Sheaffer No Nonsense Old Timer

[amk]

Ron you made me laugh with your assertion that the Connoisseur is "just a pimped-out Old Timer" but then I got round to thinking... plenty of the Waterman 1980s and 1990s pens share sections, for instance, and it makes good business sense for the manufacturer to standardise elements of the various pens in the range to push costs down a bit.

 

I wonder if we can think of any other pens that are 'pimped up' versions of their cheaper brethren?

[Manalto]

Well, they've done it with cars for years, sometimes with good and sometimes with bad results, the Cadillac Cimarron (1982) being a famously egregious example; they didn't even bother to put much effort into pimping up the Chevrolet Cavalier it really was.

 

It would be nice if pen companies made their successful products more modular and interchangeable. Preferences could be accommodated for materials, gold vs silver vs black furniture, metal vs plastic caps, filling systems, etc. It would save the company money which they could, presumably, put into better quality materials and quality control. Don't the Indian pen manufacturers do this quite a bit?

Edited December 17, 2016 by Manalto

[Ron Z]

Ron you made me laugh with your assertion that the Connoisseur is "just a pimped-out Old Timer" but then I got round to thinking... plenty of the Waterman 1980s and 1990s pens share sections, for instance, and it makes good business sense for the manufacturer to standardise elements of the various pens in the range to push costs down a bit.

 

I wonder if we can think of any other pens that are 'pimped up' versions of their cheaper brethren?

 

I know the guy who came up with the idea - and then got laid off just before Sheaffer introduced the Connaisseur line. I of course had to take donor pens apart to do the orange pen, but first made a black Connaisseur at their suggestion. Once you put the plug in the end of the barrel, add the discs and buttons and the gold band at the section end, there is no difference in the look or feel of the original VS the ones I've made.

 

Sheaffer used a lot of common parts with their pens. The clip spring for the Nostalgia is the same one used in the snorkels and other models. The nib for the Connaisseur is the same size as the one used in the Nostalgia, just a bigger section (put them side by side - especially the two tone nibs). The same feed can be used for most of the modern pen nib pens. Why not? It keeps costs down if they can use the same parts across multiple models.