Parker in 2024

[Heinkle]

I'm interested in canvassing forum member views on the Parker brand as 2024 approaches.

 

It strikes me that the majority of recent posts in the Parker section relate to vintage pens rather than new/upcoming releases - unscientifically, this suggests that the appeal of the brand is largely historic (almost as if the company was no longer trading).

 

In contrast, the Pelikan and Montblanc sections, for example, seem to have a better balance of new and old, with expectations for the future.

 

My questions:

- Do you think this a fair assessment?

- Is Parker truly relevant in the fountain pen discourse going into 2024?

 

[gone]

Personally I think Parker is a zombie brand. It was once the biggest pen manufacturer in the world with some great innovations, great quality and good value pens. It is now just a label applied to pens that have none of the qualities of the past.
 

Montblanc is now a mid-tier fashion brand that attaches the label to moderate quality pens and applies premium pricing to create an illusion of exclusivity whilst at the same time selling in almost every airport in the world.
 

Pelikan is essentially bankrupt and can't decide what it wants to be. While it is making up its mind it is cutting quality and increasing prices which seems to me to be the best way to accelerate down their road to ruin. 

[inkstainedruth]

That's a sad assessment of all three brands.  Unfortunately, also probably a fairly accurate one....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jmccarty3]

As true as this might be, Montblanc and Pelikan still are in much better shape than Parker. All three have their best days behind them, as far as the production of excellent writing instruments goes. Vintage pens from all three are to be treasured--modern ones not so much.

[Checklist]

On 12/15/2023 at 4:13 AM, Prawnheed said:

Personally I think Parker is a zombie brand. It was once the biggest pen manufacturer in the world with some great innovations, great quality and good value pens. It is now just a label applied to pens that have none of the qualities of the past.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.  In my opinion, the modern pens that are still vibrant are almost all Japanese.  Almost every Western brand is living on past glory; Sheaffer is even closer to the grave than Parker, and Esterbrook is straight-up necromanced. 

[peroride]

On 12/15/2023 at 2:01 AM, Heinkle said:

- Do you think this a fair assessment?

- Is Parker truly relevant in the fountain pen discourse going into 2024?

Yes, sounds fair to me.

 

Parker, what Parker?😮‍💨

 

All that brand cachet from history is the Parker I still admire and think of. And that vintage is not heritage. 

 

I gave a couple of tries on these Newell pens, meh.

• I bought the new 51 and it is not even the shadow of innovation and R&D of the old 51. 
• I bought the new Centennial and while more elevated than their new 51 with the gold nib, lacks the heft of the vintage Newhaven Mark I.

 

It will take the higher segment to get me interested like the stacked Duofold 100th Anniversary or Duofold Queen's Jubilee. 

 

I guess the new Parker is innovating at Marketing?

 

Time and attention appears diluted, yielded to mass generic products with no particular distinction or toward the marketing lean to heritage special limited editions.

 

Any new R & D materials, filling systems, functional designs, etc  ?

 

Unlike heritage refinement found in Pelikan, Montblanc, Lamy, I feel Parker has no juice.

 

Made in China, India, France, who knows in the big multinational? Waterman is Paper Mate is Parker is Newell. 

 

 

 

 

[ZeroDukE]

 

Yes, in general I agree with the comments posted. But I think that Parker's products today are not bad, although they no longer occupy the place that they once did when they showed notable innovations, and they do not seem to have the great quality advantage that they used to have. This doesn't seem like it will happen, as it is apparently not the predominant idea in these companies under the current owners.

As for Western brands, only the American ones have been mentioned, but there are also European ones. Especially Italians and some British. They have also followed the path of decline although they have tried to recover something from the past. I think they have more possibilities because several of them are under family control or people linked to the old business and not corporations, so their possibilities are greater. In fact, we are seeing an increasingly prominent presence of Italian brands.

However, I am convinced that in a few years we will see innovations from China through the leap in quality that its companies are taking without perhaps ruling out some pleasant surprises from some Indian companies.

[Checklist]

I'm not as sold on R&D or "innovation" as necessary for a pen company.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it; the Lamy 2000, which I love, has hardly changed in almost 60 years.  However, it feels and writes like a quality pen, which I could tell first taking it out of the box.  To get that level of quality from Parker, you'd have to pay twice as much.  You're paying for the ghost of quality, not the quality itself, which is the shame.

[jchch1950]

It is possible that Parker as a  pen company still manufactures good-quality instruments. One example is the Parker Vector XL, which has a competitive price, good performance, and attractive design.

[welch]

Parker is still among the best pen companies in the world:

 

- Parker offers a pen at all price-points, for all interests, while Montblanc made itself into a luxury-only brand fifty years ago. Pelikan seems to be going that way, as well.

 

- The Modern Duofold is excellent.

 

- While I dislike the metal section on the latest Sonnet, and hate that in any pen, the Sonnet is still pretty good. 

 

- The New 51 gets pretty good reviews. It is not the original P-51, but neither is anything else. I have about two-dozen P-51s, so I don't need to buy the New 51, but reviewers seem satisfied. 

 

- Parker offers several pens at less than $100. I wish they still offered the P-45. Maybe the 45 had become too expensive to manufacture? The Parker Urban and IM are both offered for $50 or less through Amazon, which sells an IM for $37.

 

- Pen companies stopped innovating about 1960, when Parker introduced the cartridge / converter. Montblanc and Pelikan, sadly, "innovate" only by offering different sorts of glitz. 

 

Japanese companies still offer entry-level, moderate, and expensive pens, yes, but Parker is the only other pen company, at least that I know, still offering a fountain pen for each market. (Oh, and the Jotter is still around, both as Jotter and inside the ballpoint versions of Sonnet and Duofold, and probably others I have not used. I have a Frontier Flighter ballpoint in my pocket right now)

[Glenn-SC]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:25 AM, welch said:

Parker is still among the best pen companies in the world:

+1

i haven’t seen “innovation” by any FP manufacturer for a long time.  Most FP designs are “cigars” or “sticks” in various colors and bling level with C/C or piston filling systems.  
There are a few different designs that are rehashes of older designs.  

[inkstainedruth]

On 12/18/2023 at 2:25 PM, welch said:

 The Parker Urban and IM are both offered for $50 or less through Amazon, which sells an IM for $37.

 

I had an Urban and it was junk.  It came with one of the slide converters (which are pretty awful).  So I tried to get a replacement converter for it, and at the time was only able to find an older style one with a press bar, which got stuck in the barrel.  Sent it back to Parker (since the pen was still under warranty at that point), and had to jump through hoops.  They sent it back to me with a new (slide) converter and a snotty note, and I'm surprised they even bothered to put it in a plastic tube, because then that was tossed into a padded envelope.  

At some point afterwards, it started leaking from under the collar around the section, and I tossed it in the trash (the two pens I had before that, a couple of Parker Reflexes, got donated to a "Pick a Prize raffle" at something I was at -- they wrote well, but the rubber on the section had started to disintegrate on both of them, and I wasn't able to get a third one at Staples).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Checklist]

My problems with Parker in a nutshell.  Sure, you can get a pen at a reasonable price, but the quality (or lack thereof) of Parker workmanship anymore makes it feel overpriced.  They present themselves as "quality pen"s, but it feels like a show.  I shouldn't have to spend $400 to get a pen that writes well and doesn't feel like empty polish.

[Glenn-SC]

I could give first hand experiences with “Top Tier” and “Custom” pen manufacturers that sold poor quality products for much higher prices than anything Parker sells. 
I have been very happy with my recent purchases of current Parker products. 

[AmandaW]

Parker = dried out pen.

[TheRedBeard]

Parkers are still the best and the only fountain pens for me in 2024, but I've been using mostly vintage ones  

However, modern Duofold Centennial is not too bad either...

[Doc Dan]

It would be great if a fountain pen person with a knowledge of manufacturing would buy Parker and start making quality products in the USA, UK, and EU. 

[Estycollector]

That person with knowledge better also be well or fully capitalized. I'm curious how the people who bought the Esterbrook brand are making money? Parker would definitely be a more recognizable brand. 

 

Since Wing Sung produced the 601, they seem to have the infrastructure in place to make retro Parkers that are so well loved. They could, if they wanted, create and produce higher quality gold nibs that are easily interchangeable and allow the end user to enjoy a customized product. For all those who speak negatively of marketing, marketing is how products become available. 

 

A company like Wing Sung could also produce high quality pen bodies using a variety of metals, wood, and plastics to suit the demands of the discriminating FP market. 

[Glenn-SC]

Unless Wing Sung bought the intellectual and manufacturing rights to the Parker Pen brand they could not make “Parker Pens”.  They could make “tribute” or knock-off pens. But not “Parker’s”. 
 

Your scenario is like Ford building “modern” versions of the Ferrari 250 GTO.  

[Estycollector]

The point is, Wing Sung would be a good candidate for acquiring the Parker brand and producing the sort of Parker Pen's many would want today.