Chinese Made Cross Vs Usa/irish Made Cross Pens

[Matlock]

I know this is an old thread but my views may be of interest. I bought a Century BP (Irish) in 1981, after a week the clip end came loose and eventually fell off. I contacted Cross in the UK and the cap was replaced and I still use that pen today. Not bad after 37 years. This proves that, sometimes quality control can fall short wherever a pen is made. I have never had any issues with any other Cross pens that I own and I find that Chinese quality control is just as good as US or Irish QC. I think we would all like to see manufacture moved back to our own country, whatever the product, but it is the way of the world that production is moved to the cheapest source. Even Leica cameras (and I have several) are made in Portugal now and only assembled in Germany. I would think it is highly unlikely that Cross will return production to the USA, but you never know.

[Inkling13]

Cross has Sailor making a FP under the Cross name.

[Matlock]

Cross has Sailor making a FP under the Cross name.

 

Sailor only make the nibs.

[JerrysPens]

Just an update here every one regarding Cross pens that are made in China. A friend of mine who works in a pen shop here in Perth, Australia, recently visited the new Cross factory in China. She was so delighted and pleased with their facilities and workmanship it was almost flawless. She said the factory was very modern, clean, thorough and tge machinery was from both Germany and USA. And because of this she's started to like Cross more. And the quality control is very good and thorough.

 

I've seen many posts of people downgrading China made A.T. Cross Pens, and I had to speak out! I run a sort of boutique on the internet for Cross Pens called JerrysPens. I have been into pens all my life. I could carry all brands, but am so impressed with the Cross brand that I ONLY sell Cross Pens & Pencils etc. I too have bought Cross pens all my life, and have many from prior to their move to China, and after manufacturing moved to China. To all those people who say the Chinese made Cross pens are inferior, I say (BS) show me. I have not had ONE bad pen or problem with any pens from China. As far as i'm concerned, and I've tried hundreds of pens, there is absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in quality at all! The pen PARTS are manufactured all over the world, but for the most part are made and assembled in China using German and American machinery. Quality control is if anything BETTER than it was in the USA. They are very strict on their workers, and using the very best equipment, you can't hardly go wrong. I have nothing to do with the company, just for your information. I buy my pen stock from all over, but I am not a Cross dealer. My business is not that big. I am very sold on Cross though, so much so that I have soaked up every piece of information i could find on Cross. I can't say I know everything, but I can say I know much much more than most pen dealers about Cross and their pens. If anyone ever wants to know anything, feel free to drop me a note, and I'll be happy to answer any questions I can. Right now I own a few hundred Cross pens, and sell most of my supply on eBay. I'm retired so it's a great side business and gives me something to do. So please at least know what you are saying when you talk about Cross pens now being inferior...they aren't at all. And what other pen companies can you say stands behind their manufacturing that they will repair or mostly replace your pen if anything goes wrong with them. How many other pen companies have a Lifetime Warranty? I'll be a customer for life.

[Donald2]

I believe you Jerry. The only thing that I would like to see Cross improve would be to make the caps on their cheaper end fountain pens and ballpoint pens remain intact on the pen barrel when uncapped. I own a few $20 to $40 lower end Cross fountain pens and ballpoint pens and the caps on them fall off easily when they are uncapped while I'm writing with them. other than that, I like their products. I especially love their lifetime warranty. The only other product that I know of that I own which has a lifetime warranty is my personal vehicle. It has a lifetime unlimited miles bumper to bumper warranty on it.

[NoUserFree]

Cap and barrel is not as good as before.

Anyone who said it’s better than made in USA or

made in Ireland, please buy one 175th anniversary

edition and try to use it.

I don’t think so.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

On 5/29/2014 at 12:39 AM, aawhite said:

 

I like to agree with you but I have other pen brands, like Sheaffer, Parker, Caran d'Ache and Faber-Castell, that have gold plated or gold filled (rolled gold) parts, and none of them have discolored. Only the Crosses develop this strange discoloration or tarnish.

 

Since you have not experienced discoloration in your pens, then I can only conclude that it must be a combination of my touch and the Cross gold plating process, that do not agree. I must have an anti-Midas touch .

 

I suspect that it is the copper content of the Cross gold plating.

Who owns/makes Sheaffer pens the same people who make Cross

[MidSouthern-Dad]

Back in 1992, my professors gave me a Cross ballpoint for Christmas.  This was the prestige gift that corporate types gave each other at the time.  It was beautifully made, but so slim!  With the downward pressure required to write with a ballpoint, it got painful for my fingers with extended writing.  I still have it somewhere.  I've been on a long hunt to find it again.  I'm pretty sure this was a Cross made in USA product.

 

In 2021, there as a sale at Pen Chalet on an ATX ballpoint and fountain pen set, as well as a Cross Century II with 1/20 14K gold filled body, and 18K medium nib.

The Century II was thicker than the pen I had from 1992, and actually comfortable to use.  The nib was smooth and aligned out of the box.  Ink flow is generous.  There's no need to tweak anything on this pen.

 

Then, I tried the ATX.  Ballpoint worked smoothly, quietly, with good dampening of the mechanism.  No point wobble when trying to write.

I didn't expect much from the ATX FP, but it was really, really smooth, and the point was also perfectly aligned when viewed with a loupe.  It was so good, I was starting to wonder what I actually got for the extra money on the Century II, except for a gold nib.

 

I tried to replicate the experience with a Parker IM fountain pen.  That one required a lot of nib alignment and smoothing to get rid of sharp edges on the nib that would scrape fibers out of the paper.  The inexpensive Cross pen has far better quality than the inexpensive Parker pen.  It's a shame, because the more expensive Paker Duofolds that I had bought were always well adjusted out of the box.

 

I have several new Montegrappas, Stipulas and a Tibaldi that all needed to have modifications done in order to improve their ink flow.

 

For Christmas of 2022, I gifted myself a Cross Townsend in Platinum Plate.  Again, perfectly aligned, out of the box.  I like this pen's size also!

In my limited experience, the China made Cross pens have given very satisfactory service, without any hassles right out of the box.

The only other brands that I've had this flawless experience with are Namiki / Pilot, Platinum, Sailor, Parker (Duofolds), Waterman, and Montblanc.

 

[Hanoi]

I have handled Cross pens from various manufacturing countries and even own Cross pens made in Germany in various sterling patterns but I do believe that the latter Cross is another company altogether.  Compared to modern Chinese Cross writing instruments, the older Cross pens do exhibit more refined finishes and mechanical finesse.  Parts you would never look at, such as internals tips, engraving of texts and logos, areas under clips and capping mechanism all have a very consistent finish and precise mechanical click to it.  Some in my collection are over 30 years old and they age beautifully.  The Chinese Cross pens are not quite there.  As someone who likes to chew on the caps, I can attest that the Chinese Cross pens don´t even taste that good, and I would proffer the analogy of oven baked ribs to cold youtiao for comparison.