Why Are Cross Pens So Underrated?

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I'm not a fan. I have a limited edition Cross Sauvage (not cheap!) I got as a gift years ago and it is to this day, in half a decade of collecting, the worst gold nib I've ever used. It didn't have baby's bottom, it had the "bottom" of someone who got a botched buttocks enhancement surgery. I do not exaggerate when I say the pen literally whistled when I wrote. Not quietly either, an audible whistle. I got it professionally adjusted and while it doesn't whistle anymore, it still skips quite a bit. It looks great though!

 

In general, I feel like they make pens that are more tailored towards the gift market, rather than pens tailored towards people writing with them. Which isn't to say their pens can't be used for writing but to me it feels like that's not their primary function. So in short, I don't really think they're underrated. They're appropriately "rated," at least to me.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Oops, my internet has been wonky and I somehow doubt posted. Edited to remove the duplicate text but I don't think I can delete this post.

[Waltz For Zizi]

On 7/16/2021 at 12:45 AM, sandy101 said:

Coming to think of it the Cross Peerless is an excellent starter pen.

I've never met anyone say the Peerless is a starter pen. LOL. Maybe if you are an oil sheikh or CEO. They sell for 400$+.

 

The only pens that I like from Cross that they still produce is the Bailey light, which is a starter pen, and the Century II. The rest look unappealing to me, especially the Townsend. Too bad I didn't figure it out before buying one.

[sandy101]

If you buy one great started pen, you needn't buy another. 

 

I don't subscribe to the idea that someone should start small and then spend lots of money buying cheap pens and on postage. You just end up with a drawer full of pens you don't use/need.

 

If you want to write with a great pen, buy a great pen. The peerless is a great flag ship pen with a beautiful nib.

 

 

[Waltz For Zizi]

4 hours ago, sandy101 said:

If you buy one great started pen, you needn't buy another. 

 

I don't subscribe to the idea that someone should start small and then spend lots of money buying cheap pens and on postage. You just end up with a drawer full of pens you don't use/need.

 

If you want to write with a great pen, buy a great pen. The peerless is a great flag ship pen with a beautiful nib.

 

 

If you personally like it it doesn't mean everyone will also like it. I for one fell for the the bigger the better mentality and bought some big a** pens (MB149, Delta Dolcevita Oversize, etc), before realizing big or heavy pens are not for me, and I actually prefer slimmer pens like the Parker Duofold International, Lamy cp1, etc.

If you never used a FP, start with a cheaper pen there's not much loss if you don't like them, and you can go back to ballpoints.

It's like wanting to be more active and start running but you buy the shoes the athletes use that cost 4-500$ with carbon plates, instead of starting with an average pair of shoes, or like wanting a motorcycle and you start with one that has a huge motor with 1000cc and you can barely control it.

[JonDoh]

One of my smoothest writing pens, I mean smooth as in butter gliding on a hot Teflon pan surface smooth is a mid 1980's fountain pen.  Today it would be classified as a century I since there weren't any Century II's or Townsends when I bought it.  A decade later I was gifted a Townsend and it was scratchy.  I set it aside until a few years ago when I decided to buy a replacement nib for it.  The new nib is smooth. 

 

If you have a scratchy pen, first try sending it to a repair shop for an adjustment.  Sometimes the tines are just slightly out of alignment causing the scratchiness. And if that doesn't work consider replacing the nib - it's a lot more economical than setting aside a good pen and letting it go to waste unused.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

I find cross pens a tad ugly, except for the one that looks like the Chrysler building. That one is pretty neat.

[amper]

I don't think Cross pens are underrated, at all. I think they are rated about as well as they deserve. But, the real question is, which Cross pens are you even talking about?

There was a time when Cross was a prestigious brand in America, but those days are long past. After the 1990s, Cross moved almost all production to China, aside from the line of pens they made for Tiffany & Co., apparently because US manufacturing was a contract stipulation for Tiffany. I am not certain if any of the current offerings from Tiffany are made by Cross, but it wouldn't surprise me if they are still being produced in the Cross Rhode Island factory. In any case, Cross' pen business was sold to Clarion Capital Partners in 2013. Any time a company is sold to a private equity firm, it generally results in the company being gutted of everything except for the brand name. So, it also wouldn't surprise me to find out that Tiffany has a new supplier, now.

As far as "being sold in office supply stores", perhaps some people aren't old enough to remember that Cross pens were always sold at mass market retailers, to my memory, virtually every drugstore and department store carried them in my youth (1970s-1980s), but they were, like watches and jewelry, displayed in locked cases. Retail in the 2020s is nothing like retail in the 1980s and 1990s.

I have a full set of the Cross Metropolis black/chrome line from the 1990s. Fountain pen, rollerball, ballpoint, mechanical pencil, and Palm/Newton stylus. It was the stylus I bought first in the late 1990s, when I started using an Apple Newton, and it was only years later that I tracked down the fountain pen and rollerball set along with the ballpoint and pencil set, just because I could. As far as my memory serves me, the Metropolis line was the last manufactured in the US before production was moved overseas, and it is very high quality, very much deserving of the reputation Cross once enjoyed. At any rate, my Metropolis sets are marked "Made in USA", and carry a "Full Perpetual Warranty". Whether or not anyone would actually honor that warranty is an entirely different question.

The luxury goods sector, in general, has very much changed since the 1980s. Many of the "luxury" goods sold globally are actually made cheaply in Chinese private label factories, many of which are illegally labelled as having been made in Europe or the US. I would recommend reading the book "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster" (2007), by Dana Thomas. It's an eye-opener for anyone not already aware of how "luxury" goods are produced and marketed in the modern era.

[Chimera01]

On 7/16/2021 at 7:49 AM, bayindirh said:

Finding Cross converters is a dark art. The official distributor in my country claimed that Cross no longer produced converters. I've bought a carton (6 of them) from another seller who imported the converters themselves.

Finally received a reply to my January 8th 2023 email to Cross Consumer Relations asking after the availability (or lack thereof) of the Cross Screw-In 8756 converter. Today they wrote back to say that they had experienced supply chain issues but expected to have it back in stock in late April. As soon as they have stock it will be available on the UK website as well.

 

I am glad to see they haven't abandoned us as I took to purchasing 8756 converters wherever I could find them just in case. Found a few knock-offs online as well but can't remember where. So I'm glad to see they're supporting their client base, as personally I really rate my Cross Peerless 125s (am also a big fan of Sailor nibs).

 

Better late than never!

[Mark from Yorkshire]

1 hour ago, Chimera01 said:

Finally received a reply to my January 8th 2023 email to Cross Consumer Relations asking after the availability (or lack thereof) of the Cross Screw-In 8756 converter. Today they wrote back to say that they had experienced supply chain issues but expected to have it back in stock in late April. As soon as they have stock it will be available on the UK website as well.

 

I am glad to see they haven't abandoned us as I took to purchasing 8756 converters wherever I could find them just in case. Found a few knock-offs online as well but can't remember where. So I'm glad to see they're supporting their client base, as personally I really rate my Cross Peerless 125s (am also a big fan of Sailor nibs).

 

Better late than never!

You do realise that cult pens do the Cross push in converters that fit and work as well as the screw in ones at leat in The Bailey 

 

best regards

 

mark

[Chimera01]

1 hour ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

You do realise that cult pens do the Cross push in converters that fit and work as well as the screw in ones at leat in The Bailey 

Thanks Mark, yes I do know about the Cross push in converters. Unless I'm missing something (always a possibility!) they don't appear to work in my Cross Peerless 125s. 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

10 hours ago, Chimera01 said:

Thanks Mark, yes I do know about the Cross push in converters. Unless I'm missing something (always a possibility!) they don't appear to work in my Cross Peerless 125s. 

Ah ok @Chimera01 they did with the Calais and Bailey that I bought the other week. Even though at least one is supposed to take the screw thread version

[Chimera01]

42 minutes ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

they did with the Calais and Bailey that I bought the other week. Even though at least one is supposed to take the screw thread version

That's good to know. Many thanks Mark. And if you're not a member of the Facebook group FPUK Fountain Pens UK - please consider it. I've found them a very friendly group with lots of activities and pen events as well as Zoom group meetings that you might enjoy. Mostly UK focused