Owning a Montblanc pen appears to be about status for many folks. It’s a bit like owning a Porsche cabriolet. Even as you adore the luxury and exclusivity, you realize that the Porsche 911 won’t drive much better than a Honda Civic, and will stay in the shop far more often.

Though pricey far more than competitors’ Pelikan or Waterman, Mont Blanc fountain pens are writing instruments that last for years, no matter what sorts of ‘maintenance’ you give them.

I must admit Montblanc is very durable. Mine has been “lost” in a car for several months in 110+ degree high humidity weather (so it has been baked for a long time) and still worked superb when found, except for needing a refill. Recently it went through the washing machine and again, all it needed is a refill.

There’s a harsh debate going over Montblanc stationery amongst connoisseurs and fans. Some insist that Montblanc’s are that good at writing as compared to much cheaper Parker’s. While partially true, I have to stress that nowadays few Mont Blanc owners write as much as these pens used to in recent times. Those were the real hey days of Mont Blanc. Most of information is tapped on keyboards. Fountain pens, no matter what brand they carry, are mostly used for signing some documents (like checks) and treaties, if any. But to see the real power o a pen, you need to put it to stressful operation environment like writing twenty pages a day, each day, for years. Who’s gonna do that? That’s why Montblancs have been turned into more of a status thing than a writing instruments. The company just followed the trend, making it’s pen a sign of possession, taste, classics. Which is just a little of what is contained in each Mont Blanc pen.