The other day, I happened onto the site of Japanese pen guru Russ Stutler. I’d visited it before, but there was one page I’d never noticed, ’til now.
His photos and article about the Pilot Murex fountain pen.
Regular readers know that I am not a fountain pen guy, in general. I’ve tried a Kaweco and a Waterman and various disposables and enjoyed using a few of them, but nothing that really got my heart racing.
However, I have always wanted a Pilot Vanishing Point, not because they were retractable, though that helped, but because of their style. They were just the coolest looking fountain pens I’d ever seen, and, unfortunately, pretty pricey.
The one thing I never loved about the Vanishing Point was the placement of the clip.
And then recently, I saw Stutler’s collection of Pilot Murex fountain pens. They’re stainless steel, even sleeker and sexier than the Vanishing Point and, because they’re capped, don’t have the awkward clip placement.
Just looking at this pen makes me feel like I’m driving Speed Racer’s car.
As I understand, there’s not much give in the steel nib, so they might not be the smoothest writing experience. One member on Fountain Pen Network described it as like “writing with a nail.” But…don’t care; looks awesome.
(Besides, the writing doesn’t look all that stiff in this video.)
Now the bad news: These pens are out of production and have been since the early 80s, according to Russ. They were only intended for the Japanese market and are now fairly hard to find.
That would explain the prices of the Pilot Murex on eBay, which ranged from US$200 to US$500 in a recent search. For now, I fear I have have to simply lust from afar.
Meanwhile, I’m going to be jealous of Brad at the Pen Addict because he got to try a Pilot Murex and now owns it.
