Review - Pierre Cardin - Veer

[Sheri Chander]

Hi All,

 

This is my first fountain pen review here on FPN and I am thankful to all who have posted reviews here earlier and showed us how exactly to do a pen review. I consider myself a complete novice when it comes to fountain pens, so any omissions and mistakes in the review are entirely due to my lack of knowledge in this field. Nonetheless, I would try to be completely honest and unbiased while attempting to review a pen. If you require any addition details, please do not hesitate to ask me for the same.

 

The pen that I am going to review today is Pierre Cardin Veer. It is an inexpensive, plastic fountain pen being offered by Pierre Cardin in India. It comes in five colors as shown below and I would be reviewing the white version. The pen comes in a blister pack with two free cartridges and I took it out before taking any pictures of the same (sorry L). The word “Veer” means “The Brave” in Hindi, and as such it seems this pen would have to prove a lot in order to justify its name.

 

http://www.pierrecardinpens.in/images/pens/exclusive11-11.jpg

 

1.Appearance & Design (Rating: 7 out of 10)

The pen is quite simple and unorthodox but there isn't anything radical about the design. The design of this pen borrows heavily from Lamy Safari i.e. the uni-color plastic body, glossy finish and the ink window. The differences here are that the barrel, cap & grip are rounded and do not have triangular contour lines like the Lamy. The grip is made of black rubberized plastic with raised lines and having a matte finish. The clip is of metal with a glossy black paint finish to it. The top of the cap has the Pierre Cardin Logo, brand name and the word “Paris” (nationality of the Mr. Cardin) printed on to it. Overall, in this price range, the pen is OK and some might even find it kind of cool looking and unobtrusive.

 

 

 

 

 

2.Construction & Quality (Rating: 6 out of 10)

Nothing great about the construction as such but it seems like that pen can take multiple hits and falls, and still would live to write another day. The design quality is not up to the mark as the clip seems somewhat bent towards the left. It is not possible to correct this as the cut of the metal forming the clip seems to be reason of this flaw rather than the common misalignment factor. Also the clip seems to be missing the etched Pierre Cardin name and the design of the nib is different as shown in the advert.

 

3.Weight and Dimensions (Rating: 8 out of 10)

The Pen is very light, falling in the category of the lightest ones that I have ever used. I do not have a scale with me but this won’t be more than 30 grams in any way. The dimensions are as given below:

Length Capped: 13.4 cm

Length Un-Capped: 12.4 cm

Length Posted: 15.4 cm

Visible Nib Length: 17.5 mm

Cap Diameter: 13.5 mm

Barrel Diameter (Thickest): 12 mm

 

4.Nib and Performance (Rating: 8.5 out of 10)

The nib is made of stainless steel and as such there is no flex in the nib. It has “Iridium Point Germany” etched on to it and I like the way the two etched lines run out from the feeder hole to form a V on the nib. The nib grade was not mentioned on the packaging but it writes somewhat towards medium. The feed is made of plastic and very generic in shape and size but does its work quite amicably. The pen writes very smooth and draws a clean neat line without any skipping or ink breaks. The only problem I faced with it was that it skipped a bit on a particular notebook (Camlin High Quality Notebook) that I used for the sample write-up but it was primarily due to the paper, as it is extra smooth and other pens too had the same problem on it. I tested the pen on a variety of other paper and I couldn't reproduce the problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.Filling System (Rating: 8 out of 10)

The pen comes with two small sized cartridges and should easily take the longer Parker cartridges too. I even managed to use a Camlin converter in the pen, so standard converters too would obviously work with it. Because of the ink window using this pen as an eye dropper is completely out of the question.

 

6.Cost and Value (Rating: 10 out of 10)

The pen retails at Rs. 100 i.e. $1.70 approximately. Given the straightforward design and the nib performance I would say it is an absolute value-for-money pen. Moreover, given the fact you can buy it in five peppy colors means you can have a multi-color pen arsenal at your disposal for as low as Rs. 500 ($8.5).

 

7.Conclusion (Final Rating: 7.9 out of 10)

I think Pierre Cardin have done a good job here and what they need is proper marketing for it to pick up in sales. I also found an advert video on you tube for the same but haven’t seen it anywhere on TV. This pen is somewhat similar in price to Jihao 599 which is available in India from ASA Pens for Rs. 175 ($3) and on eBay too.

 

Obviously this is not a premium or even a mid-range pen but it can certainly be used as a daily driver if you write a lot and want something you can be completely careless with and maybe even loan out to friends and colleagues ;-).

 

A writing sample (please ignore the sub-par handwriting) and the advert link are given below.

 

Cheers,

Sheri Chander

 

Advert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko0Gqhm_ews

 

Writing Sample

[MisterBoll]

Thank you for the lovely review and photos.

[a_m]

Very nice review & pics.

[Sheri Chander]

Thank you for the lovely review and photos.

 

 

Very nice review & pics.

 

Thanks a lot guys. Feels good to have contributed to this great community.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Sheri Chander

[GUNGA GALUNGA]

Pierre Cardin making a fountain pen is just silly

[bone215]

They look like fun pens.

[Sheri Chander]

They look like fun pens.

Yes they surely are as they write very smoothly. Am planning to buy the complete range and add some photos soon.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Sheri Chander

[Sheri Chander]

Pierre Cardin making a fountain pen is just silly

Why do you think so? Have u had some bad experience with Pierre Cardin pens?

Edited May 25, 2014 by Sheri Chander

[JeanManuel]

Thank you for this very nice review, and its great pictures!
These pens look like fun and probably a good choice for work&school environment. At prices close to some ballpoints/gel pens, they could make really good giveaways.

Edited May 25, 2014 by JeanManuel

[basterma]

Pierre cardin has been putting his name on fountain pens since the mid 80's. I have had several and they are all very smooth writers. I have two in my collection now. One with a folded nib and the other with an IPG. Both are smooth wet medium points. The gold plating is wearing off on the older one (a college graduation gift in1997), while the other was polished by an idiot employee of the store I bought it at... This Veer looks interesting.

[breaker]

nice pics and review!

thanks!

[Sheri Chander]

Thank you for this very nice review, and its great pictures!

These pens look like fun and probably a good choice for work&school environment. At prices close to some ballpoints/gel pens, they could make really good giveaways.

Thanks for the nice comments. And as u said they are quite fun which actually might result in a snatch-away before u even think of a give away. Mine got snatched away by the wifey

[Sheri Chander]

Pierre cardin has been putting his name on fountain pens since the mid 80's. I have had several and they are all very smooth writers. I have two in my collection now. One with a folded nib and the other with an IPG. Both are smooth wet medium points. The gold plating is wearing off on the older one (a college graduation gift in1997), while the other was polished by an idiot employee of the store I bought it at... This Veer looks interesting.

I too have one more pen by Pierre Cardin. Its called Masterpiece - a in-expensive Mont Blanc Meisterstuck lookalike - but a superb writer. Would try to put in review for the same too. Infact few years back there were a lot of Pierre Carding fountain pens available in India but now there are like only 2-3 models and those too are hard to find.

 

nice pics and review!

thanks!

 

Thanks for the nice comments.

[cellmatrix]

Thats a quite a bit of pen you can get for $1.70. But I just want to comment on your handwriting. It looks great!

Edited May 25, 2014 by cellmatrix

[Sheri Chander]

Thats a quite a bit of pen you can get for $1.70. But I just want to comment on your handwriting. It looks great!

Thanks a lot. But considering all the beautiful hand-writings I have seen in the Penmanship section, mine is no better than chicken scratch. I want to learn proper Italic and Copperplate script but am still to find good pens for the same.

[rudyhou]

that's a great penmanship

[mhguda]

Hi Sheri,

thank you for the review, the abundance of pictures gives a very good idea of your pen. It reminds me of a set of Sheaffer calligraphy pens that I found on Amazon, this set had three brightly colored pens plus cartridges in several colors. But because I do not like Sheaffer's cartridges I tried a converter, and to my surprise a standard international converter actually works! That would suggest to me though that the nipple on my pens is no longer the extra wide diameter that Sheaffer used, and so a Parker cartridge would not fit; in the case of your pen also, unless Parker in India markets a cartridge with a narrow mouth they will probably not fit, since you say yours took a small (standard?) cartridge. It would mean you might be able to use a standard converter, if so inclined.

 

I like your handwriting. That's no chickenscratch! very legible and understated, and consistent over the page. And, you've made me curious about the Camlin notebook. I have tried Indian-made paper before and usually find it excellent for fountainpens, and relatively inexpensive.

Happy writing! I hope you will give us more of your considered reviews.

 

BTW the feed on your pen looks a bit like that on the Sheaffer calligraphy (and No Nonsense) - able to handle a good flow!

[Taurean]

Beautiful handwriting! Thanks for the review.

[WDP4BAAZ]

Nice review .. What a splendid handwriting !! Thanks ,

 

Baaz

[Sheri Chander]

that's a great penmanship

Beautiful handwriting! Thanks for the review.

Nice review .. What a splendid handwriting !! Thanks ,

 

Baaz

Thanks a lot guys. I really means a lot. I had fun doing the review and it's great to know you guys like it.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Sheri Chander