Century Fine Replacement Nibs

[soapwench]

I just received my first Cross fountain pen as a gift. (I'm a Lamy girl usually.) It's a cross century (not a century II) and it came with a broad nib. I'd like to replace it with a fine nib. I've looked on Amazon, Cross website, and other 3rd party sites and cannot find a fine slim replacement nib.

 

If anyone could direct me, I'd be grateful.

 

Also, I'm so thrilled that I found this website. How cool are you guys?!!?

[RMN]

The name Century gives a lot of confusion as Cross made several models incorporating Century in the name.

 

If it is the original Century, it is relatively old and it will be difficult getting a new nib. or nib+section. And you won't find them on Amazon etc.

 

 

 

 

D.ick

[ac12]

To follow up on RMN.

There are at least 3 Centuries, that I know of

• The original Century, from about 1980s. Long out of production.
  • If this is the pen you have, I think there are no spare parts, so even Cross will not be able to replace the nib for you. Though you could contact them and ask.
  • FYI the F nib of this pen is like a Lamy XXF nib. I normally write with a US Parker F nib (= Lamy XF), and the Cross nib was even finer, and I had to go up to a M nib. I had to look for another Century for the M nib.
    • If you have the Century, then my recommendation would be to look for and buy another Century with a M nib, swap the section+nib, then sell the B nib with the pen that originally had the M nib.
• The Century II
  • Apparently it was made to counter complaints that the Century was too small in diameter and too light. So the Century II is a larger and heavier pen.
• The Classic Century, current production.
  • Cross seems to have gone back to the the original Century for this pen. As the fountain pen matches the original Century ball pen and mechanical pencil in slimness.
  • This is the smallest diameter fountain pen that Cross makes, about the diameter of a standard wood pencil.
  • There are TWO versions.
    • The first version does NOT take a converter.
    • The 2nd version is slightly larger and does take a converter.

The confusing thing is many people refer to the original Century as the Classic Century, when that is the name of the CURRENT pen, NOT the original pen.

Edited May 21, 2017 by ac12

[Jerome Tarshis]

I have a spare nib unit for the original Century. The nib is marked M but it is really a fine nib. Manufacturing isn't perfect. I happen not to be fond of nibs as F as this one is, so I bought a properly medium M nib at a pen show and have this other nib left over.

[soapwench]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I apologize for not communicating more clearly. it is a new cross pen, the century classic. The slim one.

 

Jerome, if the nib for the original cross would fit mine, I would be interested in purchasing the nib from you.

 

Thank you all!

 

Stef

[ac12]

The original Century nib will NOT fit the current Classic Century.

 

Contact Cross, and ask about a nib replacement. For current production pens, they should be able to help you.

[Jerome Tarshis]

The original Century nib will NOT fit the current Classic Century.

 

Contact Cross, and ask about a nib replacement. For current production pens, they should be able to help you.

 

Quite true. My extra nib won't fit Stef's pen. But there shouldn't be any trouble at all in buying a replacement nib for a pen in current production.

 

ETA: It seems not to be true, alas. Stef said in her original post that she had looked on the Cross Web site. I forgot. Now that I've looked into cross.com, I have to agree: the list of replacement nibs for sale doesn't include any for the Classic Century. I suspect that if they were selling those replacement nibs the Web site would say so.

 

Exchanging nibs with an FPN member who prefers wider nibs may be the simplest way forward. I once did it myself with the 1980s Century.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Jerome Tarshis

[soapwench]

Thanks everyone. I have contacted Cross, but not received a response. If anyone could suggest which thread would be best to post a trade request, I would be grateful. Otherwise, I will poke around.

 

Stef

[ac12]

 

 

Thanks everyone. I have contacted Cross, but not received a response. If anyone could suggest which thread would be best to post a trade request, I would be grateful. Otherwise, I will poke around.

 

Stef

 

Give them a week or two to respond.

[RMN]

Thanks everyone. I have contacted Cross, but not received a response. If anyone could suggest which thread would be best to post a trade request, I would be grateful. Otherwise, I will poke around.

 

Stef

 

Sorry, but it is not allowed to post trade requests (or sales offers) in the regular forums.

 

We have classifieds for that, but you have to be a gold member for that.

You become Gold member after 30 days membership AND 30 relevant posts (NOT in Chatter)

 

 

D.ick