Vintage vs. new

[Spoonage]

Hi all looking to join you in owning and using fine writing instruments. Been reading and watching several reviews on various pens (both MB and others). In a couple reviews some stated that vintage MB are better than new ones because new ones (quality of materials used, etc). Any truth behind this... coming from the watch world I know vintage has its own set of "issues" but if a well maintained vintage is better than a new I would like to go that route.

I did a quick search on vintage and didn't see what I was looking for at a quick glance.


Thanks!

[jar]

Hi all looking to join you in owning and using fine writing instruments. Been reading and watching several reviews on various pens (both MB and others). In a couple reviews some stated that vintage MB are better than new ones because new ones (quality of materials used, etc). Any truth behind this... coming from the watch world I know vintage has its own set of "issues" but if a well maintained vintage is better than a new I would like to go that route.

I did a quick search on vintage and didn't see what I was looking for at a quick glance.


Thanks!

Just as in watches the answer is "Yes" and "No".

You will hear lots of assertions but very few facts. For example many earlier Montblancs used celluloid as the body material. It is light but it was painted and over time the paint often got worn away and the celluloid yellowed, cracked and micro-crazed. You will hear that the earlier two stage pistons we superior and they might have held slightly more ink but they also sometimes hung up at the change from the first to second stage and felt funny. The early cork seals also died out and just as in wine then crumbled. You will hear praise for the ebonite feed but again, they varied from the first designs that were really not that great to later designs that worked better but I've never been able to find any differences between the MB ebonite feeds (and I have had most of them) and the modern plastic feeds.

A few things that are facts.

The older pens are smaller than the current pens even within the same sizes. The older 149s are smaller than the current 149s, the older 146s are smaller than the modern 146s...

There were more nibs that were flexible than any of today's MBs but again, MB sold pens with nibs that were flexible and also not flexible and there are no markings on the nibs to tell you which was which.

There is a broader range of older pens since Montblanc sold pens from student and entry level through to their top of the line pens.

There were some nib designs available in the past that are not offered today. The "Wing Feather" nib found on the 25x series and then for a short time carried over in the 24X pens may well be the best feeling, most responsive MB nib I've ever experienced.

I will be selling many of my older MBs so if you are interested drop me a private message.

[penwash]

I like vintage MB a lot more than the modern ones. The nib has a lot more character, soft-springy, some are even flexible (and I mean high-quality flexible).

[AzJon]

I have a 146 from the 80s that I love. I've tried the newer models and find them, personally, a little too big. The girth of the 146 is much better, in my opinion.

[fountainpenkid]

[QUOTE=Spoonage;192165]

There were some nib designs available in the past that are not offered today. The "Wing Feather" nib found on the 25x series and then for a short time carried over in the 24X pens may well be the best feeling, most responsive MB nib I've ever experienced.


This "wing feather" design was also used on some 64X pens as well, no?