Monteverde Invincia Stealth Fountain Pen - Black

Without wishing to sound like I need to get out more, I have a lot of fountain pens. Some may argue that this is the result of some sort of psychological sublimation of a repressed need, but, in fact, it is because I have always hoped that each one would be the one that "ticked all the boxes". Finally, I have found it, and the Invincia by Monteverde be its name. What have I been looking for? First, a good smooth writing pen - one that doesn't feel like that I'm bleeding ink through a medium nib, nor one that is medium to the point of parsimonious. One whose nib is not as soft as a strawberry jelly, nor as hard and scratching as a wire brush. I want a nib that looks like a proper fountain pen nib, not a nib that tries to masquerade as something exotic or esoteric, nor something that the designer gave up on half way through. I want a screw on cap, one that stays properly screwed on at the business end, yet sits happily on the other end without either popping off at the slightest change in hand position or scoring the body of the pen as it tries to hang on. I want it to fit my hand comfortably and be well balanced (it is weighty, but I like that). I want it to take universal ink cartridges, and not be so into itself (and the manufacturers ink sales) that it can only function with either a convertor or cartridges that are as hard to find as they are expensive. I want it to take two cartridges: one engaged, one spare. I want its style to embody its function. To the extent that, on seeing it, you just want to pick it up and get to know it better by running with it through a ream of paper or two, or three... then find yourself asking where the time went. I don't want gimmicks. I want a design and build that someone's thought about and loved. This pen is my idea of pen perfection. I was going to say for the price, but, to be honest, I think it so exudes quality as to make talk of cost somehow insulting. I have bought pens twice as expensive and liked them half as much. However, I have bought two Invincia: the Stealth and the Blue. I use the Blue day to day because the Stealth's awesomeness is just, ...is just, ... is just knee trembling.The pens I have that are in the same price bracket are the Shaeffer Prelude, the Parker Sonnet, the Waterman Expert, and the Cross Affinity (I also have slightly cheaper Lamys, Faber Castells, Parkers, Shaeffers, Watermans, and assorted others)... most of which will soon be on their way to good homes. The Cross Affinity and the Parker Sonnet would be my next best things: the Affinity is more Classy, but the Sonnet is more a very timid version of the Invincia. The others have their merits, don't get me wrong, but, for me, the Invincia just epitomizes the (modern) fountain pen. I was a little dubious about its name: I can't readily find a definition of the name anywhere: my guess is that its etymological breakdown is in- (negation of) -vincere (to win) -ia (plural), i.e., those who cannot be vanquished... which is maybe not that far from the mark.

I have owned this pen for about a year and a half now, during which I've used it extensively. Of course it goes without saying that the aesthetics are rather striking. The black tapered nib got some attention at the university library (the nib has a black anodized look to which is particularly attractive), and the pen is more or less all metal. The Monteverde logo stamped on the head of the pen is a nice touch as well. As you turn the screw-on cap on the pen you can feel the cap slotting into or out of it's natural position; it's not just a basic screw mechanism. Without the cap unposted the pen sits beautifully balanced between the thumb and forefinger; the cap can be posted for those who favour a more hefty feel.The all metal construction does come with downsides though. Under normal circumstances a screw-on design has the benefit of being more durable than a click on mechanism, however in this case with regular use the paint wore off the thread, exposing the brass underneath, and with further use the screwing mechanism became less smooth with the metal on metal grind, and I can't oil the thread because it would get all over my fingers.The grip of the pen I found to be too thin for my rather average sized male hands, forcing me to grip the pen further up nearer the thread; however the metal thread would abrade my thumb, so I constantly had a flaky thumb pad.With time the black paint has slightly flaked off, particularly near the nib and at the rim of the cap, and the invincia lettering on the cap is fading; ironically. The sleek look of the pen is somewhat compromised by these effects; it does not age well.How does it write then? I got a medium nib, and it's a somewhat finer writer than I expected. It's certainly a lot finer than my Faber-Castell Loom in medium. The ink flow is also more constrained than it is in the Loom, and I find that, with some inks more than others, the pen chokes up during use, and I have to shake it around or put pressure on the nib to restart it again. Moreover, the nib requires more pressure than other fountain pens I've used to make it write; you don't get that glassy smooth feel, and perhaps due to the thinness of the nib, it does feel a tad scratchy.All that being said I do like the pen and I did use it extensively, partly because the thickness of the line it produced, that medium-fine sort of thing, was quite to my liking, and also because it's amazing looks do make writing that bit more pleasurable. And it does get extra kudos for surviving a very violent attempt by my friend to put the cap back on by simply slamming the cap on it's head, and also for coming equipped with an ink converter.In conclusion, your money is going on the looks rather than performance, which, if that's what you're after, isn't such a bad deal.