Sailor 1911 Classic, full size, nearly the Holy Grail
By Andy Hayes
First Impressions
By Andy Hayes
First Impressions
It’s always the same, the moment we go out the postie turns up with the latest parcel for me. This is when living on Shetland becomes an advantage as the postie drops the package into my partner’s workplace along her route.
I had wanted a Sailor 1911 in the first place, but the UK cost had made me go for the Sapporo Mini instead. To say that I was stunned by the smoothness of the nib on the Sapporo would be an understatement. I thought that my Pelikan 805 nib was smooth, but it had suddenly be shoved into a lower league when the Sapporo Mini came along. I couldn’t live with the size of the Sapporo Mini so I passed it onto my other half. She adores the thing and it‘s only today that she has stopped carrying it around in the box!
Having found out how smooth the Sailor nibs were I decided that I had to have the 1911. I put an ad in the FPN Marketplace and had a few approaches. I really wanted to buy it from a UK or European seller to cut the cost of postage, lower the risk of loss in the post and avoid duties. In the end I bit the bullet and bought the pen from the US at about 2/3 of the UK price.
I had wanted a Sailor 1911 in the first place, but the UK cost had made me go for the Sapporo Mini instead. To say that I was stunned by the smoothness of the nib on the Sapporo would be an understatement. I thought that my Pelikan 805 nib was smooth, but it had suddenly be shoved into a lower league when the Sapporo Mini came along. I couldn’t live with the size of the Sapporo Mini so I passed it onto my other half. She adores the thing and it‘s only today that she has stopped carrying it around in the box!
Having found out how smooth the Sailor nibs were I decided that I had to have the 1911. I put an ad in the FPN Marketplace and had a few approaches. I really wanted to buy it from a UK or European seller to cut the cost of postage, lower the risk of loss in the post and avoid duties. In the end I bit the bullet and bought the pen from the US at about 2/3 of the UK price.
When USPS parcel arrived with a box inside the bag containing polychips and the Sailor box in a white cardboard sleeve. The box contained the 1911 and a convertor. It always suprises me that quality pen manufacturers such as Sailor and Pelikan don’t put a cleaning cloth in the box, whereas Duke does.
Appearance
I like black pens, especially the glossy ones and the rhodium trim sets it off perfectly. This one seems to pick up every little bit of fluff around it and reminds me of velvet jacketed dancers at 70’s discos. When the DJ put his UV light on the light showed up all of the bits on the velvet jacket much to the embarrassment of the wearer.
The cap has a thin band at the clip and two bands lower down. The lowest of those is much thicker and is engraved with Japan Founded 1911 Sailor. Just re-arrange these words into a sentence! There is another thin band at the blind cap end of the pen giving a vision of balance.
Design/Size/Weight
There is nothing outrageous about the design. Just a smart look about it especially with the rhodium trim. I hear that it looks like a Mont Blanc, but I don’t get to the High Street too often so I can’t confirm that.
Capped the pen is about 140mm. Posted 155mm and uncapped 125mm. It weighs 25.3 grammes so rates as mid-weight in my collection and is ideal for my tastes. I can easily write a dozen A4 pages with a pen of this weight becoming bored before I become tired.
Nib
One and three quarter turns gets the cap off to reveal the nib. I believe that the nib is rhodium plated. I have seen other reviewers talk about pens with white gold nibs, but to the untrained eye I don’t think that I would know the difference. Bling has never turned me on, hence my preference for conservatively styled pens. I am just glad that I am not a member of royalty. I couldn’t bear wearing all that bling, or as it is called in my partner’s home - klang. Back to the nib though. Smooth just does not sum it up. Stunningly smooth would be closer, but ironically not as smooth as the Sapporo!
Filling System
It takes almost seven full turns to unscrew the pen to insert the convertor. A certain amount of overkill there! Allow plenty of time for pen filling! Its a convertor, although you could obviously use cartridges, but Sailor have their own peculiar size, another reason why I got rid of the Sapporo Mini, a convertor only pen.
Cost and Value
Even in the UK I feel that you get value for money when you buy a Sailor 1911 at list, but if you can get it priced more sensibly then why not go for it. There is enough left over to buy one of Pam Brauns tortoise shell Pelikan 400s if you do. With a weak dollar and traditionally low US prices I would have been mad not to buy from the US.
Conclusion
It is a very stylish pen and writes like a dream. Am I 100% happy with it then? Yes and no! The Sailor 1911 is almost at the point of perfection for me for a mainstream pen. What would make it perfect is if they used a grown-up filling system like a piston filler.
I rather suspect that this pen will not last long in my hands. I have dropped the pen twice and the cap once since opening the box about 2 hours ago. Normally I am so careful with my possessions, but this pen seems to have a death wish! There is, I am glad to say, no damage.
I have reached the point of near critical mass with the pen collection. I now have 19 pens and have some that are so good, (for different reasons), that I only need to collect one more. Those of you that collect high-end pens will probably find it hard to believe that someone could be satisfied with pens like the Sailor 1911 and the Pelikan 805, but I know that if I carry on I will just end up with £1,000’s of pens that are barely better than what I have now. Yes I lust after a Sailor King of Pen, a Pelikan Chicago, a DaniTrio Densho or Mikado raw ebonite plus many others, but my pens are all users and therefore I need something that will stand up to the rigours of living with me and cost a sensible sum of money. I have to tailor the suit to the cloth available. Before I descend into unemployment at the end of my contract I intend to treat myself to a Nakaya (blackish red -tamenuri) writer portable size with a 2 tone nib. Needless to say, it will be fitted with a rhodium clip!
If you haven’t tried a Sailor then you need to. It really is a hugely pleasurable experience.
Design/Size/Weight
There is nothing outrageous about the design. Just a smart look about it especially with the rhodium trim. I hear that it looks like a Mont Blanc, but I don’t get to the High Street too often so I can’t confirm that.
Capped the pen is about 140mm. Posted 155mm and uncapped 125mm. It weighs 25.3 grammes so rates as mid-weight in my collection and is ideal for my tastes. I can easily write a dozen A4 pages with a pen of this weight becoming bored before I become tired.
Nib
One and three quarter turns gets the cap off to reveal the nib. I believe that the nib is rhodium plated. I have seen other reviewers talk about pens with white gold nibs, but to the untrained eye I don’t think that I would know the difference. Bling has never turned me on, hence my preference for conservatively styled pens. I am just glad that I am not a member of royalty. I couldn’t bear wearing all that bling, or as it is called in my partner’s home - klang. Back to the nib though. Smooth just does not sum it up. Stunningly smooth would be closer, but ironically not as smooth as the Sapporo!
Filling System
It takes almost seven full turns to unscrew the pen to insert the convertor. A certain amount of overkill there! Allow plenty of time for pen filling! Its a convertor, although you could obviously use cartridges, but Sailor have their own peculiar size, another reason why I got rid of the Sapporo Mini, a convertor only pen.
Cost and Value
Even in the UK I feel that you get value for money when you buy a Sailor 1911 at list, but if you can get it priced more sensibly then why not go for it. There is enough left over to buy one of Pam Brauns tortoise shell Pelikan 400s if you do. With a weak dollar and traditionally low US prices I would have been mad not to buy from the US.
Conclusion
It is a very stylish pen and writes like a dream. Am I 100% happy with it then? Yes and no! The Sailor 1911 is almost at the point of perfection for me for a mainstream pen. What would make it perfect is if they used a grown-up filling system like a piston filler.
I rather suspect that this pen will not last long in my hands. I have dropped the pen twice and the cap once since opening the box about 2 hours ago. Normally I am so careful with my possessions, but this pen seems to have a death wish! There is, I am glad to say, no damage.
I have reached the point of near critical mass with the pen collection. I now have 19 pens and have some that are so good, (for different reasons), that I only need to collect one more. Those of you that collect high-end pens will probably find it hard to believe that someone could be satisfied with pens like the Sailor 1911 and the Pelikan 805, but I know that if I carry on I will just end up with £1,000’s of pens that are barely better than what I have now. Yes I lust after a Sailor King of Pen, a Pelikan Chicago, a DaniTrio Densho or Mikado raw ebonite plus many others, but my pens are all users and therefore I need something that will stand up to the rigours of living with me and cost a sensible sum of money. I have to tailor the suit to the cloth available. Before I descend into unemployment at the end of my contract I intend to treat myself to a Nakaya (blackish red -tamenuri) writer portable size with a 2 tone nib. Needless to say, it will be fitted with a rhodium clip!
If you haven’t tried a Sailor then you need to. It really is a hugely pleasurable experience.
article from The Fountain Pen Network by Andy Hayes
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