Parker Pens Maded Bij Luxor Company In India!

[penmanila]

indeed... if the sonnets i got from india are subpar, i can't imagine how much better they can get elsewhere (and i have those sonnets, too--the nibs on my indian ones are so much better, being 18K to begin with).

[uetzi]

... and in India you can buy again the famous Parker Classic Ballpen ...

 

[pajaro]

indeed... if the sonnets i got from india are subpar, i can't imagine how much better they can get elsewhere (and i have those sonnets, too--the nibs on my indian ones are so much better, being 18K to begin with).

 

+1. I put a fountain pen section in an Indian-made rollerball, lacquer ambre, and it leads me to believe these guys didn't drive a rivet for the clip through the inner cap. It didn't dry out in this experiment.

[Howray52]

Upon deeper research I finally found this information on the luxor.in site. "Luxor Writing Instruments Private Limited shall not be liable for any delay / non-delivery of purchased goods, due to flood, fire, wars, acts of God or any cause that is beyond the control of Luxor Writing Instruments Private Limited. All prices, unless indicated otherwise are in Indian Rupees. The availability of products is subject to change without prior notice at the sole discretion of Luxor Writing Instruments Private Limited. All Waterman, Parker, Pilot products are for the sale in India only." The is under the Disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability section at the following link. http://www.luxor.in/pages/terms-%26-conditions.html"

If you feel that buying something made for sale only in india is a collectible then go for it. These people shouldn't be selling these outside of India period. I purchased a pen from one of them. The quality is not the same and they don't show the backs of the packages they're selling because the Rupee Value is around $6.00 USD and they're selling for $10.00 on up with free shipping.

[ninad]

All Waterman, Parker, Pilot products are for the sale in India only.

 

This is obviously a function of the licensing agreement Luxor has with Parker. It wouldn't make any business sense (for Parker) if Luxor started manufacturing these pens in India and competing with Parker in the US market and elsewhere. Parker likely has similar contracts with other manufacturers in other countries. I don't see any problem here.

[flashlight]

The lacquer on these is very dull - stainless steel version is as good as any other Parker ballpoint - nice firm spring like earlier 45's.

 

[pajaro]

Some time back I bought a Frontier Flighter made in India that has a fine nib. I also have one made in the UK. They are both excellent writers, and they seem identical.

[h_s_shrivastava]

I have a indian jotter, the quality is alright, but not up to par with english jotters- one obvious sign is the imperfect imprint on the barrel.

 

As for collecting....who collects jotter and vector ballpoints ?? Therefore i seriously doubt we`il see any high prices(or high praises) for these pens in the future.

 

Only the low end Parkers, Vector, Beta, Jotter are manufactured by Luxor in India.

 

Sorry, to open a old topic but while googling I stumbled on a report in Economic Times of 5th Oct. 2009 and thought that It will be relevant to mention it here.

As per that report "NEW DELHI: Indian made Parker pens will soon be adorning pockets of the wealthy around the world. US-based Newell Rubbermaid is going to make India a sourcing hub for its premium writing instrument brand Parker.

In addition, the company in collaboration with its Indian partner Delhi-based Luxor Group will bring Parker s accessories comprising men s jewellery, leather products and eye-wear to tap the country s growing lifestyle market."

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-10-05/news/28482925_1_waterman-brand-parker-pens-luxor-group

[bob_hayden]

My own experience, probably going back to when the Vectors were first introduced in the USA, was that they always worked but nib quality was variable. The Reflex model was pretty much the same. I was sad when production ceased in the USA, but these models from England seemed to have nibs that were a bit better in quality. And they had a much wider range of colors on the British Vectors. More recently I have had some Frontiers from India that seemed to be of poorer qualtiy, but I own several Betas now and they seem to be the best of all for my needs. Perhaps Parker is working to improve quality control in India to the point where they can move more of their manufacturing there.

 

Styling is a matter of taste. I thought the Vectors has a simple, modern sort of Bauhaus design that looked quite nice. The Reflex looked more like a traditional fountain pen but to me looked much cheaper. For example, parts fit together much more approximately than on any Vector I have seen. The Betas look cheerfully cheap. I am thankful they put the money into the nibs and a real metal clip rather than into trying to make it look like a more expensive pen, like too many very fancy Chinese pens with awful nibs, paint and plating that quickly wear off, etc.

 

I don't have a problem with the ethics/legalities of the license. I think the intent is that Luxor not market the pens in competition with Parker outside India. But Luxor is not selling on eBay. What is there are pen dealers who did buy their stock from Luxor in India and are selling them in India, but shipping them to the US if that is where a customer lives. I do wich those eBay sellers would tell you whether their pens had fine or medium nibs, though.

[Howray52]

Well I just hope that no one has to return a pen from India. It will cost you a bundle. The pens I bought were shorter than the normal Parker and the ink, which was supposed to be blue was almost a light purple in comparison to the Parker made in the UK. The 2 that I bought now have cracks in the plastic and I haven't even used them. Just not good quality all around.

 

I guess it's buyer beware.

[bob_hayden]

I have about a dozen of the Parker Beta fountain pens made (only) in India and I think they are the best entry-level pen Parker has made in the past 50 years. I like them better than the Vector or Reflex pens. I do find India to be my last choice for other Parker models.

[chromantic]

I ordered 4 Luxor Vectors, three arrived in the same box and they looked so nasty even through the packaging, I sent them back. The 4th one (gold brushed metallic) came and it didn't look too bad so I kept it and it turned out to be the one pen of several I tested that Monteverde Brown performed decently in.

I bought several of the Betas because I really like their look, especially the silver and gold cap ones. But, either because they leak too much air or there is something in the feed which leeches into the ink, the ink would just keep getting darker and darker; sometimes the change was noticeable just overnight. So I stopped using them. On the bright side, I have several slide converters.

[bob_hayden]

Chromantic, what kind of ink were you using? I noticed darkening with some Thornton ink cartridges I tried recently. As it happens, several were tried in Parker Beta pens. I don't know if I kept records that would let me tell if it was the ink or the pens.

[chromantic]

​^^ bob - Herbin's Vert Empire and Lie de The. Those were the first two inks I bought back in January and the only ones I had when I bought the Betas. Then I bought some Baoer 801s and they didn't seem to have the problem so I stopped using the Betas. (I eventually stopped using Vert and Lie, as well, but that's another story. ) I thought aboot just loading one up with black ink - problem solved - but I never bothered.

[bob_hayden]

Thanks, Chromantic. It is peak foliage season here in New England so I am out every day. When it is over I will see if I can figure out how much of the darkening was due to Luxor and how much to Thornton.

[chromantic]

^^ bob - I did, at the time, flush and refill them to see if it might be mfg. residue but same thing occurred on the refills. I certainly agree that they're nice little writers.

[bob_hayden]

I took a quick look at my notes. The darkening was noticed only for Thornton inks, and there mainly for "turquoise," which could look like anything from a European slightly bluish "green" to a very dark blue-black. I noticed it first in short international cartridges so that could not have been in a Beta. Of pens still inked it is most pronounced in a Made in USA Parker Frontier. It is harder to go the other way and see how other inks behaved in Betas because the notes are organized by ink manufacturer. However, I just got a charcoal grey Beta and filled it with Levenger Smokey. I will wait and see if it turns to Levenger Raven Black;-)

[pen10]

Only the low end Parkers, Vector, Beta, Jotter are manufactured by Luxor in India. If you want to buy some ball pens you buy it one of the most popular pen company in India : ELKOS PENS LIMITED or visit our company website : http://www.elkospens.com/

[penmanila]

here's proof i can offer than more than low-grade parkers were made by luxor in india; i was looking at my parker boxes this morning and found the one that my indian-made sonnet rollerball in chinese laque came in:

 

[cabbie]

I have been collecting Parker pens for over 2 years now and have learned to stay away from any I see coming from India.

 

Purchased from India:

 

Vector: will not stay posted - the cap is so loose, it keeps falling off. The clip arrived bent to one side.

Jotter: does not click smoothly. The smooth, distinctive click is what Jotters are known for.

Frontier: open end of the cap was not smoothed off and I nearly cut my hand it was so rough.