I assisted a younger attorney with her first trial a couple of weeks ago and did something that I usually don’t do. I wore steel cased watches and wrote notes with a steel nib pen. (Yes, I often match even these metals.) I have switched sides again in the world of criminal law as I have periodically in the past. This means learning stacks of new files and figuring out what to do with them.
I told my wife that I was writing many more notes than I ever have, both in the case management system and longhand in the files. I used to be able to keep everything (not true, but I flatter myself) in the ole’ noggin. Without those notes I would be lost. I can’t remember a case that I reviewed just a week or two ago. I wondered if it was stress or lack of sleep or any number of reasons. She quite correctly noted that it was age and that she is now taking many more notes on her projects. Age, of course, how could I have missed the thing that stares back at me in the mirror?
Well, it is a good thing my ability to collect things is there to help me. I bought my first fountain pen the same year that I bought my first vintage watch, nearly thirty years ago. The internet wasn’t a thing back then and I was flying blind with an old Hamilton on my wrist and a new Waterman in my pocket. I had a few watches, not really enough to be a rotation, but I had one pen. The Waterman Preface was bought by my wife in Paris to replace a Parker that she had gotten me years before and had been left in a restaurant (the kids out there won’t remember a time when you could write a check for a meal).
Around ten years ago I realized that I was wearing the Waterman out. It is a testament to its build quality that it took decades of abuse without regular cleaning or maintenance of any kind, just more ink. I started buying pens to ease the Waterman into not its retirement, but an easier pace. I went back and looked at my receipts and there was a pen show in 2017 and a Conklin and Luoshi in 2018. And then I started doing what I do with watches: is it old and does it work? Another Waterman and a Montblanc followed and then I had a Japanese phase with few mid-1970’s Sailor and Platinum pens. I even picked up a 1930’s restored Laurel that I rarely ink.
Do you remember before YouTube watch videos became well shot and sleek, like 5 years ago? That’s where pen videos are now. I was recently the fifteenth subscriber on a channel watching a guy talk about his pens. I think that it is shot on his IPhone. Whatever. He is keeping track of what he inks. I usually keep two inked. I am expanding to four. The spirit has moved me.
I was also moved to replace that Parker that I left in a Denver restaurant in 1989. (I also lost a watch in Denver, a tri-color quartz Gucci.) With Parker 51 prices being out of my comfort zone with as many pens as I have and don’t use, I opted for the less expensive Parker 21, the poor man’s 51. Based on the several clues, primarily the clip, this is a “Super” 21. It has the perfect mid-century look. The hooded nib is designed to dry out more slowly when un-capped.
I have decided to keep pens in rotation. My watch rotation is basically all of them, but with pens you must be more selective. The ink in an unused pen turns to sludge. This has been my rotation this month.
I am using several brown inks. I have been writing with some sort of Waterman brown (Sepia, Havana, Absolute) since the 1990’s but Waterman has decided to discontinue most of their interesting inks to just stick with black and blue. Into the breach come several new inks for me to try out. We will see how they do.
Once upon a time my eBay “watched” list bumped up upon 400 vintage watches. As of this morning it contained two watches, four pens and a couple of linocut prints. I am clearly in a consolidation period. Watches are just one of several places where my twitchy mind rests.
In good news, sometimes my watchmaker surprises me. This Rodania I immediately regretted buying. Although “working” on arrival, it quickly ground to a halt. Several weeks later, and with several new parts, it is the perfect mid-century gold watch. I may experiment with straps. I have always had an unwritten rule that the strap could not cost more than the watch. I may have to relax that a bit. I also had a Mido and Altus returned to me working. I don’t have the space for them in the watch boxes. If I ever had all of my watches working, I wouldn’t know what to do.
Getting a watch back from service or repair is like buying a new watch, at least for a while. I buy them to wear them and none of them get enough wear. Maybe this consolidation will require a shrinkage, maybe a “one in, one out” policy. Maybe just a quiet enjoyment to be written about longhand in brown ink. (An aside, I have known at least one “paper” aficionado. The kind that knows how it was pressed and what sort of fiber it contains. It was wearying. If I ever start on that nonsense put me in a home.)
One thing that the immediate future will not contain is a contest on WatchCrunch that I have been running for three years. The One Watch Challenge was meant to return us (at least for a limited time) to our pre-Covid, pre-Instagram way of wearing watches. I saw so many collectors and enthusiasts running on a hamster wheel of their own making and thought that slowing down to one everyday watch would help. I couldn’t maintain it for long myself, but others had the willpower to succeed. It then turned into a game of trying to outwit the competitors. It was fun, until it wasn’t. Last year I was too busy to do it and did it anyway. The quality suffered. I made mistakes. It felt more like an obligation. Also, WatchCrunch had promised me a little something for putting it on, a WatchCrunch shirt or a hat or something small. I don’t need another shirt or a hat. But the fact that they took down my size and address and then couldn’t be bothered in two years sort of irked me. It is petty and small, I know. I don’t talk much about WatchCrunch here, but they are the reason that we all write about watches and specifically write here. So, you take the good with the bad, or vice versa.
The site is changing and someone new to run the 1WC would be a good idea if someone thinks that they can make a go of it. Expect nothing in return, except the appreciation of the users that play. I think that Kaysia burned herself out on her great contests, and I feel that way too. At least I will always have the Game Master badge.
The Escapement Room 
Thanks Greg. Hearing about your interest in fountain pens reminds me of my wife’s mom, who for a couple decades, sold Blancpain fountain pens in Japan. Japanese script is well suited and looks wonderful when done with a fountain pen, as it can match the flourish of a paintbrush (which is how it always was historically done). Quite successful at pen sales, she was occasionally sent to Europe to learn more about the pens and meet the people making them.
Like most older Japanese she expected to do it her whole life. By the mid 90’s luxury items had no market in Japan, her company folded and she moved to working in regular retail.
The years spent selling Blancpain fountain pens are her most valued and fondly remembered. I think from spending her days talking with professionals like yourself.
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That sounds like a rewarding career in sales. Japan is probably, per capita, the largest fountain pen market in the world. They have the largest company, Pilot, and many other great brands.
I like writing with one. Like many of us, especially men, I write in a combination of printing and cursive. A nice pen can add panache to that mess.
I would love to see a Blancpain pen. It must have been a true luxury item.
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Sorry to hear about the snub from WC on your #1WC. I’ve always thought that might have been one of the reasons for DeeperBlue’s disappearance: being taken for granted. I’d offer you a WC nato strap she handed out once at a meet-up; but something tells me you’re not a nato kind of guy!
WC is actually responsible for me getting back into fountain pens (alongside other unnecessary purchases!). Based upon recommendations from users, I’ve purchased a couple of Kaweco sport fountains pens – which are great for taking quick notes; and a Diplomat Excellence A2 – which is, well, excellent! They are so unusual nowadays, that at a recent meeting another attendee looked at me incredulously when I pulled out the Diplomat to sign something. They’re not good for writing quickly, though. If I’m taking notes in Court, I can only do so by typing into the laptop.
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I am not much of a note taker. In a courtroom I am jotting down phrases in an outline form with stars (highest importance) and arrows (links to other notes) which suggest questions to be asked. All of my pens can hammer out the short bursts that I need. I have only known one attorney who could take notes on a computer and she had years as a secretary prior to passing the bar.
I am also not much of a NATO guy, although I do wear them occasionally. Thank you for the offer, but no, I do not require any branded merchandise, even a green striped strap. What got me was that they contacted me, asked for my size and address, then followed up to say that they were out of something and that it would just be a little while…in 2023. I never asked or expected anything. Kaysia can speak for herself, but seeing as she has gone to ground as an international jewel thief, from my perspective WC did not treat her well.
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I’ve never heard of a fountain pen wearing out, less body/cap cracking or mangling a nib. I was under the impression that they lasted a lifetime and could generally be refreshed with very simple techniques. I’ve been keeping almost all of my pens inked up and so far the only effect is that some will require that drop of water on the nib/feed to get things flowing again. I’ve stopped using the more saturated inks as they are supposedly more trouble. Speaking of which, I’ve had one or two inked pens discovered after a washing machine load had finished. I was unconcerned about the stained pocket linings and no other damage occurred.
Last I checked, Parker 51’s started at about $50. I was lucky to find one in my old boss’s drawer a while after he departed. The cap has a ding but the thing really lives up to the hype of just always laying down a nice wet line and being well mannered and indestructible. I need to bring it on a plane to test that lore.
Before watches, the pen was the accessory du jour to coordinate with clothing or mindset. I am reluctantly admitting that both pen and watch are at the point where the necessity is quite infrequent. Now how you ducked the topic of widely varying quality of legal pad paper is beyond me.
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The same writer with the same pen at the same angle for decades has a way of reshaping the nib. The line becomes less precise, a medium acts like a broad. Also, over time and use the friction cap loses its grip. I have inked up some shirt pockets before noticing that the cap and clip have become separated from the pen.
When I bought paper for the firm I always upgraded to a higher brighter quality. Cheap paper allows ink to wick in all directions.
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