Cross Spire

[jsroe]

Just when I thought I bought enough pens lately, Cross has come out with the new Spire. I like the classy elegant Century like styling. Looks like an artists paint brush. Has anyone tried one out yet?

http://penfountain.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/has-your-pen-experienced-magnetron-sputtering-or-is-it-just-a-cross-spire/

Edited March 18, 2011 by jsroe

[Silvermink]

Huh, that looks kinda cool. I find a lot of Cross's designs a bit staid, but that's actually fairly unique.

[kaissa]

This is the first Cross that I really did not like. I was given a Century II as a gift which started my fascination with fountain pens. Great performance nibwise but thin for me. Townsend is more of my type.

 

Regards,

[FLJeepGuy]

Hmmm.... This is very cool! The old Cross Century ball points were part of what got me started with my love of pens, and I think they did a very nice job packaging a FP in the same slim body. I'd want to see one in person, but I may have to add this one to my want list.

 

From Cross's site:

About the Tip

* Threaded cap and barrel design

* Icy Chrome comes with rhodium-plated solid 18k gold nib; Golden Shimmer comes with golden shimmer titanium alloy-plated, solid 18k gold nib; Black Caviar comes with black titanium-alloy plated, solid 18k gold nib

* Specially formulated ink flows flawlessly and dries quickly

* Includes 2 Slim Black Fountain Pen Cartridges (#8921) that are as neat and easy-to-use as a ballpoint or a rollerball refill

 

Interesting thing about the slim cartridges and I can't seem to find any mention on their site about a slim converter. I'd also like to know how it performs without their "specially formulated ink". I do like that it's threaded on both ends so that it will post securely as this I'm assuming helps with overall length and balance due to it's ultra-slim design (my speculation here). All in all, I'm intrigued! :hmm1:

[RockFL]

Very attractive take on a traditional Cross design, IMHO. It's a nice detail that the nibs are color-matched to the pen materials.

 

I also wonder about the possibilities of using a converter....as FLJeepGuy stated there is no mention of one at all. The pen does appear to be very thin, which may be a deal breaker for those with large hands.

 

Not bad at all from an appearance perspective, though.

[79spitfire]

That black one looks nice, but way thin. I might have to go somewhere and "test drive" one... :roflmho:

[Jerome Tarshis]

The Colorado Pen site tells us the pen comes with newly designed slimmer cartridges and a newly designed slimmer converter. And I can see that some if not all retailers may throw in a converter at no extra charge. For a while now, Cross itself has been pricing its pens on the basis that you don't get a converter when you buy a fountain pen; you have to buy it as an extra.

 

The Cross.com Web site seems to be in the hands of only marginally competent people. When I looked up the new slimmer converter, all I could find were the long-available converters in green (for the Townsend and older, no-longer-manufactured models) and the newer orange screw-in converter for everything, from the Century II on. It would seem that Cross.com is not entirely aware that the company is selling the Spire. Or, of course, that Colorado Pen is living in some kind of dream world.

 

Nowhere does either site say what the pen is made of. Is the "golden shimmer" metallic gold having some number of karats? Is it colored plastic, epoxy, or some other material having nothing but color in common with gold?

 

It is also disappointing to see "easy to use" with hyphens when it shouldn't have hyphens, i.e. in such constructions as The cartridges are easy to use. Perhaps copywriting as well as manufacture have been outsourced to China. (A country not without residents who write more correct English than quite a few native speakers of English do.) The language of Cross advertising is less and less what I expect of New England.

 

As for the idea of a slimmer rather than fatter Cross fountain pen, I wish them well. Their idea in bulking up the Classic Century into the somewhat fatter Century II and the still fatter Townsend (both of which are thin pens by comparison with much else in the FP market) was that many people thought Cross pens were too thin.

 

It remains to be seen whether there is any sizable market segment that thinks the Classic Century was too wide for a fountain pen and has been yearning for something slimmer. Perhaps when the company catches its breath a little it will add to the Web site not only a few remarks about the still-thinner converter that goes with the pen, but some details about what the pen is made of.

[Russ]

Now that's a white-hot assessment! :ltcapd:

[Jerome Tarshis]

I wasn't assessing the pen, but only what Cross says about it, and doesn't say about it, on cross.com. I actually love thin pens. I'm far from against the company's trying a pen thinner than the original Century FP: the Aurora Hastil is on my vague want list.

 

However, I do think I owe Cross an apology for going off like that. I am sorry. Upon further browsing on Web sites that sell the Spire but say nothing about a converter for it, I now suspect that Colorado Pen was in error when it spoke of a specially designed converter. (But literally I don't know either way.) I can now credit the idea that Cross designed the Spire to be a cartridge-only pen and has no converter that fits it. I would also believe, never having laid my hands on the pen, that the original green converter fits it but is not supplied with it in the box. One might wish Cross or some retailer that sells the pen would address these points.

[crosspens]

I wasn't assessing the pen, but only what Cross says about it, and doesn't say about it, on cross.com. I actually love thin pens. I'm far from against the company's trying a pen thinner than the original Century FP: the Aurora Hastil is on my vague want list.

 

However, I do think I owe Cross an apology for going off like that. I am sorry. Upon further browsing on Web sites that sell the Spire but say nothing about a converter for it, I now suspect that Colorado Pen was in error when it spoke of a specially designed converter. (But literally I don't know either way.) I can now credit the idea that Cross designed the Spire to be a cartridge-only pen and has no converter that fits it. I would also believe, never having laid my hands on the pen, that the original green converter fits it but is not supplied with it in the box. One might wish Cross or some retailer that sells the pen would address these points.

 

HI Jerome

Thank you for your comments on the new Spire collection and subsiquently for the apology. Your latest assesment is partly correct in as much as the Spire is a cartridge only fountain pen due the the extreme slim line design. This is also the reason for the new slim line cartridges.

 

In connection to the materials used for the pens i can shed some light on this for you. The base of the pens are Brass with a PVD plating which makes the visual appearance of the black and gold. The Chrome is polished Chrome.

 

The fountain pen nibs are solid 18kt gold with the the black and gold models having again the pvd plating to apply the colour whilst the Icy chrome finish is a rhodium plating.

From what i am aware of so far there is no mention of a converter being produced for this collection.

 

I hope this answers some if not al of your questions

[dedalian]

Just bought the black colored one three days ago. It didnt come with a cartridge but the retailer I bought it from said he will have some carts for me in a few days. The pen feels good to write with though the nib needed a small adjustment of the tines to write freely. It has a nice feel and the black looks cool- a bit retro and the stripes and the texture seem art deco inspired to me. The only weird thing is the clip its not as sleek as it should have been on a slim pen such as this.

 

Nib- 8/10

Filling system- cant say yet

Design- 8.5/10

Feed- seems good but I m dipping the pen as of now so a tentative 7/10

Feel - its light and thin- not for large hands unposted but posted its well balanced- 8/0

Overall- 7.5/ 10

[sriramoman]

I've seen the spire in some local boutiques. The guilloche version- the cuttings are such that it shines really well.

I feel that cartridge-only Spire would be a turn-off, not just coz of the less cost and variety of ink you can get on the bottle, but also that Cross pens require lot of ink and I require 3-4 cartridges to write even a university exam. That will make me lose lot of time while writing!

[tonydent84]

I see the Spire to look too classy for me lol. Just too flashy. Not sure if I'll get one, especially if there are no two-toned nibs.

[subbes]

I would love one if there were a way to change the filling method. I'm not a fan of being tied to cartridges.

 

Oooh, can you imagine converting a Spire to lever-fill (or, more likely, coin-fill)? That would be an interesting challenge.

[PaulT00]

I would really love a Spire, and seriously considered buying one when it came out. I didn't because of two major issues.

(1) the price - RRP in the UK of about £150 is... how should I put this... optimistic?

(2) the fact that it is unique proprietary cartridge fill only (see also point 1 regarding cost given this limitation).

 

I have tried one (dipped only) in the black finish and it's a comfortable and smooth writer (at least using Sheaffer Skrip blue ink, which of course one can't easily use with this pen!) but I refuse to let a manufacturer dictate which inks I should use in *my* pen. Refilling cartridges with a syringe is a faff I refuse to get involved with, so with regret the Spire is off my list until and unless Cross see sense and provide a converter for it. Plenty more pens available from sensible manufacturers, and let us not have the argument about a converter not fitting - if Sailor can engineer one for the Chalana then there is no excuse on that score. Fountain pens should not, in my view, follow the Gillette model of sell the razor cheap and milk the customer on the refill blades!

[el.Fakir]

It looks really nice but way too thin for me.

[hazcat]

I think that black one is gorgeous and I may like the width and weight of it if it is like the Century ball points.

 

I am turned off by Cross not including converters with any of their pens nowadays. I believe they are essential for good maintenance. How much can they cost Cross, anyway? Not even a dollar apiece, I would think.

 

That there is not a converter available to fit this pen gives me the impression that this is a cheapo, not worthy of maintenance. I know that it is probably very nice quality like the other Cross pens, but that is my funny little inference.

[sriramoman]

I select fountain pens that look good and come with converters. Thus spire is not my pen, though it looks great.

[tonydent84]

They don't have their own special converters?

 

I want to buy Cross pens, but it seems that the options available to me are rather uninteresting. Maybe they can hire someone from fountainpennetwork to come up with ideas of potential pens and designs.Who else would know what fountain pen customers would like more than a fountain pen enthusiast who frequents a fountain pen forum? Lol.

[Sharper]

Hello all,

 

I'm new here and would love to acquire some of these Spire Series pens (specifically the Black and Red Lacquer versions). I know they're discontinued, and Cross doesn't sell them directly anymore.

 

So, aside from the usual Amazon/Ebay routes, are there any other online or brick and mortar strores that might still have some? Also looking for replacement nibs.

 

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

S