I expect more polishing to be done. When buying a premium item, you are paying that extra attention to detail. It simply isn't worth the price of admission if not for the little things. Examining what you shouldn't be paying attention to or hardly ever pay attention to is a good indicator of how well the item is built. If they polish every little screw and piece, you can rest assured more vital components are treated with equal care. To put it flatly, the entire piece encasing the filler window seems poorly made with little bumps and ridges on the internal faces. The silver surfaces that are part of the continuity of the lines running that the length of the pen seem acceptable for the most part.

post-7942-1245887344_thumb.jpg

Above is the Visconti arc clip. Spring loaded and pretty. The lettering, however, isn't the best. I was told the previously owner used it once, and then had it put away. Therefore the lettering somehow managed to come off during that period of time, or left the factory like that. Either answer is troubling.

Other than that, build quality is pretty tight. The clip wiggles a little bit, but the cap doesn't. The filling mechanism retracts and depresses smoothly with only a tiny gap with the barrel. Not rattling, so that's good. I also really like the choice of celluloid as the main material. It seems really sturdy and, with my short amount of time with the pen, I believe it will resist scratches better than my "precious resin" ( :rolleyes: ) Montblancs.

Enough of me complaining, let's get onto the good stuff!

 

NIB & PERFORMANCE: The nib is made by the German company Bock. It is a large 18K gold two tone affair at 24mm long. I love the artsy crescent breather hole, and the flourishy design stamped on it. The feed is supposed to be something special too, with its red colour but I needed a nib swap so I got a black feed. No biggie.

post-7942-1245888743_thumb.jpg

Ok, enough details. How does it write? Very wetly, very smoothly and very fine! Absolutely perfect! It is at least as good as my 149 in terms of smoothness. What it isn't, however, is glassy smooth. You don't feel removed from the process, but completely attached to the paper and pen, feeling the roughness/smoothness of the paper. It's like a creepy extension of your had giving you direct feedback from the paper. Then there is that light "scratching" sound of a nib contacting paper... :cloud9: I prefer zero feedback, but this is really good! I believe the nib is a bit on the soft side (I think, because I don't have much to compare it to). I can also say for certain that there is a bit of flex, after an eye-popping test run by my heavy handed dad. :yikes:

And just for the record, I was using Montblanc Royal Blue on some cruddy paper I found lying around.

 

FILLING SYSTEM: Visconti calls it the "push and pull touchdown". That is more of an operation definition. It works by some sort of vacuum mechanism. To begin, you first depress the silver button at the end of the barrel. You need to press it in quite deep which is good to prevent accidental release. Then you pull on the knob to extend it. It took a surprising about of force to do it, but it eventually budged. You are treated with an ornately engraved filling cylinder. This is one of those little extra special things I was talking about. You hardly ever see the filler knob yet they decided to create this beautiful piece of art, just because they could! ("Art for art's sake") Twisting down the length of the mechanism is the numbers of the Golden Ratio. The engraving is a done via little dots to form numbers and letters. I would have preferred a deep engraving, but I'm perfectly happy with this too.

The main problem I have with this filling system is that you must have the grip section submerged in order for the pen to successfully fill. Other than that, I'm just glad it is not a C/C filler.

I don't have any pictures ( :( ), but I have an animation of how it works!

 

COST & VALUE: I got this pen from Bryant. All I can say is that I'm very grateful that he gave me an opportunity to own such a beautiful beautiful writing instrument. This purchase would not have been possible without him!

 

CONCLUSION: If you made it this far, congratulations! There isn't any prize, just more of me rambling... :rolleyes: Quality problems aside, this is a great pen and would recommend it to anyone! It is a very capable writer that looks absolutely stunning doing it. It's just a bit sad that this pen is going to get relegated to the boring job of doing homework rather than note taking.

On a side note, this pen was also released in a solid gold version limited to 618. In my opinion, it looks even better, with the warm gold bringing out the rich brown colour of the celluloid.

 

And last of all, a family shot.

post-7942-1245891483_thumb.jpg

Thanks for reading!

 

PRAG

 

EDIT: Photo resizing and continually for spelling and grammar

Edited by PigRatAndGoat

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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Bultaco here... sorry about the empty post. Still learning the website. Yea, I'm slow. However, disregarding my inadequacies, I cannot agree more with PigRatAndGoat on the quality issue. Had I paid retail for mine, I would have sent it back for a refund. All true regarding the VISCONTI logo on the clip and the poor finishing of the center section. Call me shallow, but I truly expect a decent box with pens that cost this much. Size and gaudiness does not always make for a nice presentation. The "wooden" box is certainly not wood. And it seems that VISCONTI is very proud of their (dare I say it??) "precious" boxes. These are nothing more than fancy photolithographs secured to some unknown material, and then coated in enough clearcoat to make it look like wood. I'll take a gorgeous (and small) david oscarson box over the monstrosity that comes with the DP any day. Even the VISCONTI Dragon and Phoenix (retail price 9.5K) comes in a nasty fake wood box. While the box is to many (and likely *should be* to me) completely irrelevant, it is not. But the pen is pretty nice, discounting all that has been written about it.

Edited by Bultaco
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Anyway, this pen looks amazing. I don't really care for brown finishes, but this is an exception! Just curious.. how much did you pay for this? D:

Edited by HenryLouis
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/Aurora%20Talentum/IMG_3779.jpg
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Why quote the entire post?

 

Anyway, this pen looks amazing. I don't really care for brown finishes, but this is an exception! Just curious.. how much did you pay for this? D:

 

I usually don't like brown pens too. They always seem to be a shade of feces... This an Omas' Arco look great though!

If you want to know the price, check Bryant's site pentime.net (that's not too advertisingy, right?).

 

PRAG

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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Why quote the entire post?

 

Anyway, this pen looks amazing. I don't really care for brown finishes, but this is an exception! Just curious.. how much did you pay for this? D:

 

I usually don't like brown pens too. They always seem to be a shade of feces... This an Omas' Arco look great though!

If you want to know the price, check Bryant's site pentime.net (that's not too advertisingy, right?).

 

PRAG

 

Ah, you bought from pentime. I was going to buy a visconti metropolis from him but I decided to explore the cheaper fountain pens before getting something exorbitant.

 

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/Aurora%20Talentum/IMG_3779.jpg
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The Metropolis is composed of VERY soft sterling, and dents very easily. If you should purchase one, be careful who you let handle it.

 

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Bultaco here... sorry about the empty post. Still learning the website. Yea, I'm slow. However, disregarding my inadequacies, I cannot agree more with PigRatAndGoat on the quality issue. Had I paid retail for mine, I would have sent it back for a refund. All true regarding the VISCONTI logo on the clip and the poor finishing of the center section. Call me shallow, but I truly expect a decent box with pens that cost this much. Size and gaudiness does not always make for a nice presentation. The "wooden" box is certainly not wood. And it seems that VISCONTI is very proud of their (dare I say it??) "precious" boxes. These are nothing more than fancy photolithographs secured to some unknown material, and then coated in enough clearcoat to make it look like wood. I'll take a gorgeous (and small) david oscarson box over the monstrosity that comes with the DP any day. Even the VISCONTI Dragon and Phoenix (retail price 9.5K) comes in a nasty fake wood box. While the box is to many (and likely *should be* to me) completely irrelevant, it is not. But the pen is pretty nice, discounting all that has been written about it.

 

Not even a little bit of wood? Too bad. Well, makes a great presentation box! I'm sure a little coin went into designing and making it, but I'm glad they didn't skimp on where it counts!

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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The Metropolis is composed of VERY soft sterling, and dents very easily. If you should purchase one, be careful who you let handle it.

 

Yes, I knew I'd have people asking to use my pen, so I bought a Lamy 2000.

 

You are totally correct about the Packaging. I saw the Visconti Van gogh packaging... it's horrible. The Nakaya packaging however is solid wood I believe. I'm getting a Nakaya actually for the next crazy pen purchase. I mean it's $335 but 3 months of lacquer coating upon lacquer coating!

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/Aurora%20Talentum/IMG_3779.jpg
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The Metropolis is composed of VERY soft sterling, and dents very easily. If you should purchase one, be careful who you let handle it.

 

Yes, I knew I'd have people asking to use my pen, so I bought a Lamy 2000.

 

You are totally correct about the Packaging. I saw the Visconti Van gogh packaging... it's horrible. The Nakaya packaging however is solid wood I believe. I'm getting a Nakaya actually for the next crazy pen purchase. I mean it's $335 but 3 months of lacquer coating upon lacquer coating!

 

The Van Gogh packaging is bad? Looks OK in pictures...

 

I don't know why, but Japanese pens never quite resonated with me. They're probably very well made and all, but still...

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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The Metropolis is composed of VERY soft sterling, and dents very easily. If you should purchase one, be careful who you let handle it.

 

Yes, I knew I'd have people asking to use my pen, so I bought a Lamy 2000.

 

You are totally correct about the Packaging. I saw the Visconti Van gogh packaging... it's horrible. The Nakaya packaging however is solid wood I believe. I'm getting a Nakaya actually for the next crazy pen purchase. I mean it's $335 but 3 months of lacquer coating upon lacquer coating!

 

The Van Gogh packaging is bad? Looks OK in pictures...

 

I don't know why, but Japanese pens never quite resonated with me. They're probably very well made and all, but still...

 

I saw it... It felt kind of cheap if you ask me. But then again it's not close to one of visconti's more higher priced pens. I also wanted to add that the calipers look a bit superfluous. They could have at least

 

Btw, Here is the pen I want. I could order the pen, the pen stand, and a converter all for $360 USD + shipping and 3 months.

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/PortableWriterBlack_UnCapped.JPG

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/Aurora%20Talentum/IMG_3779.jpg
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My DP was right around 900 bones. And that was too much. But to put a 9.5K (Dragon and Phoenix) pen in a fake wood box is IMHO just plain ignorant. Do they think they are fooling us? Perhaps they are, but forums like this help minimize the impact of such foolishness by making us all smarter buyers.

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I saw it... It felt kind of cheap if you ask me. But then again it's not close to one of visconti's more higher priced pens. I also wanted to add that the calipers look a bit superfluous. They could have at least

 

Btw, Here is the pen I want. I could order the pen, the pen stand, and a converter all for $360 USD + shipping and 3 months.

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/PortableWriterBlack_UnCapped.JPG

 

Very clean and classic, but does nothing for me. Not a bad price though for a pen that is created with so much human involvement.

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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Share on other sites

I saw it... It felt kind of cheap if you ask me. But then again it's not close to one of visconti's more higher priced pens. I also wanted to add that the calipers look a bit superfluous. They could have at least

 

Btw, Here is the pen I want. I could order the pen, the pen stand, and a converter all for $360 USD + shipping and 3 months.

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/PortableWriterBlack_UnCapped.JPG

 

Very clean and classic, but does nothing for me. Not a bad price though for a pen that is created with so much human involvement.

 

Indeed. This is the cheapest model I believe. There are nicer models with different colors but they start at like $460... I would buy myself a MB 149 or something smaller but with a retail price of like what 800 bucks or something... no thanks.

 

'specially since I'll end up taking it to school, even if I tell myself not to, and friends will demand to take it for a spin, and I will be raft with fear as the nib scrapes along a piece of paper....

 

Something like this suit your tastes?

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/CigarPortableShobuPurpleUncapped.jpg

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/PortableWriterKuroTamenuri_UnCapped.jpg

 

 

 

 

My DP was right around 900 bones. And that was too much. But to put a 9.5K (Dragon and Phoenix) pen in a fake wood box is IMHO just plain ignorant. Do they think they are fooling us? Perhaps they are, but forums like this help minimize the impact of such foolishness by making us all smarter buyers.

 

 

Agreed! That is just blasphemous!

 

 

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/Aurora%20Talentum/IMG_3779.jpg
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Congrats buddy, glad you like the pen and understand why I like the pen.

Enjoy it and be very careful not to take it to school.

Respect to all

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Congrats PRAG -

 

The Divina Proporzione is a great pen, and your high resolution and macro photography makes this a great review.

 

My small stable of fountain pens includes only one pen in duplicate, and in fact I own that duplicated pen in triplicate - the Divina Proporzione. Bought my first DP from Total Fine Writing here in Atlanta, the last of the new pens from our two brick and mortar pen stores in Atlanta. I bought the gold version of the pen (18 kt yellow gold spiraling bars and trim instead of sterling silver) at the Atlanta Pen Show in 2007 from Ken Jones, Visconti's well known and well liked National Sales Rep. I bought the third a few months ago from our FPN member and Visconti dealer Bryant at PenTime.com. I just had the third reground to a wet ultrasmooth broad cursive italic at Nibmeister Richard Binder's workbench at the Raleigh Pen Show. So I'm a pretty big fan of this clever pen too.

 

I'm a hopeless math and science geek, and so I really enjoy the Phi (not Pi) based theme of the pen - the uber cool Fibonacci Sequence, the encoded role of Phi in evolutionary biology, the way Phi seems tied to our subjective assessment of beauty, and even the appearance of Phi at the Great Pyramid. The Phi Calipers included in the presentation box can be used to measure the Golden Phi ratio in nature, annoying friends as I document their objective deviations from math based standards of beauty.

 

I want to warn you about a particular problem unique to the DP. When not wearing a suit, I carry a pen clipped diagonally in the placket of my polo shirt or dress shirt. To my surprise, a chest hair worked its way around and under one of the spiraling silver bars on the cap of the DP, plucking the chest hair (ouch) and lifting and bending the silver bar away from the celluloid cap (ouch, ouch, ouch). This is one of the few pens I own that rides in a rigid cigar tube pen case, tucked into my right front trouser pocket.

 

The DP is a little tedious to completely flush, because cycling the Push Pull Touchdown mechanism does not completely fill or empty the reservoir. After flushing out most of the ink, and after filling with water to wash out the rest, it is surprisingly difficult to expel 100% of the water from the pen. I usually leave the pen nib down in a glass of paper towels to wick the rest of the water out of the reservoir. Also, you must not use Visconti's Traveling Inkwell to fill the DP - the pressure cycle of the Push Pull Touchdown mechanism will produce a geyser of ink spewing out the inkwell leaving a three foot radius spray pattern and a surprised pen owner. Bryant also cautioned me against soaking the celluloid pen overnight immersed in water as part of a flushing cycle - three hours soaking max.

 

All in all though, a great pen and a well executed clever theme. Thanks for a very nice review.

Edited by yachtsilverswan

Ray

Atlanta, Georgia

 

Pilot Namiki Vanishing Point with Richard Binder ItaliFine 0.9mm/F Nib

Faber Castell's Porsche Design with Gold & Stainless Mesh in Binderized CI Broad nib

Visconti LE Divina Proporzione in Gold with Binderized CI nib

David Oscarson Valhalla in gray (Thor) with Broad Binderized CI nib

Michel Perchin LE Blue Serpent (reviewed) with Binderized CI nib

Montblanc 149 in Medium Binderized CI nib

Montblanc Pope Julius II 888 Edition (reviewed) in Bold Binderized CI nib

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The Metropolis is composed of VERY soft sterling, and dents very easily. If you should purchase one, be careful who you let handle it.

 

Yes, I knew I'd have people asking to use my pen, so I bought a Lamy 2000.

 

You are totally correct about the Packaging. I saw the Visconti Van gogh packaging... it's horrible. The Nakaya packaging however is solid wood I believe. I'm getting a Nakaya actually for the next crazy pen purchase. I mean it's $335 but 3 months of lacquer coating upon lacquer coating!

 

The Van Gogh packaging is bad? Looks OK in pictures...

 

I don't know why, but Japanese pens never quite resonated with me. They're probably very well made and all, but still...

 

 

The Van Gogh packaging is awful. Mine came apart at the seams.

I'll take an Aurora, please. Aurora black.

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Is it safe to say that you're glad it was not the gold trimmed model that caught the chest hair!?! Yikes! I noticed that at the ends, VISCONTI did a fairly poor job of sanding the silver bars flush with the pen. Sad, considering the price.

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Congrats PRAG -

 

The Divina Proporzione is a great pen, and your high resolution and macro photography makes this a great review.

 

My small stable of fountain pens includes only one pen in duplicate, and in fact I own that duplicated pen in triplicate - the Divina Proporzione. Bought my first DP from Total Fine Writing here in Atlanta, the last of the new pens from our two brick and mortar pen stores in Atlanta. I bought the gold version of the pen (18 kt yellow gold spiraling bars and trim instead of sterling silver) at the Atlanta Pen Show in 2007 from Ken Jones, Visconti's well known and well liked National Sales Rep. I bought the third a few months ago from our FPN member and Visconti dealer Bryant at PenTime.com. I just had the third reground to a wet ultrasmooth broad cursive italic at Nibmeister Richard Binder's workbench at the Raleigh Pen Show. So I'm a pretty big fan of this clever pen too.

 

I'm a hopeless math and science geek, and so I really enjoy the Phi (not Pi) based theme of the pen - the uber cool Fibonacci Sequence, the encoded role of Phi in evolutionary biology, the way Phi seems tied to our subjective assessment of beauty, and even the appearance of Phi at the Great Pyramid. The Phi Calipers included in the presentation box can be used to measure the Golden Phi ratio in nature, annoying friends as I document their objective deviations from math based standards of beauty.

 

I want to warn you about a particular problem unique to the DP. When not wearing a suit, I carry a pen clipped diagonally in the placket of my polo shirt or dress shirt. To my surprise, a chest hair worked its way around and under one of the spiraling silver bars on the cap of the DP, plucking the chest hair (ouch) and lifting and bending the silver bar away from the celluloid cap (ouch, ouch, ouch). This is one of the few pens I own that rides in a rigid cigar tube pen case, tucked into my right front trouser pocket.

 

The DP is a little tedious to completely flush, because cycling the Push Pull Touchdown mechanism does not completely fill or empty the reservoir. After flushing out most of the ink, and after filling with water to wash out the rest, it is surprisingly difficult to expel 100% of the water from the pen. I usually leave the pen nib down in a glass of paper towels to wick the rest of the water out of the reservoir. Also, you must not use Visconti's Traveling Inkwell to fill the DP - the pressure cycle of the Push Pull Touchdown mechanism will produce a geyser of ink spewing out the inkwell leaving a three foot radius spray pattern and a surprised pen owner. Bryant also cautioned me against soaking the celluloid pen overnight immersed in water as part of a flushing cycle - three hours soaking max.

 

All in all though, a great pen and a well executed clever theme. Thanks for a very nice review.

 

*Looks down shirt* No chest hairs, so I should be fine! :D Funny you should mention the inkwell, because I was looking at one thinking about getting a "fuller" pen with each refill. Thanks for the heads up!

 

PRAG

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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I saw it... It felt kind of cheap if you ask me. But then again it's not close to one of visconti's more higher priced pens. I also wanted to add that the calipers look a bit superfluous. They could have at least

 

Btw, Here is the pen I want. I could order the pen, the pen stand, and a converter all for $360 USD + shipping and 3 months.

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/PortableWriterBlack_UnCapped.JPG

 

Very clean and classic, but does nothing for me. Not a bad price though for a pen that is created with so much human involvement.

 

Indeed. This is the cheapest model I believe. There are nicer models with different colors but they start at like $460... I would buy myself a MB 149 or something smaller but with a retail price of like what 800 bucks or something... no thanks.

 

'specially since I'll end up taking it to school, even if I tell myself not to, and friends will demand to take it for a spin, and I will be raft with fear as the nib scrapes along a piece of paper....

 

Something like this suit your tastes?

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/CigarPortableShobuPurpleUncapped.jpg

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Nakaya%20Pens/Portable/PortableWriterKuroTamenuri_UnCapped.jpg

 

The red is interesting, but there just isn't enough flair. It seems to be getting the worst of both worlds in terms of minimalism and traditional looks.

 

Congrats buddy, glad you like the pen and understand why I like the pen.

Enjoy it and be very careful not to take it to school.

 

Thanks for your encouragement and guidance!

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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I like your review and the time you've taken to point out the little details. You are right about the "flashing" of excess metal along the inkview window frames. I'd venture that say that you wouldn't find this on a MB, but somehow on a Visconti you almost expect this bit of eccentricity from an Italian pen!

 

Its pretty clear that Visconti put a great deal of attention on many other aspects of this pen. The filling system and engraving; the cap securing system; and the overall shape while maintaining the design standard of the golden proportion.

 

At its retail of +$1,600 I don't think the excessive flashing problem is acceptable. On the secondary market and at a significantly reduced price however, its not so bad because in return you get a unique, well conceived design study that is also uniquely Italian.

 

Congratulations for a fine review.

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    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
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