The True Heir

Written By Jeremy .

Urban legends—true or not—are among my favourite things to read. At the very least, they entertain. At their best, they offer a small insight, and gently dare us to believe. Such is the case with the story of how Pilot’s Custom 823 was conceived.

As the anecdote goes, the scene takes place inside Pilot’s headquarters in Tokyo. A meeting of executives. A new Capless model being introduced. And Pilot’s head of R&D—while taking notes—doing so with a first-generation, tortoiseshell Pelikan M800. The room, we are told, fell quiet as the CEO noticed the sheer brazenness. Then he smiled and produced his own M800 from his jacket pocket.

Both men agreed on something: that the first-generation M800—then fitted with a 14C nib—embodied the ideals of a fountain pen. They also agreed on what had been lost. In the late 1990s, Pelikan moved nib production to Bock and switched to stiffer 18C nibs with different writing characteristics. The “ideal,” in their telling, had been compromised. Fortune, however, favours the bold. If Pelikan would not preserve it, perhaps Pilot could.

A first generation Pelikan M800

The older Pelikans had their chick logo on a medallion instead of today’s laser engraving.

Pilot’s answer was the Custom 823: a pen engineered around its own filling system and an in-house #15 nib. Pilot’s executives wanted to dethrone the M800 as the most popular fountain pen in Japan. To ensure a warm reception, they supposedly fitted Pilot #15 nibs (with Pelikan engravings) onto M800 bodies and distributed them among Pelikan fans.

The test was simple. Can anyone tell the difference?

I happen to be in a position to answer that question. I own both a Custom 823 and a first-generation M800 with a 14C nib. Side by side, the 823 feels more slender in the hand. The nibs are identical in size. I have not attempted to fit a Pilot #15 nib onto the M800—there are risks involved, and I am not in a hurry to discover new ways to ruin a good pen. Perhaps one day.

Left to right: Pelikan M800, Pilot Custom 823

In terms of softness, the 14C M800 edges out the Custom 823. The story has an explanation for that too. Pilot, it claims, later stiffened their #15 nibs after learning why Pelikan did: too many 14C M800 nibs were bent or splayed by users accustomed to the pressure of ballpoints. Times change. Writing habits change with them.

Is the story true? I can’t confirm.

Fudefan notes that the stationery magazine Shumi-no bungubako (趣味の文具箱) continues to rank the M800—even in its modern 18C form—as the most preferred fountain pen among its readers. If the legend is accurate, then Pilot’s endeavour failed.

Somewhere, no doubt, a holdout still believes that is where the story ends.

And yet, since its introduction, the Custom 823 has gone on to establish itself as one of the most commonly recommended fountain pens in the world, alongside the LAMY 2000.

If there is any truth to the anecdote, I suspect those executives would be satisfied anyway. They may have failed to dethrone a king. But they succeeded in building an heir.

My thanks to Mr. Bruno Taut of Crónicas Estilográficas.

—Pilot Custom Urushi, STAs Kurogo

Jeremy .
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