Review: Hublot Fountain Pen and Inkwell ...

[cmeisenzahl]

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 December 21, 2009 by MYU

[mge01park]

Nice review and pics, a watch company venturing out into pens, a reverse MontBlanc sought of!

[lensassaman]

 

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.

[MYU]

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??

[djh]

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

[georges zaslavsky]

very impressive pen and the nib is typical of omas design

[bugmd]

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

 

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

[raivtash]

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 March 23, 2018 by raivtash

[Gloucesterman]

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