List Of Flagship Pens By Brand

[jthole]

@jthole: Yeah, I've read that somewhere as well. Nevertheless... it's an American company.

 

Absolutely true ... currently owned by Newell Rubbermaid (who also own Waterman).

[danielpi]

@jthole: Quite right. And I have stupidly listed Waterman as a French company, so... we have a problem here.

 

I open it up for discussion. I've always thought of Parker as an American company (even though it is headquartered in the UK), and the new resurrected Waterman as French. My reasons for this seemed compelling. Waterman is a French company with American origins, because it's headquartered in Paris, its main manufacturing is in France, and its pen lines tend to have French names. But by that reasoning, Parker should be either a British or French company.

 

I am clearly being inconsistent. Hmmm... problematic.

[Mulrich]

Nice list. I was actually just about to post a similar list and you beat me to it. I included flagships and the next step down (e.g., MB149/146, Pelikan M1000/M800, etc). It seems like a lot of brands keep the flagship sacred but explore more options on the next level down (colors, materials, etc).

The next level are also cheap enough to attract more buyers.

[Dhruv_Sood]

Thank you for this. (:

 

I think custom 845 for flagship is okay with pilot. The Yukari Royale and Emperor go into the Namiki brand which is a subsidiary of Pilot. So for the main line, I think 845 is okay.

There are 2 more pens in the same price category: Custom Enju and Custom Ichii. Also, there is this mostly unheard of Custom 748 (I am not sure about the first 2 digits, feel free to correct me) made of solid silver.

 

Edit: Just FYI, you can only edit a post for upto 48 hours of original posting, so any further edits will have to be made by a staff member.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Dhruv_Sood

[Polanova]

There`s a bit of a discrepancy between your definition of Flagship Pen & naming a Million $$$ diamond studded limited edition pen (Aurora Diamond) a Flagship, me thinks.

[danielpi]

There have been many threads here listing the “flagship” pens of various well known brands (see this, this, and this). I’m posting this simply to organize the information a little bit more attractively.

 

To be clear, I define “flagship” as follows: A “flagship” pen is a regular production model (i.e., not a limited or special edition), which is generally the largest, most expensive, and most visibly advertised item in a brand’s inventory. Where no single pen satisfies all the criteria, a judgment call may have to be made on what (if any) product is the “flagship” for a particular brand. Obviously, a brand calling one of its own products its “flagship” trumps other considerations.

 

Any corrections, additions, or suggestions are appreciated.

 

Brand	Flagship	Entry Level	Other Notable Lines	Country
Aurora	Aurora 88	Ipsilon De Luxe	Talentum, Alpha, Optima	Italy
Caran D’Ache	Léman	Ecridor	Varius, Madison	Switzerland
Conway Stewart	Churchill	None	Winston, Wellington, Series 100, Marlborough	United Kingdom
Delta	Dolce Vita Oversize	Unica	Many Lines	Italy
Graf von Faber Castell	Intuition Platino Wood (seems to have displaced the Classic)	Guilloche	Classic, Pen of the Year	Germany
Franklin Christoph	Model 19 “1901”	Model 27 “Collegia”	Many Individual Models	United States
Lamy	Lamy 2000	Safari	Studio, Dialog	Germany
Montblanc	Meisterstück 149 “Diplomat”	None	Writers Edition, Great Characters Edition, Starwalker, Boheme	Germany
Omas	Paragon	None	Milord, Bologna, 360, Ogiva	Italy
Parker	Duofold (Centennial)	Vector	Sonnet, Premier, Ingenuity, Parker 51 (discontinued), P25 (discontinued)	United States
Pelikan	M1000 Souverän	M100, M150, M200, M205, M215, M250 Classic	Many Lines	German
Pilot	Custom 845 (Some discussion on the point )	Metropolitan	Falcon, Vanishing Point, Custom 823, Justus	Japan
Platinum	President	Preppy	3776 Series	Japan
Sailor	King of Pen	Many Models	1911 Series, Professional Gear	Japan
Sheaffer	Legacy Heritage	VFM	Taranis, Prelude, Sagaris, 300, 100, Intensity, Ferrari	United States
TWSBI	Diamond	Eco	Classic, Vac 700, Mini, 580AL	Taiwan
Visconti	None (Possibly the Divina. See this and this)	Classic	Homo Sapiens, Opera, Van Gogh, Michelangelo	Italy
Waterman	Edson	Charleston	Carène, Exception	France

[danielpi]

There`s a bit of a discrepancy between your definition of Flagship Pen & naming a Million $$$ diamond studded limited edition pen (Aurora Diamond) a Flagship, me thinks.

 

Absolutely. I only know the Aurora 88, and someone said the Diamond was the flagship, and I lazily did not check that. You're right of course. The Diamond is not the flagship. Thanks.

[MrThoth]

For Cross, my favored line of pens:

 

Flagship: I'd say the Townsend, but I suppose there's some argument to be made that the Peerless 125 currently deserves that distinction

 

Entry-Level: Cross has a lot of under $50 pens, but I'd guess the first Cross pen most folks are likely to own would be a Classic Century, Century, or Century II.

 

Other lines currently in production (AFAIK): Apogee, ATX, Botanica, Sauvage

 

(I can list other lines that are still readily available but not found on the Cross website if you like.)

[danielpi]

There have been many threads here listing the “flagship” pens of various well known brands (see this, this, and this). I’m posting this simply to organize the information a little bit more attractively.

 

To be clear, I define “flagship” as follows: A “flagship” pen is a regular production model (i.e., not a limited or special edition), which is generally the largest, most expensive, and most visibly advertised item in a brand’s inventory. Where no single pen satisfies all the criteria, a judgment call may have to be made on what (if any) product is the “flagship” for a particular brand. Obviously, a brand calling one of its own products its “flagship” trumps other considerations.

 

Any corrections, additions, or suggestions are appreciated.

 

Brand	Flagship	Entry Level	Other Notable Lines	Country
Aurora	Aurora 88 Large	Ipsilon De Luxe	Talentum, Alpha, Optima	Italy
Caran D’Ache	Léman	Ecridor	Varius, Madison	Switzerland
Conway Stewart	Churchill	None	Winston, Wellington, Series 100, Marlborough	United Kingdom
Cross	Townsend	Classic	Apogee, ATX, Botanica, Sauvage	United States
Delta	Dolce Vita Oversize	Unica	Many Lines	Italy
Graf von Faber Castell	Intuition Platino Wood (seems to have displaced the Classic)	Guilloche	Classic, Pen of the Year	Germany
Franklin Christoph	Model 19 “1901”	Model 27 “Collegia”	Many Individual Models	United States
Lamy	Lamy 2000	Safari	Studio, Dialog	Germany
Montblanc	Meisterstück 149 “Diplomat”	None	Writers Edition, Great Characters Edition, Starwalker, Boheme	Germany
Omas	Paragon	None	Milord, Bologna, 360, Ogiva	Italy
Parker	Duofold (Centennial)	Vector	Sonnet, Premier, Ingenuity, Parker 51 (discontinued), P25 (discontinued)	United States
Pelikan	M1000 Souverän	M100, M150, M200, M205, M215, M250 Classic	Many Lines	German
Pilot	Custom 845 (Some discussion on the point )	Metropolitan	Falcon, Vanishing Point, Custom 823, Justus	Japan
Platinum	President	Preppy	3776 Series	Japan
Sailor	King of Pen	Many Models	1911 Series, Professional Gear	Japan
Sheaffer	Legacy Heritage	VFM	Taranis, Prelude, Sagaris, 300, 100, Intensity, Ferrari	United States
TWSBI	Diamond	Eco	Classic, Vac 700, Mini, 580AL	Taiwan
Visconti	None (Possibly the Divina. See this and this)	Classic	Homo Sapiens, Opera, Van Gogh, Michelangelo	Italy
Waterman	Edson	Charleston	Carène, Exception	France