Review of a Montblanc Mozart Platinum 114

[gtei]

This is my first post and I would just write a quick review of a newly acquired Mozart P114 from boutique. It's expensive and it's branding.

 

First off, here's the pen. It's small yet comfortable once posted and it's elegant and attractive all in one package.

 

 

How does the pen feel in the hand ? It's plastic and attracts fingerprints and oil from the hand. Somehow, the pen feels oily after some use. This is no big issue and it can be cleaned off.

 

There's a tiny imperfection which is a tiny hairline crack on the cap but the material has a brass backing so I am not too afraid of it breaking. This will be sent into boutique again to get the very tiny hairline crack repaired. This crack is not in the photos.

 

This pen was ordered from the boutique since around first quarter (about April) of 2021 and arrived in boutique in November. The ordering period way exceeded the expected time as initially given to us by the boutique staffs as the expected time was set on August to September collection but November is 2 to 3 months off the expected time. This wasn't too bad as the boutique staffs were patient and I eventually got it.

 

This pen was initially ordered through the boutique to Montblanc's Hamburg factory to be placed on a "production list" as there was none in Montblanc's storage. Long story short, this was supposed to be a newly produced Mozart 114 from factory and after waiting till August and September, enquiries were made by the boutique to Hamburg factory and it was made known that Hamburg will not be producing the Mozart 114 at the moment. So, the Montblanc staff had to contact each other and other boutiques and outlets to check for any leftovers and this is a leftover Mozart 114 from one of their own contacts that has not been sold to customers.

 

The pen arrived and the first thought was how it writes.

 

It skipped and hard started occassionally on Rhodia and Apica Note Book paper. It seems to love Tomoe River Paper (68 gsm tested) and behaves very well on the Tomoe River strangely while it skipped a little on Rhodia and simply hard started and skipped on Apica. No idea why that happens but that's how it is.

 

I louped the nib with 10x loupe and did not find any baby's bottoms and thought it was either the paper or ink because Mozart is a cartridge pen (despite having converters for Mozart). The ink used is Montblanc Mystery Black cartridges.

 

The grind looks somewhat passable although the slit itself was just a hair's slanted ??? but this is handmade and handcrafted so I guess giving them a bit of slack would be nice.

 

No baby's bottoms found and that was what I wanted.

 

This pen has to be "tamed" and it seems to be writing way better now than when it first arrived after more than 5 days of "taming" procedures without using micro-mesh or anything else.

 

The "taming" process was to burn through 1 cartridge of Montblanc Mystery Black writing on different textures of paper progressing from Apica paper to Rhodia to Tomoe. Just write as much as possible for a few sentences and transiting them through different paper types and that should do the job. The pen stopped skipping on Rhodia and that's the main goal as Rhodia is the main type of paper I usually use. The ink flow became more consistent somehow. Tomoe River never had issues and its pretty good writing on Tomoe River with the Mozart.

 

Now to cartridges and converter. I had initially ordered the Templar Ink's Skinny Mini Converter and it does not fit into the Mozart cartridge slot as the cartridge requires higher shoulders to clear into the slot for loading. Same for Diamine cartridges and international standard cartridges, those won't fit. I had to use syringe to fill recycled Montblanc cartridges if I want different inks from ink bottles.

 

 

Here's an attempt to load a Skinny Mini Converter and it does not work. I have already contacted Templar Inks and they will be looking into the issue.

 

 

Mozart loaded with Montblanc Mystery Black ink cartridge. Note that the Montblanc cartridges had a longer narrower shoulder that allows loading.

 

 

Here's the differences between a Montblanc cartridge and a international cartridge or Skinny Mini Converter. The shoulders makes a difference regarding loading the Mozart 114.

 

Note that I have not tried the Templar Inks Mini Converter (not Skinny Mini Converter) but it should have the same loading problem due to the required shoulder height and thickness.

 

How did reviews manage to show loading of Mini Converter onto the Mozart 114 ? I don't know how that was done by others and I wonder if its the difference in variation as this is the Platinum version and somethings might have changed ???? Who knows.

 

I will soon be loading Pilot Iroshizuku inks to test the Mozart out on more paper varieties with syringe loading using recycled Montblanc cartridges.

 

Hope this post gives more insight into the Montblanc Mozart P114 since there's much lesser review that exists for this pen.

 

Note: Before you start to speculate and think of playing the speculation game for the pens, please note that pen production usually occur in batches with sufficient volume (just like watches) and Mozart is not taken out of the line yet according to the staffs. In no way is this post suppose to be misconstrued for speculation purposes, just facts. Also, Pelikan is also not producing certain staple models at the moment (blue and silver stripe Pelikan Souveran) according to a local dealer and I would like to think its the COVID-19 lockdowns disrupting global production and thus an overall supply chain shortage which should be fixed pretty soon as travel opens up. It should be noted that the Montblanc website seems to be undergoing a face-lift and quite a few staple pen models seems to be missing possibly due to re-engineering of the website.

 

[NoType]

gtei, please allow me to extend my heartiest congratulations for this incredible, inspiringly fantastic first post, nothing short of equal parts enviable and motivating.

 

Welcome to the Fountain Pen Network!  I gather from your silver membership status that this post is not your first visit, but replying to your post is the only way an associate member can greet you appropriately and welcome you, so, welcome!

 

A Mozart 114 (in any trim) is one of the Montblanc models with which I am unfamiliar, and so your excellent and comprehensive review is more than welcome — it is necessary reading for me, and most edifying, being the first 114 review I have had the privilege of encountering.  I consider myself fortunate that you have decided to share your experience with the Mozart P114 here, at this particular time.  
 

Bravo for such an interesting review, and thank you very much for taking the time in its creation, complete with wonderful images.  What a way to start posting on this forum!  

[gtei]

@NoType, thank you for the encouragement.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @gtei: All that @NoType has written is true.

 

Your first post is outstanding.

 

Thank you so much for the care in posting the review and images.

 

As I also write with the same pen, your review resonates with me.

 

       Tom K.

[agentdaffy007]

I thought of buying that pen when I first started with fountain pens. Ended up with a MB Solitaire 144. Sold it soon after. Never wrote properly and skipped often.

 

Very nice and portable pen!

[gerigo]

I actually think this pen is no longer in production but I could be imagining it. It's one of those models that don't sell so well for Montblanc so they have not focused on it for quite a few years. After all their cash cows have been their Meisterstuck. Writers, Patron of Arts, Great Characters, and even Donors series and I believe these are enough to keep them busy all year.

In the last few years, Montblanc have been trying to revamp their small pen line. They have done away with the Boheme, that uses their next to smallest nib, which is the nib for the 144 size pens, and are in the moment transitioning the smallest nibbed pens, which is based on the 114 toward a more "feminine" aesthetic. In my opinion, UGH or what white old men think what contemporary women want in their writing instruments. In case you did not know, the Bonheur and also the latest line dedicated to women, like Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor, also uses the same nib as the 114. Actually now that I think about it, I wonder whether the pen was designed to be dedicated to Chanel, with the classic black and white, and the statement "women freed from corsets" which was a very Chanel thing, and at the last moment, was not allowed to use the Chanel name? Because all the other pens in the range that has this nib and design have been dedicated to a specific person.

Personally I like this nib. It writes very well, and I particularly like the fine nib. I think in today's world of bigger is better, where people are chasing the 146 and 149 nibbed pens, this particular pen chassis is sort of a hidden secret of the line. I just got a Liz Taylor and it is a LOVELY pen.

[Karmachanic]

16 minutes ago, gerigo said:

I actually think this pen is no longer in production but I could be imagining it

 

https://www.montblanc.com/en-gb/fountain-pens_cod22527730565448106.html

[gtei]

I think the Mozart line up on Montblanc's website seems to be dependent on region.

 

Like in the US, the Mozart seems not to be found: https://www.montblanc.com/en-us/fountain-pens_cod22527730565448156.html

 

Trying to use the search bar on Montblanc's website only provides the ballpoint pen variant.

 

Even the Montblanc boutique staffs could not provide affirmation whether the Montblanc Mozart is still in production or not. The only thing they could tell me is the pen is still available on their internal ordering catalogue but according to my experience above, the staffs had to communicate amongst their boutiques and resellers to get the Mozart for me and the Montblanc Hamburg factory told them they have no stock of Mozarts in storage and neither are they producing any of these Mozarts at the moment in their factory.

 

Lots of grey area on availability.

[gtei]

Adding some writing samples on different types of papers.

 

First is the Rhodia dotpad with 80 gsm.

 

 

The back of the Rhodia paper.

 

 

Next is the Tomoe River Paper 68 gsm.

 

 

The back of the Tomoe River Paper.

 

 

Finally is Apica Notebook Paper.

 

 

The back of the page written on the Apica Notebook page.

 

 

Conclusion: The pen performs better overall after a week of use. Even on Apica paper which it skipped quite frequently in the beginning, now the skipping has almost stopped. This pen loves the Tomoe River Paper the most as the nib glides well over the smooth Tomoe River paper without skipping for this test and even when writing on Tomoe River paper notebooks and notepads, it almost rarely ever skips. Rhodia paper is cheaper but works very well on this pen after the pen has seen some use and have finally been "tamed" for daily use.

 

Writing East Asian characters seems to be pretty decent too due to the "knife blade" style grinding of the Fine nib on Montblanc pen. The down side is when scribbling in very tiny handwriting as shown above, small characters like the "o" character gets bunched up together and may cause readability issues. An EF would be nice for those who like to scribble in very tiny, fast handwriting style like mine.

 

Yes, my handwriting is pretty bad too  .

 

 

[NoType]

@gtei, your substantial writing samples are extremely informative and elevate this already excellent review of the Mozart P114 to an exceptional document of your experience with the pen.  For new members like myself, posts like this are invaluable for furthering our knowledge of a rarely reviewed Montblanc, and we are grateful to you for your thoroughness and generosity.  
 

It is wonderful to learn that the “taming” process was successful for satisfactory daily performance on Rhodia paper.  Here’s to many enjoyable years with the Mozart P114!

[gtei]

I have recently noticed a recurring issue with the Mozart 114 while using syringe to refill recycled Montblanc cartridges which is the pen will not have good ink flow after some writing. I had to remove the refill cartridge which will give a pop sound as though some tight fitting was removed and then reinsert the cartridge and give it a little shake. It will startup quickly with lots of ink and starts writing fine again for a while (probably more than 5 paragraphs) and then it will run dry and the same action of removing the cartridge and reinserting the cartridge back and giving it a shake to start it up again.

 

The ink used is Pilot Iroshizuku Takesumi and Pilot inks are known to be wet inks.

 

Anyway have any experience of syringe refilled Montblanc cartridges giving issues with ink flow ?

[Karmachanic]

Possibly the dreaded air bubble:

 

[gtei]

I thought I should take a close up of the nice looking tiny nib and share it here. It seems the border with flourishing only covers the top half of the nib unlike most other Montblanc nibs that have flourishing and border all the way down to the bottom of the nib. It still looks nice and elegant with top half flourishing.

 

Don't mind the poor photography from a smartphone camera not equipped to do macro photos.

 

[NoType]

gtei, not possessing a Mozart P114 myself, I had no inkling that its nib ornament differed from other Meisterstück models, not to mention in what specific manner.  Thank you for your excellent, sharp closeup, which is doubly admirable for being taken without the advantage of a macro lens.  

[sansenri]

I'd guess it's because the nib is smaller than others, there would be no space left for the gold markings...

[max_hat]

Thank you for this great post @gtei!

 

Does anyone know how the Mozart nib compares in dimension (and fit) to the standard Jowo/Bock nibs? Is it close in size to No. 5 nibs?

[gerigo]

13 hours ago, max_hat said:

Thank you for this great post @gtei!

 

Does anyone know how the Mozart nib compares in dimension (and fit) to the standard Jowo/Bock nibs? Is it close in size to No. 5 nibs?

It is a tiny nib, not anywhere close to a no. 5 nib.

[max_hat]

Thank you @gerigo.