Sailor 95th Anniversary REALO

[rokurinpapa]

I want to give a supplementary explanation. To my surprise,today I hear from a fountain lover that the piston-filling system of REALO is fragile. He knew at least 3 REALOs were broken. And Sailor releases Profit REALO after improving the system thoroughly. That is the reason of delay.

 

rokurinpapa

 

 

So far I have no problem about my REALO 95. Its piston -filling system have become smoother far from that.

I may have criticized it too severely.

 

rokurinpapa

[Frank C]

I see this topic is still alive; otherwise, i wouldn't post. Thankyou for the review of this beautiful and interesting pen. I don't recall hearing about this pen when it came out. Thanks for the information and subsequent follow-ups.

[georges zaslavsky]

Haven't found one till this day, but I don't despair

[breaker]

nice review and pics!

thanks!

[Nero]

One of these pens is for sale in the classifieds. Just in case that somebody is interested (I am not related to the seller in anyway).

[JuInd]

....."A controversial point must be resemblance of Montblanc149.It seems that the shape of 149 is not original for Montblanc and someone says a guitar is a guitar. However, it is fact that many Montblanc fans around me dislike Sailor because of its resenmblance to Montblanc. I would like to recommend them to have Sailor in their hand and to examine it by touch. I think both pens differs considerably in fact(I love Montblanc very much,too.) ."

This pen + King Eagle Emperor = 9999

MB is still way below ....

[dcwaites]

OTOH, some of us resent Mont Blanc because of the 149's resemblance to the Sailor 1911.

 

I think that a lot of the 'dislike' for the Sailors is simply xenophobic snobbery, along the lines of Jeremy Clarkson's dislike of Honda because it is Japanese.

[Precise]

I recently bought a 1911 Realo (ogival shape) with an M nib marked "H-M". Here is a photo of the tip:

 

 

As you can see, the tip has a very flat foot. I've written in several threads that I favor flattened tips because they glide very smoothly on a film of ink. But this pen was scratchy. I fought that longer than I've ever struggled with any nib, probably six hours spread over several weeks. But the scratchiness refused to go away.

 

Then I discovered under my microscope at highest magnification, that there was a crater in one foot, at the meeting of the tines. The sharp edge of that crater was the culprit. So I ground away enough iridium to eliminate the crater. That may sound like a lot, but the side view of the tip hardly changed.

 

Voila! Suddenly this pen has become the smoothest of the many smooth pens I own.

 

Alan

[jimrie]

Gorgeous pen. Those Sailor nibs are something to behold.

[Dr Dan]

Ok. I do not know how many times I have seen someone reference that Sailor copied Montblanc for the shape of their pens - 1911, King of Pen, etc.

 

The truth is Sailor did NOT copy Montblanc. In 1911 Mr K. Sakata was given a fountain pen by a British naval officer (the "Sailor" for which the company is named after). Mr Sakata and the "Sailor" had become friends while the British ship was docked in Hiroshima. When it was time for the British ship to leave Japan Mr Sakata gave his sailor friend a parting gift. The sailor did not know about this Japanese custom and ended up giving Mr Sakat his fountain pen. The pen the Sailor gave to Mr Sakata was a Shaeffer. Guess what the shape of that Sheaffer fountain pen looked liked? You got it! When Sailor introduced the 1911 Pen to honor the original pen given to Mr Sakata they could not call it the 1911 homage to the Sheaffer foutain pen given to Mr Sakata by the British sailor. They just called it the 1911 and duplicated the shape of the Sheaffer pen that had been given to Mr Sakata. Nobody copied Montblanc. In fact everybody copied Sheaffer. In Sailor's case it was to honor the original pen given to Mr Sakata. What Montblanc's story is I don't know and don't care. (As a side note, when the 1911 was first introduced the Sailor Pen company was not 100% sure whether the original pen given to Mr Sakata was the rounded-oval shape or the Sheaffer flat top. Until they were able to determine that in fact it was the rounded pen, they for a very short while, produced the 1911 was as both a flat top and the shape we are all familiar with. I have both of these shaped pens. The flat top is very rare if you ever see one grab hold of it.) Happy writing.

[mongrelnomad]

And still no-one is selling their 95...

[flipper_gv]

And still no-one is selling their 95...

 

Are you surprised by that?

[mongrelnomad]

 

Are you surprised by that?

No. Only disappointed.

[MYU]

Ok. I do not know how many times I have seen someone reference that Sailor copied Montblanc for the shape of their pens - 1911, King of Pen, etc.

 

The truth is Sailor did NOT copy Montblanc. In 1911 Mr K. Sakata was given a fountain pen by a British naval officer (the "Sailor" for which the company is named after). Mr Sakata and the "Sailor" had become friends while the British ship was docked in Hiroshima. When it was time for the British ship to leave Japan Mr Sakata gave his sailor friend a parting gift. The sailor did not know about this Japanese custom and ended up giving Mr Sakat his fountain pen. The pen the Sailor gave to Mr Sakata was a Shaeffer. Guess what the shape of that Sheaffer fountain pen looked liked? You got it! When Sailor introduced the 1911 Pen to honor the original pen given to Mr Sakata they could not call it the 1911 homage to the Sheaffer foutain pen given to Mr Sakata by the British sailor. They just called it the 1911 and duplicated the shape of the Sheaffer pen that had been given to Mr Sakata. Nobody copied Montblanc. In fact everybody copied Sheaffer. In Sailor's case it was to honor the original pen given to Mr Sakata. What Montblanc's story is I don't know and don't care. (As a side note, when the 1911 was first introduced the Sailor Pen company was not 100% sure whether the original pen given to Mr Sakata was the rounded-oval shape or the Sheaffer flat top. Until they were able to determine that in fact it was the rounded pen, they for a very short while, produced the 1911 was as both a flat top and the shape we are all familiar with. I have both of these shaped pens. The flat top is very rare if you ever see one grab hold of it.) Happy writing.

 

What a great story - thanks for sharing! I remember the origin of the Sailor name, but didn't know about the brand of pen given to Mr. Sakata. Good to hear that Sheaffer got a little notoriety there.

 

The only Sailor pen I own is a tiny pocket pen made of steel. It's a far cry from a Realo, Emperor, or King of Pen. One day I'd like to own something classy by this brand, but it'll probably be a long while from now.

[JuInd]

And still no-one is selling their 95...

 

Probably those who had bought the 95 also later bought another KOP with Cross/King Eagle nib then switching nibs between 2 pens to obtain better writing experience.

[katanankes]

Actually I remember that up to one year ago there was a gentleman selling a few of these pens on the classifieds. His price was above 1000 usd and I did not pull the trigger. And I do not think anyone else did because the pens stayed on line for a long time.

[jar]

 

What a great story - thanks for sharing! I remember the origin of the Sailor name, but didn't know about the brand of pen given to Mr. Sakata. Good to hear that Sheaffer got a little notoriety there.

 

The only Sailor pen I own is a tiny pocket pen made of steel. It's a far cry from a Realo, Emperor, or King of Pen. One day I'd like to own something classy by this brand, but it'll probably be a long while from now.

It is a nice story but the Sheaffer Balance was not introduced until 1929 so it is very unlikely a sailor gave a Sheaffer Balance to Mr. Sakata in 1911.

 

While the Balance was the first successful cigar shaped fountain pen design the Montblanc 14x torpedo shaped pens were introduced in 1952.

[Dr Dan]

For the record, I never said it was a Sheaffer "Balance" that was given to Mr Sakata. You are correct that the Balance was not introduced until 1929. However, the torpedo shaped pen was introduced by Sheaffer in 1908. I know because I have one. Go to the Sailor Website, or if you are ever in Hiroshima go to the Sailor Museum. You will find all of the details at either location, though the museum provides a more complete story. Upon receiving the pen, Mr Sakata had never seen anything like it, and quit working as an engineer and took the pen apart to learn how it functions. He started making fountain pens immediately. The initial issue of which shape should go for the 1911 when it was introduced, flat top or torpedo shaped, was due to fact that Mr Sakata had dissected the pen into many pieces including cutting both the barrel and the cap. The Sailor museum has the original pieces on display.

[25_15_3]

Thanks for the story Dr Dan.

 

There are some picture available on the Sailor site if anyone is interested in seeing the earlier Sailor pen designs.

 

http://www.sailor.co.jp/100years

 

Top: Taisho Era Ebonite Sailor

Second to Top: 1949 Introduction of mass-produced plastic-molded Sailor pen

3rd: 1948 Ballpoint

4th: 1972 Fude

Edited June 23, 2016 by 25_15_3

[demcav]

I was lucky enough to find a new-in-box Realo (#33/100) about 10 years ago and am happy to report that the piston filler has never presented any issue with regular use.  Along with an ebonite KOP, these are my two most often used pens -- their large Sailor 21k nibs are truly "special".