End of the road for Pelikan?

[Ron Z]

14 minutes ago, rochester21 said:

Doesn't look like rocket science if you have the right type of glue.... 

 

That's not all there is to the repair... at least if you expect it to hold.

[PAKMAN]

While I like the ability to look through stripes and see the ink level, I've bought plenty of Pelikan 800 and 600 special editions that didn't have that ability and will continue to do so. Will it be their downfall?  Probably not. Would I prefer that they left in the ability yes to see through, yes. 

[Ron Z]

I wonder if it is a reliability issue, i.e. the clear material could be more prone to damage from chemicals, solvents and UV ink.  The dyes used in plastics can come with their own issues.   Before Abi left Chartpak I was repairing 5 or 6 of the 800 pens with the problem in the one above, each month.

 

By changing to an opaque plastic Pelikan be able to dodge the problems and produce better quality pens.  So it would be more than an aesthetic issue, and in fact something desirable. 

[KAC]

That would be a disappointing development and I'm not a collector of that brand. The last model that viscerally appealed to me was the circa 1952 model 140: the cap and striped barrel are real classic designs. Regardless, an unfortunate move by the company.

[txomsy]

12 hours ago, Ron Z said:

I wonder if it is a reliability issue, i.e. the clear material could be more prone to damage from chemicals, solvents and UV ink.

 

If it were so, there would be no pens remaining from before the 'expiration date'. And if there are pens from the very early beginnings of using an ink window still lying around, I think the 'expiration date' -which must exist for everything (even the Universe itself)- is long enough that nobody should care about it in -at least- a couple of lifetimes.

[pix]

Maybe a bit off-topic: just announced the new Pelikan M800 40th Anniversay Edition (https://www.pelikan-passion.com/int/writing/limited-editions/40-years-of-souveran). But, maybe more important, their new website is up: https://www.pelikan-passion.com/int/, where updated catalogs and Pelikan Passion magazine can be downloaded.

[mke]

On 9/18/2022 at 3:56 PM, TitoThePencilPimp said:

Since I write for at least 6 hours a day, so gauging ink capacity is very important for me.

How about having a spare bottle ink at the place where you write?

 

@senzen Why is a rant bad?

As long as the words are not offensive, a rant is actually good as it brings up a different opinion. A forum with fan's views only is meaningless.

I have a number of M400s and M1000s. I like to look at them and like the reliability of the piston but I don't like the broadness of the F nibs. That is not F where I live but more like a B. Also, the music of writing with the M1000s (i.e. squealing) is hard to get used to. Either, I let a nibmaster change the Pelikan Fs to a e.g. Pilot/Sailor F or I will sell them. Not yet decided.

[mke]

10 hours ago, pix said:

Pelikan M800 40th Anniversay Edition

Now this is good for another rant.

 

I do not dislike the pen without the cap – I like gold. As already said elsewhere, the cap doesn’t fit the design. Apparently, they were so busy, someone forgot to redesign the cap too???
Like Pilot with the pens for their 100th anniversary, Pelikan choose to party with the rich and doesn’t care about people with normal income.
I would have applauded if they had done a special edition with the same price as the normal pens. In addition to that, an LE would have been acceptable. But this way? No, Pelikan, rethink your strategy.

[pix]

6 hours ago, mke said:

Like Pilot with the pens for their 100th anniversary, Pelikan choose to party with the rich and doesn’t care about people with normal income.

 

The marketing babble that accompanies the pen makes it clear to me that it is not aimed at the lovers/users of the brand.

 

Quote: "Brands are known to change faces as time passes. This makes it remarkable when brands achieve decades of success precisely because they stay true to who they are.

A highlight of this spectacular Limited Edition in the Souverän size M800 is the golden ring." So first they tell us that they remain true to who they are, then they emphasize the fact that one of their iconic design, the barrel's stripes, are interruped by a gaudy golden band. 

 

I personally would have omitted that band, and insted would have liked a gold plated cap, something similar to a M850.

[A Smug Dill]

18 hours ago, mke said:

Like Pilot with the pens for their 100th anniversary, Pelikan choose to party with the rich and doesn’t care about people with normal income.

 

I don't think Pelikan cares how or from where ardent fans, collectors, speculative traders, and opportunists will scare up the asking price for the special commemorative edition pen, whether the individual could spare the funds like it was nothing, or have to borrow, steal, and/or forgo all discretionary entertainment and dining out just to be able to afford to buy one. One's income is not the only determinant for one's appetites, either for luxury items or for financial pain. There are only 888 units of it anyway, so the question is simply whether there are enough willing buyers worldwide who can stomach the price (and the design) of the pen.

 

18 hours ago, mke said:

I would have applauded if they had done a special edition with the same price as the normal pens. In addition to that, an LE would have been acceptable. But this way? No, Pelikan, rethink your strategy.

 

Pelikan hardly needs applause for this release to be successful, sales-wise as well as being a marketing exercise to dispel some of the doubts the writing instrument hobbyist (and vendor) community had of the brand in the past year or two. There is really no call and impetus for any brand to commemorate and celebrate whichever marketing excuse by offering something ‘special’ at the same (low) price as the regular production models, just so more consumers get to enjoy and feel they're getting ‘more’ for the same spend. Even the 10th anniversary limited edition Plaisir models are priced some threefold the regular colours. An anniversary for the company, brand, or particular product line should not be seen primarily as an opportunity to make repeat or prospective customers happy in the capacity of consumers, as opposed to an opportunity to squeeze their wallets harder for discretionary spending. Loyal users of the brands' fountain pens surely must already be well served by the reliable writing instruments they so love in black and/or plain colours. If someone wants more than a plain black unit of a pen model that will write equally as well as any other colourway or finish, surely satisfaction of that appetite for not-so-boring and not-just-functional is worth something to them, and so it only makes sense to ‘make’ them pay non-trivially extra for it.

 

11 hours ago, pix said:

The marketing babble that accompanies the pen makes it clear to me that it is not aimed at the lovers/users of the brand.

 

As it was with the LAMY 2000's 55th anniversary limited edition; the marketing does not discriminate against lovers and users of the brand or model per se, but clearly targets those who are prepared to see themselves as collectors (with or without being lovers of the brand) and asking them to pony up, since the relatively small number of (numbered) units put on the market is not for ‘everyone’ who may have so much as a mild interest.

 

 

[mke]

@A Smug Dill writes detailed that ethics are mostly lost in the business area. There once was a principle which would be best for companies and customers "win-win". I still expect them to follow it and fortunately, there are a few companies and penturners out there who follow that principle. This is where I buy. Pelikan is not among those.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

3 hours ago, mke said:

@A Smug Dill writes detailed that ethics are mostly lost in the business area.

 

It's not as if anything Pilot, Platinum, Sailor, Pelikan, LAMY, etc. were or are doing with regard to their commemorative limited edition offerings are so much as vaguely unethical or underhanded.

[rochester21]

3 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

It's not as if anything Pilot, Platinum, Sailor, Pelikan, LAMY, etc. were or are doing with regard to their commemorative limited edition offerings are so much as vaguely unethical or underhanded.

Was anyone supposed to be excited about "commemorative limited edition offerings" in the fountain pen world? Why? 

 

I understand why they make them, to stirr up interest and make a quick dollar, but why would an enthusiast want them? 

 

Well i guess if you're a insecure teenager that uses fountain pens you might want one, but i'm not a teenager anymore. 

 

One might argue that "limited edition" pens have a better design so it's about aestethics, but i also doubt that claim. 

 

One can get bored with a limited edition just as well as with a regular edition pen, besides Pelikan has been releasing so many limited edition pens in the last few years that it's confusing. 

 

The release of candy-coloured pens should have an effect on toddlers, not grown-ups, although i'm partial to gold pens myself(uuu shiny). 

[mke]

A story from the music business: when ZZTop brought out their first 6 albums on CD, the price of this sampler was very low. The reason? ZZTop said according to a report in the radio "We don't want to rip off our fans. We earned enough from the sales of the vinyls."

 

This kind of saying thank you to the fans of many years was what I had hoped for.

 

Didn't Pelikan earn enough from the normal pens? Anyway, a commemorative pen would be nicer if many fans could buy it. In that way, Pelikan could earn a bit of money and say "thank you fans" at the same time. 

[A Smug Dill]

3 hours ago, rochester21 said:

Was anyone supposed to be excited about "commemorative limited edition offerings" in the fountain pen world? Why? 

 

I understand why they make them, to stirr up interest and make a quick dollar, but why would an enthusiast want them? 

 

Well i guess if you're a insecure teenager that uses fountain pens you might want one, but i'm not a teenager anymore. 

 

One might argue that "limited edition" pens have a better design so it's about aestethics, but i also doubt that claim. 

 

I was quite interested in some of the (if I recall correctly) ten different models in which Aurora released commemorative limited editions for the company's centenary. I bought three, and kept two. Unfortunately the Aurora Cento Italia models were also the ones with which I have the most issues or disappointments with the product quality as delivered. All the same, after my Aurora Ipsilon Quadra Cento Italia was fixed (by replacing the problem nib, attached to a whole new gripping section sent to me), I was happy to use it at my wedding to sign the paperwork, in part with respect to the meaning of “hundred years”.

 

I wasn't unhappy to score one of the Platinum #3776 Century ‘The Prime’ 100th anniversary edition pens in sterling silver for nominally half-price; I just never use it (and I don't put it on display for visitors to my home, because in general I don't like having visitors). It's a nice-looking pen, but it doesn't fit my hand or grip very well in practice.

 

I have one of the Lamy 2000 Bauhaus blue LE pens, that being my first Lamy 2000 fountain pen. I was more interested in it because of the hype and the apparent FOMO from fans of the model; I myself was quite ambivalent about getting the model to try, but since someone who used to be very vocal on here kept saying how the Lamy 2000 punches well above its weight and is easily worth US$500 in its fit and finish, but also full of vitriol about how Lamy chose not to make the different (and attractive) colour of Makrolon body available at near ‘regular’ price, so I decided to get one (at a much lower price than US$500, even though some US-based retailers were making prospective customers sign up to a raffle to be able to get one of the available units at US$599, if I recall correctly). Frankly, it's not that interesting or exciting a pen; but it isn't a bad pen and I don't regret getting it per se, and I can get to stand out as not just having a run-of-the-mill black Makrolon while talking the merit of the whole line of pens down as if I've bought myself the ‘right’.

 

I don't have any Pelikan commemorative editions, but I'm very happy with my Pelikan M600 Vibrant Orange special edition fountain pen — I love the colour, but it's really the Dan Smith customised nib that make it so special to me. Whereas I don't think much of my M815 Metal-Striped special edition pen at all.

 

[oregano]

8 hours ago, rochester21 said:

Was anyone supposed to be excited about "commemorative limited edition offerings" in the fountain pen world? Why? 

 

 

 

I'm with you on that, rochester! They've never been of much interest to me from a design perspective. If you look at Pelikan's other commemorative editions, the design is actually quite in line with them, i.e. fairly conservative with just enough changes to make it stand out. That said, the non-transparent stripes is a big change in Pelikan's 'tradition', and one I don't think I'll ever get used to! 

 

[Strega]

14 hours ago, rochester21 said:

I understand why they make them, to stirr up interest and make a quick dollar, but why would an enthusiast want them?

 

For what it’s worth, I see special/limited editions I bought 10-15 years ago selling for about 3 times what I paid for them, so at this point, I have to shrug and say: why not?  At the time, I just liked them, but if I changed my mind now, hey, I’d be fine.  Of course, I have pens that come in a box of a dozen that write fine, so we can make this sort of argument all up and down the huge price range of pens.

 

When I was shopping for cars last year, I found it kind of annoying to get on the build page and find that I could have it, three kinds of white, two kinds of black, or if I really wanted to be a non-conformist, I could get it in silver.  Come-on, give me an orange, or something else I can find in the parking lot. I’m not worried what the neighbors think.

[Chimera01]

On 9/17/2022 at 10:53 PM, rochester21 said:

The nibs aren't exactly to die for, are they?

I don't much care for the nib on my M805 but my M1000 is probably among my favourites. Amazing. Complete joy. 

[Jeffrey Newman]

What I think about the “limited commemorative edition.” So much gold. On top and bottom and the wide gold band. I think all that gold is just gaudy and detracts from the elegant beauty of the iconic green and black stripes (and they don’t show you the ink level).  Not for me at any price. 

[austollie]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:29 PM, txomsy said:

 

If it were so, there would be no pens remaining from before the 'expiration date'. And if there are pens from the very early beginnings of using an ink window still lying around, I think the 'expiration date' -which must exist for everything (even the Universe itself)- is long enough that nobody should care about it in -at least- a couple of lifetimes.

 

But alas, I care about this a lot.  Plastics such as ABS and polycarbonate (clear) commonly used in pens for many decades have a limited lifespan.  These suffer from embrittlement.  If the design of the pen is such that there is no strain on the ink window, then the pen will be OK for much longer than when that is not the case.  In the case of my 1970s and 1980s Pelikanos (and other similar student and office pens of the era), which I like to collect, the barrel screws onto the polycarbonate clear section.  The polycarbonate is thus exposed to stresses and prone to developing cracks (which are far from easy to repair).  I've lost several that way.