Visconti Day

[kestrel]

+1 on the quality control issues. My Art Nouveau started leaking at the joint between the body and the section. That shouldn't happen on a pen in that price range nor should you call an embedded converter a piston filler. I love everything else about the pen but losing it for several months to repair a manufacturing defect was irksome.

Also +1 on the glass ink bottles. I have had evaporation issues with some plastic ink bottles and just don't trust them anymore.

[Ghost Plane]

The dratted plastic are simply too easy to tip as compared to the glass in the same shape. Plus I prefer the more inert glass down here in the tropics.

[raging.dragon]

The dratted plastic are simply too easy to tip as compared to the glass in the same shape. Plus I prefer the more inert glass down here in the tropics.

 

The narrow base of the Viconti bottles (either glass or plastic) makes them rather easy to tip. Add a wide flared base to the glass bottle and it'd make a really nice ink well. Perhaps, instead of treating the bottles as disposable, they should sell empty glass (even crystal?) bottles as reusable ink wells then sell their ink as refills packaged in cheap plastic or foil bags.

[Ghost Plane]

Good thought!

[fabrimedeiros]

The dratted plastic are simply too easy to tip as compared to the glass in the same shape. Plus I prefer the more inert glass down here in the tropics.

 

The narrow base of the Viconti bottles (either glass or plastic) makes them rather easy to tip. Add a wide flared base to the glass bottle and it'd make a really nice ink well. Perhaps, instead of treating the bottles as disposable, they should sell empty glass (even crystal?) bottles as reusable ink wells then sell their ink as refills packaged in cheap plastic or foil bags.

 

+1

[delvecchio]

Let start with the ink well :

You know that our ink well is designed to help filling leaving no ink at the end.

Also it allows to keep the pen stnding right while filling and this allows the inkwell to be enough stable notwithstanding a small base. In the past we have tried several makers in glass but the problem was about 20 % leakage due to bad manufacturing. Is very difficult to understand if a bottle is leaking even if you store upside down.

This because most of leaks happens during airflight transportation when the air in the ink well become pressurized due to air flight. At the end we were exausted about leaks. A Pelikan bottle ,due to its easy shape can be manufactured much easier and their quality is good in glass. We should give up our shape for a glass bottle so wedecided to go for a plastic bottle and keep the original shape..

Is true that the iridium is harder than glass anyhow I like much more if the tip of my pen is touching a soft material rather than an hard material. Very often, especially filling a piston pen, the hands are unsecure and the nib is touching back and forth the bottom of the ink well. Only the Visconti power filler allows to fill the pen with only one hand while the other hand can hold the ink well.

Very soon we will make a new bottle with a revolutionary design that has the same features of the present one ( no ink left at the end). Once again the plastic technogy looks to be the easiest and safer but we are workin with a local maker of crystal to see if he will succed to make such complicated bottle in crystal, expensive but refillable. When you will see this design you will be happy, and I invented it in Usa last year while I was in Colorado for my summer vacations!

[delvecchio]

Ink windows:

In former times clear windows were made out of celluloid virtually unbrakable.

Today we have to use acryl material that is weak and brakable.

Due to trasparency we cannot add any additive to improve its resistance to hits.

Is not the shape not even the thickness that make a window weaker or harder.

I have seen a wall of over 2 mm of acryl broken.

The only thing that counts is the weight of the pen.

A pen like Ripple is very easy to brake much more than a wall street just because is eavier.

If it falls down in the floor in a wrong angle.....is dead, and nothing we can do about it.

Wall street double reservoir is all celluloid so is unbrekable but still they break in the ink window.

You can imagine I do not love ink windows for this reason.

I like them for the function but not for the weakness.

I don't like the window in HS , has nothing to do with the pen and the acryl window is freighten the resistance of the lava material.

Until it will not be a clear material safe I will limit the windows only to the double reservoir.

[delvecchio]

Since I manufacture pens quality is my greatest concern.

Clearly in a forum there are people who have quality issues to be solved.

I learned in many years that innovation is the enemy of quality.

The most you change the easy is to have a problem.

Following this concept is better not to make innovations !

Is funny to see that older brands have models designed many years ago.

Who will buy a car designed in 1958 ?

This is possible in pens !

After 50 years I really hope that a pen should be perfect !

Visconti likes to innovate very frequently in a way NEVER SEEN in all pen history.

Homo Sapiens had two great innovations : Palladium nibs and Lava material.

The pen was tested for nearly one year before going in the market but there are some technical points that are possible to be discovered only by mass production.

The ink seepage of the material , I.E. never happend in the test samples.

Even the Palladium nibs were improved by manufacturing and today they stand as an icon in the nib quality.

Manufacturing a Palladium nib is twice more expensive than a gold nib but the market feed back is absolutely huge.

The magnetic lock was not the first in the market but was the only one mass produced in a perfect way.

Even here , despite of many tests , we had some rust problems.

A Ragtime with its vintage clip and its screw system is perfect since 1988 !!

I saw complaints in this forum about other brands from Twisbi to Pelikan.

Is like to compare a chinese car to one of the best like Pelikan ( I love Pelikans)

Proudly today Visconti offers one of the best , if not the best, after sales service and, in averadge, pens sits only one week in our department since we receive them.

Visconti repairs roughly 3/4.000 pens yearly world wide.

Visconti sell yearly over 70.000 writing instruments, 1/4 in USA.

In 25 years we are close to 1.000.000 pens sold (we will hopefully hit the number next year) and we are still able to fix 95 % of the pens we have produced.

For those we cannot fix we have a compensation plan for our customers (swaps or nice price) .

Actually no other brand can offer such incredible after sales service.

I am very creative person and my pleasure is to make new pens and new devices.

Visconti was not created to make money by selling old stuff in the market or be driven by marketing.

It was made to bring something significantly new in the pen industry in a way that anybody who loves pens should enjoy.

I want to keep doing this even if I "risk" every time with a new product .

 

Repair time : when I say one week is an averadge time. Sometimes in busy season it took more, and some repairs for old products it takes more. Surely we NEVER charged a penny on any pen for a production problem either now or in the past either in warranty or after yearso. Very often we have repaird ,sometimes rebuilt destroied pens at a ridiculus charge only to make the customer happy.

Unfortunatelyo we do not know how long the pen were in the dealers draw. Our agreement with Coles is for a shipment every week back and forth so I think is one of the most efficient.

Last but not least Visconti is the sole company to have a world intranet system were our distributors can locate every single repair, see when it was repaired, the nature of the repair, the date in to Visconti and the date out the name of the owner.

Every 3 months we make a world report to see if there is any product with too many returns that can worry us.

Is no doubt that if there is a defective tube of glue we will not have one pen defective but 100 and is not possible to test every single pen.

 

If we skip the defects of some new produts like seepage in H S , rust in some Rembrandts , Visconti is below 1 % , that is humanly acceptable. If we consider a number CLOSE TO ONE MILLION pens sold , to perform 3.000 repiairs is very reasonable cosidering that most of repairs are not factory problems but just repairs, breakages or simply cleaning.

Can we improve ? Sure and will strive to put more carful to launch new products and keep doing the creations that we love to do

[WendyNC]

I am fortunate to own a Palazzo Ducale di Sassuolo and I love the design of this pen. It has all the advantages of the double-reservoir power filler--but completely disassembles for easy cleaning.

 

Any chance of a model with similar features, preferably in a non-LE version?

 

I love my other double-reservoir power fillers (Wall Streets, OMDs, a Kakadu and a Didgeridoo) but I also like saturated inks, so cleaning is a 2-3 day process.

Edited April 7, 2012 by WendyNC

[Ghost Plane]

What a wonderful start toward answering our questions. :clap1:

 

I can't wait to hear more about a new bottle.

 

The silver topped glass bottle that came with the smaller Ultima Lira is wonderful AND has no evaporation problems.

 

My Ripples have proved sturdy under extensive usage, by the way, but I don't carry them away from my desk, so I'm hoping to avoid dropping issues. Nor have they leaked inside, unlike Wall Streets. And the heavier weight makes them very ergonomic for marathon writing sessions.

 

The 23d stubs and BBs are my personal favorites, but the 14k have a uniquely soft touch that make them my second choice.

 

I have to ask - why so many white resin pens? Something the size of a Romanica but in color would be awesome.

[raging.dragon]

Dante, it's good to see you on the forum!

 

Would polycarbonate work better than acrylic for ink windows? The clear polycarbonate used by TWSBI seems to be quite durable, though I believe they found that it was necessary to use a scratch resistant coating.

[delvecchio]

What a wonderful start toward answering our questions. :clap1:

 

I can't wait to hear more about a new bottle.

 

The silver topped glass bottle that came with the smaller Ultima Lira is wonderful AND has no evaporation problems.

 

My Ripples have proved sturdy under extensive usage, by the way, but I don't carry them away from my desk, so I'm hoping to avoid dropping issues. Nor have they leaked inside, unlike Wall Streets. And the heavier weight makes them very ergonomic for marathon writing sessions.

 

The 23d stubs and BBs are my personal favorites, but the 14k have a uniquely soft touch that make them my second choice.

 

I have to ask - why so many white resin pens? Something the size of a Romanica but in color would be awesome.

 

Hi Ghost Plane ,

Either Palladium or Gold are precious material and is very expensive to stock both.

Market feedback is for Palladium : more flexible, same quality higher value perception: for a gift a 23 kts is better than 14 or 18 kt. White resins: whales bones were white and scrimshaws looks better. Anyhow is a good point and i will remember.

We have the new Amerigo Vespucci is white again but the work is so intricate that shadows are visible only with a white background

[delvecchio]

Dante, it's good to see you on the forum!

 

Would polycarbonate work better than acrylic for ink windows? The clear polycarbonate used by TWSBI seems to be quite durable, though I believe they found that it was necessary to use a scratch resistant coating.

 

We have tested it years ago.

Polycarbonate you can only injection mold and not work by turning machine, the worst is not possible to polish .

Even using a standard size we like to give a final polish to our pens , if it beomes opaque is hard to bring to a brilliant color.

Also is subject to some cracks....

[delvecchio]

I am fortunate to own a Palazzo Ducale di Sassuolo and I love the design of this pen. It has all the advantages of the double-reservoir power filler--but completely disassembles for easy cleaning.

 

Any chance of a model with similar features, preferably in a non-LE version?

 

I love my other double-reservoir power fillers (Wall Streets, OMDs, a Kakadu and a Didgeridoo) but I also like saturated inks, so cleaning is a 2-3 day process.

Keep an eye on september Visconti , you are going to like it!!

 

Is very hard to design a pen cleanable and i never suggest to disassemble pens. Palazzo ducale or the new one are designed in the same way !!

[delvecchio]

Yaaaaaay!

 

It seems many of the Visconti pens are coming out with odd body shapes that aren't convenient for long sessions, such as the Medina and Mecca, which I skipped buying. Are there any plans to return to graceful, user-friendly shapes such as the Ripples and Romanicas?

 

A lot of the higher end limited editions seem restricted to the stain prone white resin and gold furniture. Are there plans for larger sized pens in pretty colors? Silver furniture?

 

My greatest sorrow was the end of the old Van Gogh Maxi line, which represented MB 149 writing performance in gorgeous colors without finicky fill systems. The steel-nibbed Rembrandts are NOT what I'm looking for. Any plans for something the size of the LARGE Homo Sapiens in anything other than lava? I guess I'm one of the few who don't like the line and haven't bought a Visconti since it came out. I WANT BIG PENS IN GORGEOUS COLORS!!!

 

Any plans to add oblique nibs to the line? I would adore an oblique stub on something the size of a Romanica in fantastic color. Until then, I find myself buying the gorgeous LE Delta stubs in stunning colors that Bryant is offering.

 

COLOR???

LARGE SIZE ROUND PENS without wierd step downs to the section? Please shoot the designer who came up with squaring the circle nonsense that's uncomfortable. :ph34r:

An oblique 1.3 stub?

Mecca aind medina are show pieces and the reason to make them is to represent a concept morethan to write with them....that is still possible and quite usable.

The new Van Gogh are an higher concept than the old ones: match a painting with a pen is something never done before so nice and easy to sell !! Unfortunatly forum like this are not so many and we sell pens to people that need to associate something known (the painting) to a pen or to a gift. Is a good selling tool that is bringing new people to buy Visconti and pens.

Shoot me I invented the squaring the circle: actually I am writing with a WS and i find it very confortable and while I write my press releases or a conference is the sole pens that is not rolling on the table.

Briant is a very good friend a fan of Visconti, we have pleased him with some special pens, !.

New colors : Van gogh is coming in 12 colors in a special collector box, a new pen will be launched in sept, is quite enough and we do not want to look lilke only like a plastic maker....

Oblique stubb ? Sure is possible like many other special nibs: but if you see our sales number in these special nibs you get discouraged. 95% of sales are M or F!,,,,,

Edited April 7, 2012 by delvecchio

[adyf]

Repair time : when I say one week is an averadge time.

 

Last but not least Visconti is the sole company to have a world intranet system were our distributors can locate every single repair, see when it was repaired, the nature of the repair, the date in to Visconti and the date out the name of the owner.

 

Hi Dante,

 

Many thanks for your detailed post. I would just like to share my repair experience based against a couple of your points above. I sent a Homo Sapiens to Italy (via the UK distributor) for the ink seepage issue at the beginning of July 2011 and received it back 5 months later. I was told about the factory shutdown in August which could delay things but still didn't expect to be waiting this long.

 

I read with interest your point about Visconti distributors and the intranet system to check repairs etc. I did telephone the UK distributor a couple of times to check on progress and he told me that he couldn't check on the status of repairs and that he couldn't tell me anything until the pen arrived back to him in the UK. Whether this intranet facility was operational at that time last year I don't know.

 

Finally, frustration got the better of me and I decided to try and contact Visconti directly. Firstly I emailed via Visconti@visconti.it and received no reply. Secondly I managed to get the email address of a female Visconti employee from someone on this forum and emailed her. Again there was no reply. I found the lack of communication the worst part of the experience as I can accept a 5 month wait if I'm told the reason why.

 

As you point out when I did finally receive the pen there was no charge and the pen was repaired very satisfactorily. I'd like to finish on a positive note and say that I still like Visconti pens very much and I went on to buy a Wall Street Limited Edition which I'm very happy with.

Edited April 7, 2012 by adyf

[fabiorr]

I have to echo concerns about the Quality Control issues at Visconti. Being at the recieving end of one of these faulty pens, I would like to know what Visconti plans on doing to correct thier QC inspections. My current expirience with the working pen I've got now would lead me to be a repeat customer, if it wasn't for the pen before it being a pain in my rump. As the prior poster said, that does not befit such a small company producing pens of this calibre and price.

 

+1 Having received 2 pens with issues out of 4 makes QC my major concern about Visconti pens.One was a HS that needed to be returned to exchange. The new one was just fine. The second was a LE Opera Master with flow issues that I sent to a nibmeister fix.

Now I ask Bryant to test any Visconti pens before shipping which he kindly does.

Despite these issues, I appreciate Visconti pens innovation and creativity, specially the double reservoir filling system! I wish it could be made available in more of Visconti models. It's really handy for those that need to take air trips frequently.

Edited April 7, 2012 by fabiorr

[raging.dragon]

Either Palladium or Gold are precious material and is very expensive to stock both.

Market feedback is for Palladium : more flexible, same quality higher value perception: for a gift a 23 kts is better than 14 or 18 kt.

 

Also, many brands sell pens with 14K and 18K Gold nibs, while Palladium nibs are unique to Visconti and have become something of a brand signature. I can see the wisdom in using them as much as possible through your product line.

 

We have tested it years ago.

Polycarbonate you can only injection mold and not work by turning machine, the worst is not possible to polish .

Even using a standard size we like to give a final polish to our pens , if it beomes opaque is hard to bring to a brilliant color.

Also is subject to some cracks....

 

Makes sense. This is also consistent with the polishing and cracking issues TWSBI have experienced.

 

Mecca aind medina are show pieces and the reason to make them is to represent a concept morethan to write with them....that is still possible and quite usable.

The new Van Gogh are an higher concept than the old ones: match a painting with a pen is something never done before so nice and easy to sell !! Unfortunatly forum like this are not so many and we sell pens to people that need to associate something known (the painting) to a pen or to a gift. Is a good selling tool that is bringing new people to buy Visconti and pens.

Shoot me I invented the squaring the circle: actually I am writing with a WS and i find it very confortable and while I write my press releases or a conference is the sole pens that is not rolling on the table.

Briant is a very good friend a fan of Visconti, we have pleased him with some special pens, !.

New colors : Van gogh is coming in 12 colors in a special collector box, a new pen will be launched in sept, is quite enough and we do not want to look lilke only like a plastic maker....

Oblique stubb ? Sure is possible like many other special nibs: but if you see our sales number in these special nibs you get discouraged. 95% of sales are M or F!,,,,,

 

Speaking of the Van Gogh, I like the colours and patterns of the materials used. Same for your Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee pens. With celluloid disappearing from the market, I'm glad to see you found a source for unique and attractively patterned colourful plastics.

 

I like the squaring the circle designs, even the square section of the Aida works for me. However, it seems that these pens (like the triangular OMAS 360) evoke a love it or hate reaction.

 

I guess when it comes to nib choices, FPN members are far from representative of the overall market.

[raging.dragon]

Despite these issues, I appreciate Visconti pens innovation and creativity, specially the double reservoir filling system! I wish it could be made available in more of Visconti models. It's really handy for those that need to take air trips frequently.

 

I'd also like to see more double resevoir filler models. Like the Palladium nibs, this filling mechanism is unique to Visconti and makes a nice brand signature. Speaking of Visconti filling mechanisms:

 

• I also like the (single resevoir) power filler. Though it's pretty much a standard vacuum filler and thus not unique to Visconti, only a few other brands offer new pens with fillers of this type.
  
• Piston fillers are nice, but many brands offers them. Thus I prefere Visconti's innovative and/or uncommon filling mechanisms.
  
• The crescent fillers (Copernicus and Millenium Arc) were fun, but I have my doubts about the mass market appeal of this mechanism.
  
• I'm not a fan of embedded converter piston fillers as they're currently implemented. If a converter is used, I'd rather be able to remove it for cleaning and easy replacement if it breaks. And while I don't use cartidges, having the option to use them is still a good thing. The "convertible" mechanism of early Stipula Eturias and the Touchdown converters of the Sheaffer Legacy are the only embedded converter mechanisms I like.
  
• I neither love nor hate the standard cartridge converter mechanism. These are obviously popular with the mass market and being relatively inexpensive to manufacture a good fit for entry level models.
  

Edited April 7, 2012 by raging.dragon

[fabrimedeiros]

Ink windows:

In former times clear windows were made out of celluloid virtually unbrakable.

Today we have to use acryl material that is weak and brakable.

Due to trasparency we cannot add any additive to improve its resistance to hits.

Is not the shape not even the thickness that make a window weaker or harder.

I have seen a wall of over 2 mm of acryl broken.

The only thing that counts is the weight of the pen.

A pen like Ripple is very easy to brake much more than a wall street just because is eavier.

If it falls down in the floor in a wrong angle.....is dead, and nothing we can do about it.

Wall street double reservoir is a celluloid so is unbrekable but still they break in the ink window.

You can imagine I do not love ink windows for this reason.

I like them for the function but not for the weakness.

I don't like the window in HS , has nothing to do with the pen and the acryl window is freighten the resistance of the lava material.

Until it will not be a clear material safe I will limit the windows only to the double reservoir.

Dante, thanks for that info! It's new for me to know the windows made of celluloid is stronger than acrylic and that weight of the pen influences the window resistence.

 

I do agree that HS does not match with an ink window (though I love ink windows). And thanks for create the HS! It's an exotic masterpiece that has quickly became a classic.

 

I can't wait your new ink bottle! But I hope you will not put the current one out of production. Even in plastic, Visconti bottle is my favorite. Would be great if you sell empty glass bottles (the old ones), besides the new crystal bottle.

 

Another suggestion: would be nice if you put the old converter ( with the knob in metal) in production again. There is nothing similar in the market nowadays (in fact there are only cheap/ugly options)! That converter was superb!

 

Your presence on FPN is amazing! :clap1:

Edited April 8, 2012 by fabrimedeiros