Jump to content

Review: Hublot Fountain Pen and Inkwell ...


cmeisenzahl

Recommended Posts

Review: Hublot Fountain Pen and Inkwell

 

"This is a look at the limited edition Hublot fountain pen and inkwell. Remember this post from earlier in the year? Well, I finally got my hands on one, thanks to the good people at Hublot of America. It's a loaner and needs to go back. But I did get permission to ink it. ;-) Hublot is the Swiss watch manufacture brought to a great deal of recent success under marketing whiz Jean-Claude Biver, formerly of Blancpain, Omega, and Swatch.

 

A few items about the pen and inkwell to begin with:

 

1. The fountain pen and inkwell come as a set, a limited edition of 999 (this pen is #394)

2. The combo has an MSRP of 2’200 CHF (Swiss Francs)

3. Available now for delivery from Hublot

 

Hublot has reportedly been somewhat tight-lipped about who made the pen for them. It's probably safe to assume that they contracted with a high-end European pen manufacturer to make the pen to their specification, but I don't know that for a fact. Maybe Visconti? Montegrappa? I'm not familiar enough with the characteristics of those brands to say with any confidence. The best clue might be the filling system. It definitely requires bottled ink as opposed to cartridges. The mechanism uses a spring-loaded plunger under a blind cap. I can't recall what the proper term is. Maybe a "button-filler?" Doesn't Conway-Stewart use a similar mechanism in some models? For what it's worth I don't think there's any shame in having a complementary product made by an expert.

 

I'm not sure what material the pen is made of. It looks like the gray of titanium, but is too heavy for that, so perhaps some kind of treated stainless steel?"

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/cmeisenzahl/Writing/th_Misc_A.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/cmeisenzahl/Writing/th_Pen_J.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/cmeisenzahl/Writing/th_Box_B.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/cmeisenzahl/Writing/th_Inkwell_A.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/cmeisenzahl/Writing/th_Open_Case_B.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/cmeisenzahl/Writing/th_Pen_I.jpg

Edited by MYU
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 8
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • mge01park

    1

  • cmeisenzahl

    1

  • MYU

    1

  • lensassaman

    1

 

Hublot has reportedly been somewhat tight-lipped about who made the pen for them. It's probably safe to assume that they contracted with a high-end European pen manufacturer to make the pen to their specification, but I don't know that for a fact. Maybe Visconti? Montegrappa? I'm not familiar enough with the characteristics of those brands to say with any confidence. The best clue might be the filling system. It definitely requires bottled ink as opposed to cartridges. The mechanism uses a spring-loaded plunger under a blind cap. I can't recall what the proper term is. Maybe a "button-filler?" Doesn't Conway-Stewart use a similar mechanism in some models? For what it's worth I don't think there's any shame in having a complementary product made by an expert.

 

 

I'm betting it's OMAS. OMAS and Hublot shared a parent company until LVMH sold its majority stake in OMAS earlier this year -- though they still own 10% of the company.

 

It's almost certainly not Cartier, Montblanc, Dunhill, or Montegrappa, as they are all (or were until very recently) owned by one of LVMH's major competitors. I presume they would contract with an independent pen maker before outsourcing to a brand owned by one of the two other major luxury goods conglomerates.

 

I have a Hublot watch, and I love it. One thing Hublot does very well is design, and so I'd be surprised if the pen weren't designed by one of the Hublot designers, though it makes sense that they would contract out production to a high-end pen maker, as there are different issues involved with large-scale production that aren't a factor for design and prototyping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find the design and crafting of them pen rather impressive, which a strong sense of engineering and utility. Like a finely crafted high tech implement. I spotted a similar Hublot model fountain pen on timepiece forum a couple of years ago, but I'm unable to locate it again. I was impressed then, especially by the inkwell.

 

How did you manage to get Hublot of America to loan you a pen for review?? :)

[MYU's Pen Review Corner] | "The Common Ground" -- Jeffrey Small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

very impressive pen :thumbup: and the nib is typical of omas design

Pens are like watches , once you start a collection, you can hardly go back. And pens like all fine luxury items do improve with time

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Chris- it looks cool. Hi to Mike Margolis.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Mike is probably staying undercover.

A. Don's Axiom "It's gonna be used when I sell it, might as well be used when I buy it."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...

It's old thread... I got one of these pens recently and 95% sure they were made by omas:

This pen and the omas 85th anniversary fusion pen are similar and were released in approximately same years.

There are other hublot pens advertised as made by omas from a known seller.

 

This pen has an impressive packaging and a unique inkwell. It has the heaviest pen box I ever had.

The pen is hefty but well balanced.

The nib is of omas quality, very nice.

 

The filling mechanism however is interesting. It's kind of unusual. It is similar to an ancora push button filler or a later visconti filler on the marble pens (i can't recall the name of that filler).

 

Very unique piece!

Edited by raivtash
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any chance of getting some pictures? The original images are no longer available. Thanks either way.

“Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today, because if you do it today and like it, you can do again tomorrow!”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • 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
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...