Luxury Writing Instrument Brands

[Al-Nasser]

There are many writing instrument manufacturers around the world, and like time pieces, there are luxury brands like Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe to name a few. And in the case of luxury watches, they are usually made of precious materials, in-house movements, typically Swiss made but that is not always the case, and usually in limited runs (not to be confused with limited editions, what I mean by limited run is that a watch model could be manufactured for a certain number of years before it becomes discontinued or updated).

 

I can see Mont Blanc and Montegrappa as luxury brands, but not Lamy for example. So my question is, what defines a luxury brand for writing instruments? and could you name a few?

[txomsy]

I think it is the perception of the (potential) buyer. It is all subjective.

 

So, for example, brands identified with luxury, when marketing pens (made or rebranded by them) will be perceived as luxury. Typical examples are the ones associated with jewelry, specially if the pen is "jeweled" or embellished by artisan artists. Sometimes the "Luxury" is just because the seller claims so and the buyer is willing to believe it. And remember that the very concept of luxury is strongly cultural, what may be considered luxury by some may not be so by other standards.

 

Dunlop, Ferrari, Dunhill, Cartier, Dryden, Visconti, Montegrappa, Aurora,...

 

Then, many brands have a "luxury" line and a "plain joe" one. In no particular order, Pelikan, Cross, Conklin, Waterman, Kaweco, Faber-Castell,Caran D'Ache, Sheaffer, Parker, Platinum, Pilot, etc... all have a luxury line.

 

Acquisitive power also plays a role, I bet that for many people just almost almost all American, Japanese or European brand are a "luxury".

[Tom Kellie]

~ Coming to fountain pens later in life (a few years in high school and as an undergraduate were succeeded by decades of no handwriting) I thought of all brands and models as writing tools.

Soon it became clear that there were models with more bells and whistles, but what was central was their ability to sketch or write.

That certain lines are marketed as luxury fountain pens may well be the case, but that's something which hasn't been much of a consideration, one way or another.

Tom K.

[A Smug Dill]

So my question is, what defines a luxury brand for writing instruments?

 

Firstly, I don't think there's an authoritative, or universally accepted, definition of the term "luxury brand" in any market. Who defines the meaning of the term for time pieces? I've met people who call Tag Hauer a luxury brand and aspire to wearing their (one-and-only?) TH watch as their "everyday driver", and I've met people who sneer at Tag Hauer for being sporty watches for commoners.

 

The general idea of a luxury brand is that the name carries the connotation of exclusivity through price; every product model with that name is expensive, even at the entry-level. Lamy, Sailor, Platinum and Aurora (as examples, and not an exhaustive list) all make luxury pens, but the first three cannot be luxury brands when it also wants to sell "school pens" such as the Lamy Safari and ABC models, Sailor HiAce Neo and Profit Junior models, Platinum Preppy and Plaisir models. Aurora also have relatively cheap models such as the Style, Tu and Ipsilon fountain pens. There is no automatic or inescapable implication, when one says he's using (or is seen using) an Aurora fountain pen, that he is using a writing instrument that is more expensive (and thus less accessible to the masses) than the "average" pen in the same functional class and with similar specifications. Never mind the prices of the Lamy Dialog 3 Urushi, Sailor kokutan (ebony) barrel Kaga taka maki-e, and Platinum #3776 Century "The Prime" platinum edition fountain pens are north of US$10,000, well beyond what individuals in 99.99% of the literate population are willing to spend on writing instruments.

[tonybelding]

I can see Mont Blanc and Montegrappa as luxury brands, but not Lamy for example. So my question is, what defines a luxury brand for writing instruments? and could you name a few?

 

It seems to me that there is a considerable disconnect between "luxury brands" that happen to include pens among their "luxury lifestyle" products, versus brands that are considered serious pen makers by pen aficionados.

 

For example: Montblanc. Graf von Faber-Castell. ST Dupont. Visconti.

 

Contrasted with: Pilot/Namiki, Nakaya, Edison, Wahl-Eversharp, Conid.

[Karmachanic]

Eye of the beholder.

[sirgilbert357]

Honestly, only the price determines if it is a luxury or not (and that is subjective).

 

I forget which country, but there is one where there is a 180% tax on automobiles. VERY few people have cars...and the cars they DO have are not the most expensive ones. Even a basic Toyota there would be considered a luxury.

 

Same with watches. Rolex makes a tough, solid watch. Their movements are known for being simple and easy to work on -- but durable. But the Submariner, one of Rolex's icons, is made entirely by robots to the tune of over a million watches per year. They are not rare. They aren't even precious metal; they are stainless steel. Yet they cost $10,000 dollars. Let that sink in...10k. For a watch made by robots that no human hand ever touches during assembly. This isn't a bespoke piece made by a Swiss worker in a state of the art watch assembling studio. Grand Seiko does that - one person puts your watch together, by hand, entirely from start to finish. And they are cheaper than Rolex.

 

Why?

 

Marketing. They've made people want them, so they can charge whatever they want. The price determines luxury. There's nothing that luxurious about a Rolex Submariner. TONS of comparable specced watches for FAR less. But Rolex charge 10k for one. Veblen goods manufacturers know what they are doing...it's the same story with pens.

Edited January 14, 2020 by sirgilbert357

[sirgilbert357]

 

It seems to me that there is a considerable disconnect between "luxury brands" that happen to include pens among their "luxury lifestyle" products, versus brands that are considered serious pen makers by pen aficionados.

 

For example: Montblanc. Graf von Faber-Castell. ST Dupont. Visconti.

 

Contrasted with: Pilot/Namiki, Nakaya, Edison, Wahl-Eversharp, Conid.

 

Completely agree...

[ethernautrix]

Or wallet of beholder.

 

*winky*

[GoldenNibs]

Honestly, only the price determines if it is a luxury or not (and that is subjective).

 

I forget which country, but there is one where there is a 180% tax on automobiles. VERY few people have cars...and the cars they DO have are not the most expensive ones. Even a basic Toyota there would be considered a luxury.

 

Same with watches. Rolex makes a tough, solid watch. Their movements are known for being simple and easy to work on -- but durable. But the Submariner, one of Rolex's icons, is made entirely by robots to the tune of over a million watches per year. They are not rare. They aren't even precious metal; they are stainless steel. Yet they cost $10,000 dollars. Let that sink in...10k. For a watch made by robots that no human hand ever touches during assembly. This isn't a bespoke piece made by a Swiss worker in a state of the art watch assembling studio. Grand Seiko does that - one person puts your watch together, by hand, entirely from start to finish. And they are cheaper than Rolex.

 

Why?

 

Marketing. They've made people want them, so they can charge whatever they want. The price determines luxury. There's nothing that luxurious about a Rolex Submariner. TONS of comparable specced watches for FAR less. But Rolex charge 10k for one. Veblen goods manufacturers know what they are doing...it's the same story with pens.

I agree with this. Kinda reminds me of when Cadillac offered the awful Cimarron. You were paying Cadillac's luxury price but the car was really just a Chevy Cavalier with some Cadillac badges slapped on it. You end up just paying for the name and not the actual product because the marketing makes you think its "luxury" and the price gets people thinking its luxury.

[Parker51]

I agree it is a matter of perception primarily.

If one takes objective characteristics such as limited production, no discounting, limited supply, stellar quality, an unwavering lifetime guarantee, the availability of customization and even bespoke production, all done by a single family and their employees who are paid a living professional wage in a first world country, using state of the art equipment in a very clean and safe working environment, in a nice community, then I only know of one Luxury pen maker: Edison.

Also, they make no low end pens and are not interested in making any, you can spend rather large amounts of money for their very limited edition collaborations which are sold out prior to production and every pen is designed by one person, modeled by him and he literally writes the programs for the machines that assist him (Brian) his family and very few employees to produce the pens they hand assemble, polish, test, package and ship.

Yes, there is a German Company that is much older that does much of the same, on a much larger scale, at a much higher price point, but they are part of a large multinational Corperation. I have nothing against that Company and acknowledge they do have an edge in that they make there own nibs, but their warrenty is pitiful by comparison. I do like their fragrances however and am using one now.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Parker51

[tamiya]

I forget which country, but there is one where there is a 180% tax on automobiles. VERY few people have cars...and the cars they DO have are not the most expensive ones. Even a basic Toyota there would be considered a luxury.

Singapore would be closest where I am... yep 180% import tax so you're paying 280% plus another $40-70k for Certificate of Entitlement (you bid at public auction for right to own that car for 10yrs) plus registration fees and road tax and... Etc etc etc

 

In Australia a Camry is driveaway about A$30k.

 

A Camry is Singapore adds up,about S$160k.

 

Stuck in traffic at the lights in said Camry in the middle lane of 3, surrouded by 9 other common cars... one meets realisation that there's easily a million dollars worth of motor vehicles surrounding oneself.

 

One Million Dollars.

 

Then a McLaren goes past, followed by an Aventador.

 

Crazy Rich Asians indeed.

[bemon]

Beyond what the marketing and materials tell us, it's personal too. I'm sure some of you have heard my Pelikan gripe with the 400/600 line. The moment I received my first M600 I said to myself "I paid WHAT for this piece of flimsy plastic?" And immediately felt like I'd been cheated. If the pen was placed under $200 I'd probably have really enjoyed it.

 

But I feel very different about my M1000. It feels more luxurious. For me, I generally like my luxury and/or quality items to feel substantial and that means a little heft. I agree that Lamy isn't placed as a luxury item, but I feel like my steel Lamy 2000 is 10 times more luxurious than my M400/600.

[WLSpec]

Eye of the beholder.

Yep.

 

So long as it writes well, looks good, and feels good, whether it is a Montblanc or a Platinum Preppy, it is great.

 

Although there is something special about receiving/purchasing a more expensive/grail pen... the excitement levels are usually higher upon arrival at least in my experience.

[Al-Nasser]

wonderful comments, I have enjoyed reading each one, thanks to all who have shared their thoughts on this topic, and I will always come back to read more.

[seoulseeker]

Honestly, only the price determines if it is a luxury or not (and that is subjective).

 

I forget which country, but there is one where there is a 180% tax on automobiles. VERY few people have cars...and the cars they DO have are not the most expensive ones. Even a basic Toyota there would be considered a luxury.

 

Same with watches. Rolex makes a tough, solid watch. Their movements are known for being simple and easy to work on -- but durable. But the Submariner, one of Rolex's icons, is made entirely by robots to the tune of over a million watches per year. They are not rare. They aren't even precious metal; they are stainless steel. Yet they cost $10,000 dollars. Let that sink in...10k. For a watch made by robots that no human hand ever touches during assembly. This isn't a bespoke piece made by a Swiss worker in a state of the art watch assembling studio. Grand Seiko does that - one person puts your watch together, by hand, entirely from start to finish. And they are cheaper than Rolex.

 

Why?

 

Marketing. They've made people want them, so they can charge whatever they want. The price determines luxury. There's nothing that luxurious about a Rolex Submariner. TONS of comparable specced watches for FAR less. But Rolex charge 10k for one. Veblen goods manufacturers know what they are doing...it's the same story with pens.

This is a bit of an exaggeration - rolexes will be hand assembled. Hell, I'd reckon even a $250 automatic seiko is hand assembled though. It's a necessity of automatic / mechanical watch movements. That's why the swatch system 51 was big news- because it was the first totally robot made movement. There is a lot less handwork than you think going on in grand seikos, and a lot more than you imply going on in rolexes. Id say GS still likely has more - but the gap isnt as large as you are implying. Edited January 16, 2020 by PenStand

[Freddy]

Discretionary income.........One man's good old advertising hyperbole is another man's major league irritant......

 

Fred..

and Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

[Honeybadgers]

Luxury does have some connotations as being inherently unattainable, so factoring in arbitrarily high prices ((bleep) the watch world has that on lockdown. A Vostok amphibia costs 1/180th of a rolex submariner but is arguably a better watch for the job.)

 

Watches are honestly the worst examples we have of hyper capitalism. Even relatively entry level watch collecting makes us all look like (bleep) peasants.

 

I'd say that the only big name companies that deliberately price themselves into being "luxury" are montblanc and montegrappa. Everyone else offers some degree of lower end pens.

 

But if luxury is defined purely by quality and materials, then there are multitudes, from pilot to sailor and lamy (the 2000, imporium, dialog 3) to pelikan, aurora, even visconti has sub-$100 entries.

Edited January 16, 2020 by Honeybadgers

[A Smug Dill]

Luxury does have some connotations as being inherently unattainable,

By whom specifically? I don't think luxury has connotations of being out of reach for those who can "afford" — or, more precisely, who are willing to part with — significantly higher than average prices of competing products of the same category and type in the market. $50 for a cup of kopi luwak coffee may be more than most consumers are prepared to spend for a caffeinated beverage for everyday consumption, and thus be considered a luxury to have one, but there is nothing inherently unattainable is that there are places that sell that kind of coffee and $50 is just two rounds of after-work drinks at the pub, or a two-course dinner for one at a decent restaurant, which are commonly "affordable" things as far as discretionary spending on food and beverages go.

 

But if luxury is defined purely by quality and materials, then there are multitudes, from pilot to sailor and lamy (the 2000, imporium, dialog 3) to pelikan, aurora, even visconti has sub-$100 entries.

But luxury isn't defined that way either authoritatively or commonly, and in fact has nothing to do with objective assessment of quality or value by the dictionary definition. Goods of sufficiently high quality that are still cheap, or priced no higher than average prices for competing items, are almost by definition not luxuries if everyone who wants to wear a watch of that particular category, or write with a pen of this particular type, can be expected to pay as much for one irrespective of brand and image.

Edited January 16, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[tonybelding]

The Lamy 2000 might be a good example of a pen that straddles the line and is seen as a luxury item by some, but not by others. It really is ambiguous.