How Is Montblanc's Quality Control?

[sketchstack]

Some of the well known higher end pen manufacturers such as Visconti and Pelikan have reputations for spotty quality control for even their flagship models. I can substantiate such claims personally.

 

Does Montblanc have such a reputation? Specifically I'm interested in the 149.

 

Thanks for any insight.

[EclecticCollector]

I mostly hear about (and have personally experienced) issues with their plating, specifically ruthenium and red/rose gold.

[Mastiff]

If you are talking about the nib:

 

I've had so far 12 MB fountain pens (all brand new bought from either boutique or AD, with the exception of 1) and I had 2 that didn't write optimally out of the box. They were sent to a nibmeister for tuning and smoothing.

 

So from personal experience 1/6, not so bad but still considering the price they charge you would expect 10/10 right? I think it is just the way it is. I still 'love' this brand, although ST Dupont is trying very hard to steal my heart now.

[sketchstack]

If you are talking about the nib:

....

 

Well, I left it open ended because while I'm primarily concerned about the nib performance, of course I want to know if there's some other aspect that is prone to being sub-optimal.

 

That said, I appreciate the feedback --good to know. Your success ratio isn't bad, though I agree 10/10 would be ideal ...!

[ravatar]

In my experience, Montblanc has the best quality control compared with Visconti and Pelikan. Anyway, if you buying from authorized deal, you have 6 week free nib exchange and 2 year warranty, so no need to worry...

[meiers]

Graf von Faber-Castell is excellent, too.

[FredRydr]

Graf von Faber-Castell is excellent, too.

 

And Conid is beyond excellent. But I suspect only a big black cigar with a bird splat and Meisterstuck emblazoned across it will do.

 

Fred

[Trom]

The more 149's you buy the higher the chance is that you have a nice one that will please you.

I would recommend to buy three of them.

[TennesseeTrash]

 

And Conid is beyond excellent. But I suspect only a big black cigar with a bird splat and Meisterstuck emblazoned across it will do.

 

Fred

Sketch stack owns several Conids and made reviews of them. His reviews influenced my recent Conid purchase.

[Dcharles]

At one point I would have said quite good, now not so much. I've had to send three pens to them in the last nine months. Threading snapped off of the inside of the barrel on my 1912 from the simple action of screwing my cap on. My 149 started sucking ink out of the back of the piston knob while refilling. A Writers Edition that went in for a nib exchange literally fell apart when I received it back from them. Let's just say I'm not too happy with the company at the moment.

[sketchstack]

 

And Conid is beyond excellent. But I suspect only a big black cigar with a bird splat and Meisterstuck emblazoned across it will do.

 

Fred

 

I'm quite aware, from personal experience, of the quality of Conid fountain pens

[sketchstack]

Sketch stack owns several Conids and made reviews of them. His reviews influenced my recent Conid purchase.

 

Nice! Good to know my Conid overviews are useful to someone out there...

[Wolverine1]

Well, I have owned about 14 MB 149 pens, and now have 9 of them. I have had no problems with a single one of them. I have had to get some of the pen's inkflow adjusted, but that is not a major QC problem.

[jar]

I would rank Montblanc's QC and after sales support as very good.

[Cyrille81]

I will be able to deem their repair service because the box set number of my JFK 1917 fountain pen is different than the one of the FP. So my reseller sent the box set to MB in Hamburg. I will see how long it will take to receive the correct box set.

[Valdair]

I know these threads are generally exclusively positive because, well, this is the Montblanc subforum, but of the Montblancs that have been purchased brand new:

 

- I ordered a 90 Year Anniversary Rose Gold 146, with a medium nib; the nib was fine but nothing special. Rather than get it ground by a nibmeister I traded it for a 1990s 149 with a BB nib.

 

- I purchased a 146 Platinum with a BB nib from a boutique in Las Vegas (technically this was a university graduation gift, but I placed the order myself). The nib was badly mis-aligned; the tines were so close together that an audible metallic "clack" could be heard when the nib was lifted from the paper. It also ripped fibers out. The nib was generally awful. I requested a replacement, but I had to pay shipping for both returning the pen and receiving the replacement. The store somehow repeatedly misunderstood that the nib was actually defective, and not that I had incorrectly ordered the wrong nib. The replacement at least wrote without issue but was not particularly smooth, nor did it have much line variation considering it was a BB. Ended up eating the cost of sending it to Pendleton Brown, and now it is excellent.

 

- I ordered a Montblanc Heritage 1912 in B from La Couronne du Comte. The pen constantly ran dry after a page or so; the nib felt great but the hard starting problem drove me insane. It took two visits to a nibmeister to get it functional.

 

If I order a Montblanc I just expect that the nib will be poorly tuned and will need to be sent to a nibmeister. It makes it hard to justify buying new when I expect that a used or grey market pen is just as likely to need to be worked on.

[sketchstack]

...

 

If I order a Montblanc I just expect that the nib will be poorly tuned and will need to be sent to a nibmeister. It makes it hard to justify buying new when I expect that a used or grey market pen is just as likely to need to be worked on.

 

Good point ...

[ian1964]

I have 2. One, the 146 is as good as it gets the other a 145 (both bought brand new) has been nothing but terrible from a "hard start" perspective from day 1. Montblanc have been less than helpful and in the end it just sits in a draw.

 

The most reliable pens I own (and thus the best QC) is the Lamy Safari.

Edited May 2, 2017 by ian1964

[dubhe]

My MBs vary, some are excellent others just good to use, all are well put together.

 

My most reliable pen is my modern Pelikan M800, but I consider it a workhorse not a pen of beauty.

[Nicholas Green]

Montblanc's quality control is not necessarily as good as you may think it is!

 

In the past, I have had to send a brand new 888 back to Hamburg Germany to have a manufacturing defect fixed!

 

The fact that not all of their pens write well out of the box, including their high end pens, means to me that they are not taking the right amount of time to set their nibs properly! (Pumping them out in large numbers to make more money)

 

Just like most other companies today, commercialism (money making for their shareholders) is the flavor of the day!

 

But in Montblanc's defense, they still do make products that are better than most others.