We do love our fountain pens. We love the way they feel when we use them. We also love the craftsmanship that goes into them. The lacquerwork or metalwork or guilloche of proper premium fountain pens.
During the last two years though, when we have been moving around far less than ever before, we found ourselves wanting for a good “non-fountain” pen. One that didn’t deviate too far from our tactile and aesthetic demands, one that felt the way it should. But not like the collection of bronze and titanium pens we have been collecting of late that look like they could and should be stopped at airport checks.
It was quite a surprise then that we ended up with The Blue Hour… ballpoint.
And it fit in quite well with the collection, thank you.
It has a somewhat transparent blue lacquer over an engraved hexagonal-pattern surface, and what that does is it makes the pen look different in different light. It can be a little bling in direct sunlight, but is also quite sedate and regal in most situations. The name Blue Hour is supposed to remind you of the hour as day turns to night and things start reflecting differently in a darkening cityscape. That’s fine. Most of the time it looks pleasantly textured (though it is smooth to the touch) with a little brightness when the light hits the lacquer-covered engraving or the platinumcoated furniture (what pen geeks call the fittings, ribs, clips and so on).
It is in the Meisterstück family, so there is heft. And it has the traditional snow cap/star surrounded in black and then platinum. So it has some nice pocket-peeking flex (if flex is still a word we can use) while still being rather subtle.
It was surprising how well this ballpoint fit into the collection and into rotation of use. With all the different filling out of forms and contact traces and so on we have been going through lately, the sometimes delicate nibs of collectible fountain pens just weren’t really a good fit. And the need for constant cleaning could make many a maki-e collector cringe. But we have also moved past the roughtough-tactical pen stage that we were into at the start of the pandemic. This is a nice way to get back into the proper flow of things.
And, happily, it also fits into the properly-sized pen slots of the Montblanc bags.
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