Pilot Falcon Extra Fine - where to buy in the UK?

April 29, 2021

I hope I'm posting in the right place.

Recently I bought a Falcon fine nib, which is available in the UK. As much as I loved the pen, the nib was still a tad too broad for me (mostly, I use fountain pens and dip pens for illustration). I've read good things about the EF nib, and that although not a true flex nib, offers the most line variation. However, it seems that Pilot don't want their UK customers to enjoy anything finer than the standard fine nib; currently, the Preppy is the only Pilot pen available in the UK with an ef nib.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I might be able to get hold of the Falcon ef in the UK? I'd rather not source from the US or Japan if possible, but happy to buy from a recommended supplier in the Eurozone.

Thanks in advance!

April 29, 2021

I think with anything Pilot, you're better off buying from Japan as we only get a fraction of their range officially in the UK. We don't even get the Metropolitan and Prera, which our American friends seem to love.

They stuff that we do get is also significantly more expensive.

I prefer to support Sailor and Platinum, as they at least provide more than lip service to the UK (although we still get a fraction of their ranges).

April 29, 2021

Post Brexit it doesn't really matter where you buy it from. You can now have anything worth up to £137 VAT paid delivered without it being stopped and assessed for VAT at UK Customs.

April 29, 2021

6 hours ago, Tim Martyn said:

... happy to buy from a recommended supplier in the Eurozone.

It looks like you can order the (metal-bodied) Pilot Falcon with SEF nib from both La Couronne du Comte and Fontoplumo (in the Netherlands), even though neither of them has it in stock currently. Maybe from Stilo&Stile (in Italy) as well, but I'm not as certain about it.

I'm a repeat customer of both of the Dutch retailers, and perfectly happy to buy from either company again. (In fact, I just placed two new orders with LCdC this week.)