Conid News - Update

[Harold]

The banner informing customers "products can't be ordered right now" on Conid's website seems to be gone and the SKUs have "check availability" boxes below them; if you click one, you get redirected to Penworld's website for Conid products(which also seems to be under construction). So it does seem like they're preparing for something. Maybe they're going to use Penworld as a retailer instead of having to process the orders themselves?

[fountainbel]

2 hours ago, Harold said:

The banner informing customers "products can't be ordered right now" on Conid's website seems to be gone and the SKUs have "check availability" boxes below them; if you click one, you get redirected to Penworld's website for Conid products(which also seems to be under construction). So it does seem like they're preparing for something. Maybe they're going to use Penworld as a retailer instead of having to process the orders themselves?

Hello Harold, & all !

You are right Harold , Penworld in Antwerp will become the sole source to buy Conid pens.

And as you rightfully remarked their website install under construction, so stay tuned !

Best regards,

Francis.

[Karmachanic]

Prices don't look encouraging.

 

[Harold]

9 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

Prices don't look encouraging.

 

I think those might be the old prices for the AntwerpPen versions, though I have to say I do expect a significant price increase because it will get even more expensive to run any sort of machine shop over winter in Eurtopia.

 

I think it's a good move to leave the retailing to a local retailer; let everyone spend as much time doing what they do best.

[Karmachanic]

9 minutes ago, Harold said:

I do expect a significant price increase

 

I'll make do with my Minimalistica

[Detman101]

6 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

Prices don't look encouraging.

 

Hahahaha...don't expect them to get any better.
Companies don't typically go down on their prices...regardless of how good or how badly they are doing.
Greed rules all.
I'll keep a curious eye out and watch...but I don't expect much.
I'm more than content with my Opus-88 Demo.

[McGinni5]

On 9/20/2022 at 10:24 AM, fountainbel said:

Hello Harold, & all !

You are right Harold , Penworld in Antwerp will become the sole source to buy Conid pens.

And as you rightfully remarked their website install under construction, so stay tuned !

Best regards,

Francis.

Hi Francis -

Should we assume the first batch will be Antwerp Red?  Will titanium / black delrin be available as well?

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

[Romulus]

On 9/20/2022 at 7:24 AM, fountainbel said:

Hello Harold, & all !

You are right Harold , Penworld in Antwerp will become the sole source to buy Conid pens.

And as you rightfully remarked their website install under construction, so stay tuned !

Best regards,

Francis.

 

Any idea when we might be able to hear back from Conid directly about repair issues? I have a Kingsize demonstrator barrel that snapped apart at the section threads that I'd like to have replaced. An e-mail was sent in to Conid about a year ago.

[dms525]

Penworld dot be only lists the Antwerpen model, and those are "out of stock" for now. They also list only steel and titanium nibs and, as far as I know, do not offer custom grinds as Conid/Komac did.

 

Will Conid be selling extra nibs with custom grinds? Will Penworld?

 

David

[mauckcg]

16 hours ago, dms525 said:

Penworld dot be only lists the Antwerpen model, and those are "out of stock" for now. They also list only steel and titanium nibs and, as far as I know, do not offer custom grinds as Conid/Komac did.

 

Will Conid be selling extra nibs with custom grinds? Will Penworld?

 

David

I asked Conid through instagram that question yesterday.  Just the standard nibs will be sold.  Not sure if that will change down the line or not.

[es9]

This is kind of disappointing. I get the desire to get pens out there, but I’d have thought they would have offered custom options for those willing to wait a while. The customization options are a big part of what makes the pens so appealing and what justifies the price point.

 

I thought I would be lining up for a Conid as soon as they started back up — I’ve been saving a dedicated part of my pen budget since they shut down. But maybe I’ll wait to see if things change after the initial rush. If I’m going to shell out the amount of money they’re undoubtedly going to charge, I’d like the pen to be exactly what I want. I might be more persuaded it the prices reflected something more off-the-shelf. At those prices, however, I really feel like I shouldn’t have to give up small customizations they used to offer in the interests of efficiency on their end. 

[Karmachanic]

58 minutes ago, es9 said:

I really feel like I shouldn’t have to give up small customizations they used to offer in the interests of efficiency on their end

 

Their previous business model turned out not to be viable in the long term.   10 weeks lead time turned into six months.

 

MB no longer makes celluloid pens with telescopic pistons, and flexible 14k nibs on ebonite feeds.  Pelikan no longer makes pens with a translucent binde. Soennecken's gone.  Change is.

 

From the Conid landing page:

To avoid the long lead times of the past, it will also only be possible to order pens that are in stock.

 

 

 

[dms525]

25 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

From the Conid landing page:

To avoid the long lead times of the past, it will also only be possible to order pens that are in stock.

 

 

 

 

And there are no pens in stock, so you have to wait a few years until we put them together.

 

Yup. That's reasonable.

 

David

[es9]

2 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

Their previous business model turned out not to be viable in the long term.   10 weeks lead time turned into six months.

I don’t see why they couldn’t also offer customizations for those willing to wait 6 months or longer. Note that I am not suggesting bespoke pens; just subbing parts. For example, no special adjustments would be necessary to sub a titanium finial for a delrin one.

 

At the end of the day, time a customer is willing to wait—and additional money he or she is willing to pay if a great deal of effort is involved, like with nib grinding—seem like better ways of addressing the problem than the draw a line in the sand. I’m not saying I am an important customer or at all representative. I have been excitedly waiting a few years for these pens, however, and this development is causing me to reconsider my purchases. I’m willing to spend what a Kingsize costs if I can get it how I want it. But I’m increasingly not sure I’m willing to for a stock model. 

[mauckcg]

2 hours ago, dms525 said:

 

And there are no pens in stock, so you have to wait a few years until we put them together.

 

Yup. That's reasonable.

 

David

It's the initial announcement of the new setup, relax.

[mauckcg]

48 minutes ago, es9 said:

I don’t see why they couldn’t also offer customizations for those willing to wait 6 months or longer. Note that I am not suggesting bespoke pens; just subbing parts. For example, no special adjustments would be necessary to sub a titanium finial for a delrin one.

 

At the end of the day, time a customer is willing to wait—and additional money he or she is willing to pay if a great deal of effort is involved, like with nib grinding—seem like better ways of addressing the problem than the draw a line in the sand. I’m not saying I am an important customer or at all representative. I have been excitedly waiting a few years for these pens, however, and this development is causing me to reconsider my purchases. I’m willing to spend what a Kingsize costs if I can get it how I want it. But I’m increasingly not sure I’m willing to for a stock model. 

It'll probably end up like it did before.  I don't see why they couldn't sell extra nib units with special grinds through the retailer.

[Karmachanic]

More good news.

 

I wrote Penworld enquiring about spare/replacement nibs.

Spare/replacement / Conid nibs will not be available. No more one pen with various nibs.

Bummer.

[mauckcg]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

More good news.

 

I wrote Penworld enquiring about spare/replacement nibs.

Spare/replacement / Conid nibs will not be available. No more one pen with various nibs.

Bummer.

As long as it is still a bock unit that shouldn't be too hard to source more nibs.

[Karmachanic]

19 minutes ago, mauckcg said:

As long as it is still a bock unit that shouldn't be too hard to source more nibs.

 

Yes, Bock nibs are easy to come by.  Conid design nibs not so much.  Might be just my imagination, but Conid Ti nibs feel softer to me than the standard Bock Ti nib.

[mauckcg]

14 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Yes, Bock nibs are easy to come by.  Conid design nibs not so much.  Might be just my imagination, but Conid Ti nibs feel softer to me than the standard Bock Ti nib.

I would imagine titanium will stick around as a standard.  Any non standard grinds I would want to do would be with either gold or steel due to how soft the Conid Ti nibs are.