Though some opt to leave the sticker on their pens, I believe most remove the sticker after purchase. I surely remove the sticker off of my MB pens as soon as I have them inked.
An absolutely beautiful pen but not sure it would stand the abuse of rattling around in my handbag 😁, thank you for showing us the lovely eye candy though!
@@teohyc I have a wooden floor in my house and by accident dropped my Rotring technical pen 0.35 on the floor, it rolled off the table, and landed on the floor tip-first. It just stood upright in the floor like a dart 😯 I had to replace the tip ☹
I bought this pen about a month ago to sketch with. I really like my purchase and don't regret it at all. It's a real pleasure to draw and play with. More than shown in this review I like to tilt and reverse the pen to benefit from all the line variations that are possible. I don't consider it a good pen for daily (fast/normal) writing since a normal and relaxed position in the hand is a BB, at least for me. I don't practice the art of calligraphy so I can't give any advice on that. Several years ago I bought a Montblanc Meisterstück 146 Legrand with a Medium nib and that is great for writing, not so much for drawing. I was a bit afraid for the size of this pen (149 model) but for drawing it is great! Again, for writing I prefer the 146. Furthermore the white snowcap isn't to show off for all the Montblanc users, at least not for me. I do like the luxury for sure, but I mostly use it all by myself at home, where nobody sees it. I believe that's the case for most of the users. Ps: Pen Gangsta also made a video about this pen that convinced me buying it. :)
Outrageously priced for an injection-moulded plastic pen. A nib meister can craft a custom nib at a fraction of the price. It appears to be a progressively curved architect nib. Have you had any difficulty with Noodler's Bulletproof Black?
I get great ink flow from my Jinhao Swan Pens with fude nibs and I only pay $18 USD for 12 pens in a variety of colors so I can usually match my pen to my ink color. Many years ago I had someone tell me that as I matured in the fountain pen world, I would stop wanting to use inexpensive pens with fad nibs. 100% of my art is done with fountain pens (and the occasional brush nib), and has been that way for years. For most drawings the fountain pen is enough. Where it is not, I use a brush pen nib for the fountain pen.
Really? That is very interesting, and quite practical. Far better than uncapping a pen to find out what nib it is. May be MB wanted a smooth finish? I wish they would bring that back then. So they stopped this, the ebonite feeds, brass pistons.......
Hi thank you for your great review--and loved your talented drawing :-) Two things I'd say are the gold does in fact extend all the way to the nib tip. It appears not to because gold fountain pen nibs are 'tipped' or coated at the tip of the gold nib, with very hard, acid ink and wear resistant metal alloys--usually the extremely rare heavy, dense metal elements called Osmium and Iridium. My other comment would be, especially for the 149, Montblanc should routinely produce the 149 with traditional highly flexible or elastic nibs desired by calligraphers worldwide, from the era of the Quill onward through the Victorian period when Joseph Gillott introduced his affordable, highly elastic metal dip-pen nibs that are still cherished today, 175 years later, and trade at record prices. Examples include the incredible Gillott Principality and his 604EF Double Elastic. Montblanc, please take note and give us the elastic nibs that people want NOW... and have used these to create superb traditional Roundhand and Engravers Scripts for hundreds of years--and also American Spencerian Script since the 1880s or so. Your MB fine, medium and broad inflexible nibs are well past their use by dates.
I've not tried the Lamy Z59 before. From the handwriting samples I see only, that nib does better with western than for eastern calligraphy. Eastern calligraphy looks better with more obvious tapered strokes.
All MB pens have a Nib size sticker!! That indicates it’s a calligraphy Nib. Some people take the sticker off some people leave it, but every single Montblanc pen comes with Nib size sticker. So- NOT shocking. Shocking is that you did not know that.
In a scale of 1 to 10 being 10 extremely scratchy, how would you classify the reverse writing? I am having a bit of feedback and scratchiness at low angles in the reverse writing. Any comments?
@@teohyc thank you Teoh. I am a bit heavy handed and probably that will be a factor. I loaded it with MB Midnight Blue and used Midori paper but still my pressure might be excessive. I tried to used it more like a brush and less like a pen and it works. With just a little pressure you can draw. But I was more concerned whilst using it on Hahnemule and Alpha sketchbooks. Thank you for the review.
With flex nib you have to be intentional to apply pressure to draw thick lines. With this nib, the thick lines will appear depending on angle of pen. Eg, some calligraphy pen will draw broad down strokes and thin horizontal, some are opposite.
Hi Teoh, once again a very interesting review! Thank you! The stickers are used on every 149, including regular nibs, F, M, OB to better distinguish the fountain pens in the store. The capacity is 1.3 ml. A comparison with the Sailor Cross Point and Cross Music would also be very interesting, can you please do one? I use all my pens with Kiwaguro and can confirm that the lines get much darker. Since Sailor has suspended all new special nib orders a half year ago, I bought the MB 149 Curved Nib. As good as the nib may be, I am less than pleased with the finish on my copy. It screws uncomfortably, not as pleasant as a Sailor 1911 Large or a Pilot Custom Heritage and wobbles. The dealer says it's normal on all 149, but I'm not entirely convinced. czcams.com/video/Y8EXHeWyp_A/video.html and czcams.com/video/bxl-CiDgEpo/video.html
Just for reference, the sticker is designed to be taken off. Most folks keep it on for reference, but it does not have any impact on the pen's quality much like a plastic sticker you see on a lot of brand new cars/watches/etc.
@@teohyc It is necessary because except for the calligraphy nibs Montblanc does not mark the nibs to indicate the nib size. The idea is this lets the salespeople know which pen is which, but once you buy it is yours, so it does not matter what size it is just that you like how it writes.
It's a Sailor fountain pen with Medium nib. You can get different types of Sailor body with the same nib. www.parkablogs.com/picture/review-sailor-professional-gear-medium-nib
My understanding is that the ball at the tip of the nib is never made of gold but is almost always, on fine pen nibs, made of a platinum-iridium alloy which is hard and which therefore doesn't readily wear away. Thus while it is true that the metal that the rest of the nib is made of affects how it writes, that is only about how flexible the metal is, which is strongly affected by the thickness. Thus a stainless steel nib with a platinum-iridium ball on the end could be made that would write much the same as an 18-carat gold nib--- the gold just being there for appearances, like jewelry. Pen restorers know how to polish the ball at the end of the nib and also how to realign the halves with respect to one another--- to eliminate scratchiness, for example. The gold plating on the clip and on bandings around the body of the pen is, on any fine pen, actually what is called "gold fill." It's basically very thick gold plating. It won't wear off, ever. Au 750 on the nib simply means that it's three-quarters gold, which is what 18-carat also means. I bought a used Mont Blanc pen from the 1980s on eBay and it's utterly terrific. Writes so wonderfully well. And the most amazing thing about it is the way that the cap snaps on and off. Such a precision mechanism. I can Ieave it in a drawer for weeks at a time, only to find that the ink still flows beautifully from the start.
"And the most amazing thing about it is the way that the cap snaps on and off." Unfortunately, I have the impression that this is no longer the case. My dealer says that this is normal on all recent 149: czcams.com/video/Y8EXHeWyp_A/video.html and czcams.com/video/bxl-CiDgEpo/video.html
I have 20$ pens I can leave in a drawer for weeks and they write fine first try. Not sure why people act like that's exclusive to their expensive ones only.
That sticker is on all MB pens. Since MB does not indicate what kind of nib it is on the nib, they put it on the sticker. I think the nib is more like a zoom nib. That could be a good comparison. I don't like the space I see there at the piston ring and the piston knob when you full close it.
@@teohyc Cool. It looked like it wasn't closed, but when you were showing the piston knob, I thought you tightened it. Anyways it doesn't matter now. I was surprized because MB is very meticulous about the way they finish their pens.
The lines from the 149 Curved Nib are much broader than those you can get with the Zoom nib: www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2023_02/mb_149_curved_small.jpg.8c4d0d1c0fd5829a1eb9262b07da6c78.jpg. The Cross Point would be a better comparison.
A half ounce (the weight of this pen) of solid gold is significantly cheaper than the price of the pen. Meanwhile, the material value of that pen is pocket change. A $1,000+ pen will not make you a better artist, but it will make you a poorer one.
@@LeesChannelThen go ahead and buy an ounce of gold and make your own pen. Did it ever cross your mind that we pay for the manufacturing process behind consumer goods and not just the material costs?
The manufacturing process is similar to a ballpoint pen, are you crazy? For a thousand dollars you can buy a PS5 and Xbox Series X, which each have far more engineering and manufacturing costs, as well as material cost, and still have money left over. That $1000 pen is virtually all profit, and has very little functional difference from a $30 one. But anyways, if you have a desire to donate your money to make others wealthier, go ahead. Hopefully you'll feel happy with your fancy piece of plastic and gold plating to commemorate that event, and not be wise enough to experience the hollow feeling of being ripped off. A fool and his money are soon parted, as Benjamin Franklin liked to say.
The nib size sticker is not shocking, it is what Montblanc does on every pen they sell, and is meant to be removed by the buyer once purchased.
Though some opt to leave the sticker on their pens, I believe most remove the sticker after purchase. I surely remove the sticker off of my MB pens as soon as I have them inked.
An absolutely beautiful pen but not sure it would stand the abuse of rattling around in my handbag 😁, thank you for showing us the lovely eye candy though!
Yes you prob want to get a pen sleeve if you are going to carry a mountblanc for urban sketching!
I won't want to use this for urban sketching for the fear of dropping it
@@teohyc I have a wooden floor in my house and by accident dropped my Rotring technical pen 0.35 on the floor, it rolled off the table, and landed on the floor tip-first. It just stood upright in the floor like a dart 😯 I had to replace the tip ☹
It’s an expensive fountain pen. Why wouldn’t you keep it in a pen case?
I bought this pen about a month ago to sketch with. I really like my purchase and don't regret it at all. It's a real pleasure to draw and play with. More than shown in this review I like to tilt and reverse the pen to benefit from all the line variations that are possible. I don't consider it a good pen for daily (fast/normal) writing since a normal and relaxed position in the hand is a BB, at least for me. I don't practice the art of calligraphy so I can't give any advice on that. Several years ago I bought a Montblanc Meisterstück 146 Legrand with a Medium nib and that is great for writing, not so much for drawing. I was a bit afraid for the size of this pen (149 model) but for drawing it is great! Again, for writing I prefer the 146. Furthermore the white snowcap isn't to show off for all the Montblanc users, at least not for me. I do like the luxury for sure, but I mostly use it all by myself at home, where nobody sees it. I believe that's the case for most of the users. Ps: Pen Gangsta also made a video about this pen that convinced me buying it. :)
Should I remove that wavy lines sticker when mine arrive?
It's just a sticker to differentiate the pen with other pens while on display. You can keep it or remove it. It doesn't matter
Outrageously priced for an injection-moulded plastic pen. A nib meister can craft a custom nib at a fraction of the price. It appears to be a progressively curved architect nib. Have you had any difficulty with Noodler's Bulletproof Black?
Noodlers Bulletproof Black is one of the better flowing waterproof black inks. But it's not 100% waterproof on all papers.
I get great ink flow from my Jinhao Swan Pens with fude nibs and I only pay $18 USD for 12 pens in a variety of colors so I can usually match my pen to my ink color.
Many years ago I had someone tell me that as I matured in the fountain pen world, I would stop wanting to use inexpensive pens with fad nibs. 100% of my art is done with fountain pens (and the occasional brush nib), and has been that way for years. For most drawings the fountain pen is enough. Where it is not, I use a brush pen nib for the fountain pen.
I find your videos to be very relaxing, and ASMR like, thanks to the gentle way you talk. Keep up the good work!
Jesus that price !!! 😳
I'll stick to my dirt cheap Lamy Safari ;-)
MB used to engrave the initials of the nib on the piston knob. I think they stopped doing this in the 1970’s. Shame, I really like that feature.
Really? That is very interesting, and quite practical. Far better than uncapping a pen to find out what nib it is. May be MB wanted a smooth finish? I wish they would bring that back then. So they stopped this, the ebonite feeds, brass pistons.......
Fir that price all the gold should be real gold.
Hear hear!
Hi thank you for your great review--and loved your talented drawing :-) Two things I'd say are the gold does in fact extend all the way to the nib tip. It appears not to because gold fountain pen nibs are 'tipped' or coated at the tip of the gold nib, with very hard, acid ink and wear resistant metal alloys--usually the extremely rare heavy, dense metal elements called Osmium and Iridium.
My other comment would be, especially for the 149, Montblanc should routinely produce the 149 with traditional highly flexible or elastic nibs desired by calligraphers worldwide, from the era of the Quill onward through the Victorian period when Joseph Gillott introduced his affordable, highly elastic metal dip-pen nibs that are still cherished today, 175 years later, and trade at record prices. Examples include the incredible Gillott Principality and his 604EF Double Elastic.
Montblanc, please take note and give us the elastic nibs that people want NOW... and have used these to create superb traditional Roundhand and Engravers Scripts for hundreds of years--and also American Spencerian Script since the 1880s or so. Your MB fine, medium and broad inflexible nibs are well past their use by dates.
Very nice. For that price the box should be real leather and the label wearing off is disappointing too. I would also be afraid to put ink in it. lol!
If I had money to burn, I'd buy one. Only person I'd met who used one was an orthopedic surgeon. Gorgeous looking prescriptions!
IT COSTS HOW MUCH??? That's crazy, a really interesting review
1000sgd = 700 euro
1050 USD. 1460 SGD
The price in Germany is €960, worth for this superb special edition.
Price in the UK: £865 (MontBlanc boutique) Yes, it hurts 😂
Very good review. Thanks for that. One question: have you tried the Lamy Nib Z59, did for eastern calligraphy? If not, can you do it?
I've not tried the Lamy Z59 before. From the handwriting samples I see only, that nib does better with western than for eastern calligraphy. Eastern calligraphy looks better with more obvious tapered strokes.
Perhaps I will make a review but really technique about this pen. You haven't tone circles or italic caractères!! 🎉 I will do it !!!😊
All MB pens have a Nib size sticker!! That indicates it’s a calligraphy Nib. Some people take the sticker off some people leave it, but every single Montblanc pen comes with Nib size sticker. So- NOT shocking. Shocking is that you did not know that.
I’ve never seen a MB fountain pen before
I love the color of the ink. The fading when you draw those boxes reminds me of those Chinese calligraphy inks.
1000 and what?!!
Montblanc is a luxury item. Not an everyday pen. It is to show people around you the snow cap.
Have you ever tried MB permanent black ink in this pen? I love that ink.
In a scale of 1 to 10 being 10 extremely scratchy, how would you classify the reverse writing? I am having a bit of feedback and scratchiness at low angles in the reverse writing. Any comments?
It's just slightly more scratchy compared to an EF nib. But it will not actually scratch the paper, or dig into the paper.
@@teohyc thank you Teoh. I am a bit heavy handed and probably that will be a factor. I loaded it with MB Midnight Blue and used Midori paper but still my pressure might be excessive. I tried to used it more like a brush and less like a pen and it works. With just a little pressure you can draw. But I was more concerned whilst using it on Hahnemule and Alpha sketchbooks. Thank you for the review.
how is this different from the Flexible NIB from years ago? I understand they have a 148 Flexible NIB now. What are the pros and cons of each? thanks.
With flex nib you have to be intentional to apply pressure to draw thick lines. With this nib, the thick lines will appear depending on angle of pen. Eg, some calligraphy pen will draw broad down strokes and thin horizontal, some are opposite.
@@teohyc seems to me this curved version is easier to use than the flex version.
@@paulchiu I have a few flex nib pens and I rarely use them. It comes down to personal preference
@@teohontech7141 I ordered one. Seems like a fun pen to use for greeting cards and totally bored times
Hi Teoh, once again a very interesting review! Thank you! The stickers are used on every 149, including regular nibs, F, M, OB to better distinguish the fountain pens in the store. The capacity is 1.3 ml. A comparison with the Sailor Cross Point and Cross Music would also be very interesting, can you please do one? I use all my pens with Kiwaguro and can confirm that the lines get much darker. Since Sailor has suspended all new special nib orders a half year ago, I bought the MB 149 Curved Nib. As good as the nib may be, I am less than pleased with the finish on my copy. It screws uncomfortably, not as pleasant as a Sailor 1911 Large or a Pilot Custom Heritage and wobbles. The dealer says it's normal on all 149, but I'm not entirely convinced. czcams.com/video/Y8EXHeWyp_A/video.html and czcams.com/video/bxl-CiDgEpo/video.html
Just for reference, the sticker is designed to be taken off. Most folks keep it on for reference, but it does not have any impact on the pen's quality much like a plastic sticker you see on a lot of brand new cars/watches/etc.
If so, the sticker is so unnecessary
@@teohyc It is necessary because except for the calligraphy nibs Montblanc does not mark the nibs to indicate the nib size. The idea is this lets the salespeople know which pen is which, but once you buy it is yours, so it does not matter what size it is just that you like how it writes.
Interesting review! Very nice. Watched throughly, thanks for sharing. Blessings 💛
I give this ASMR 5/5
Hello Teoh Yi Chie
What is the name of the Sailor you present in this video? I would love to buy the same one
Thank you very much
It's a Sailor fountain pen with Medium nib. You can get different types of Sailor body with the same nib. www.parkablogs.com/picture/review-sailor-professional-gear-medium-nib
Expensive.
which pen is a really alternative for a beginner?
See this video czcams.com/video/HpUmgOwlJfk/video.html
My understanding is that the ball at the tip of the nib is never made of gold but is almost always, on fine pen nibs, made of a platinum-iridium alloy which is hard and which therefore doesn't readily wear away. Thus while it is true that the metal that the rest of the nib is made of affects how it writes, that is only about how flexible the metal is, which is strongly affected by the thickness. Thus a stainless steel nib with a platinum-iridium ball on the end could be made that would write much the same as an 18-carat gold nib--- the gold just being there for appearances, like jewelry. Pen restorers know how to polish the ball at the end of the nib and also how to realign the halves with respect to one another--- to eliminate scratchiness, for example.
The gold plating on the clip and on bandings around the body of the pen is, on any fine pen, actually what is called "gold fill." It's basically very thick gold plating. It won't wear off, ever. Au 750 on the nib simply means that it's three-quarters gold, which is what 18-carat also means.
I bought a used Mont Blanc pen from the 1980s on eBay and it's utterly terrific. Writes so wonderfully well. And the most amazing thing about it is the way that the cap snaps on and off. Such a precision mechanism. I can Ieave it in a drawer for weeks at a time, only to find that the ink still flows beautifully from the start.
"And the most amazing thing about it is the way that the cap snaps on and off." Unfortunately, I have the impression that this is no longer the case. My dealer says that this is normal on all recent 149: czcams.com/video/Y8EXHeWyp_A/video.html and czcams.com/video/bxl-CiDgEpo/video.html
I have 20$ pens I can leave in a drawer for weeks and they write fine first try. Not sure why people act like that's exclusive to their expensive ones only.
That sticker is on all MB pens. Since MB does not indicate what kind of nib it is on the nib, they put it on the sticker. I think the nib is more like a zoom nib. That could be a good comparison. I don't like the space I see there at the piston ring and the piston knob when you full close it.
There's no gap between the piston knob when closed properly
@@teohyc Cool. It looked like it wasn't closed, but when you were showing the piston knob, I thought you tightened it. Anyways it doesn't matter now. I was surprized because MB is very meticulous about the way they finish their pens.
The lines from the 149 Curved Nib are much broader than those you can get with the Zoom nib: www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2023_02/mb_149_curved_small.jpg.8c4d0d1c0fd5829a1eb9262b07da6c78.jpg. The Cross Point would be a better comparison.
Looks like an amazing pen 🖊, good sketching Teoh
i really love fountain pen for sketching, maybe one day 😂😂
For a minute I thought you must have won the lottery 😆
A half ounce (the weight of this pen) of solid gold is significantly cheaper than the price of the pen. Meanwhile, the material value of that pen is pocket change. A $1,000+ pen will not make you a better artist, but it will make you a poorer one.
But it can make you a happy artist. lol
@@teohyc So can $1K.
@@LeesChannelThen go ahead and buy an ounce of gold and make your own pen. Did it ever cross your mind that we pay for the manufacturing process behind consumer goods and not just the material costs?
The manufacturing process is similar to a ballpoint pen, are you crazy? For a thousand dollars you can buy a PS5 and Xbox Series X, which each have far more engineering and manufacturing costs, as well as material cost, and still have money left over. That $1000 pen is virtually all profit, and has very little functional difference from a $30 one.
But anyways, if you have a desire to donate your money to make others wealthier, go ahead. Hopefully you'll feel happy with your fancy piece of plastic and gold plating to commemorate that event, and not be wise enough to experience the hollow feeling of being ripped off. A fool and his money are soon parted, as Benjamin Franklin liked to say.
👍
I'll take the cheap boxes.. don't need boxes to brag about to may friends thy will probably steal them..