Black. A Click tribute to the Deep.

Black. Why am I fascinated with Black fountain pens? Why do we fountain pen fanatics dream of the Black 149, or the Black KOP for that matter, when in a dream sequence, it can technically take any colour? Why is there such an aura about uncapping a black pen, while seemingly lost in thought, we take all the time in the world to put our signatures on paper? More importantly, why are there so many black pens to choose from in the first place?

My wife, who is a psychologist tells me that contrary to popular belief, black is extremely popular with retailers. In colour psychology, black is symbolic of mystery, power, elegance and sophistication – exactly the kind of attributes that our subconscious selves want us to radiate, through our shiny black (and so often oversized) writing instruments! Popular perceptions, which tend to relate Black to evoke emotions such as sadness or anger, be damned. Had what is popularly believed been true, black would not have eternally continued to be the “new black” in fashion across the ramps, spring, fall and winter!

Black ink too, has been the preferred one down the ages, thanks to it being easy to read on a white surface, but that is another story. Let us focus here on the pens, my fascination for Black Fountain Pens, remember?

I was talking to Harsh Gagwani, the Managing Director of Click Pens, some one who, when he speaks about fountain pens, speaks for the industry per se, his words carrying the weight of two generations before him who had spent their lives helping build the Click brand.

“So why are black pens so ubiquitous” I asked. Smiled Harsh Gagwani, “because you cannot go wrong with Black. Because Black never goes out of fashion. And because serious writers prefer to choose black as the colour of their writing instrument”. While Click pens are available in a number of attractive colours, including some eye-candy tones, he pointed out, the sheer elegance of a Black pen with the most basic of trimmings or accoutrements (jewellery as they say in the trade), is hard to match. And he couldn’t be more right feel I.

Take the simplest of Click’s offerings – the Aristocrat. With its all-black body, the simple clip and the two rings around the cap edge, it looks every bit the invincible warrior that it is. I have heard fountain pen experts compere it to the Mongol horses that had helped curve out an empire, the kind of which the world had not witnessed before and since, and rightly so. Short, stocky and hardy as hell, these pens, like the horses they are often compared to, can go on and on, with seemingly nothing that can come between them and domination.

However, if I were to pick out the black pen from Click’s repertoire that simply gets me drooling, then I will certainly choose the Falcon ebonite. This winner from Click comes with a three-in-one filling system and the standard nib options. But what makes it the champion that it is, is not to mention the way it writes, but its look and feel. It has that unblemished look of ebonite which is heightened by the oxidised clip-ring combination that add a distinct vintage aura to it. The clip-ring combination is available in gold and steel, with me preferring the slightly muted steel version over just-the-shade louder gold. A bit tallish, the pen is perfectly balanced and I have seen it easily replace many a big and mighty fountain pen as the daily writer of choice preferred by career writers. If there is only one complain against the pen that I can cook up, then it my natural aversion to the torpedo / cigar shape, me preferring the flat top (and ended) pens over the ones that tend to be conical in the extremes.

This is more than compensated in the Click Century Carbon Black, which is everything that I have always dreamt of in a fountain pen and more. It has the proprietary Click nib and feed, as a three-in-one filling system, writes in crisp yet wet lines and is ideally sized to fit most hands, apart from having the balance of a ballerina.

But what makes it the cynosure of my eyes is its texture-feel, its ebonite demeanour and the stark get-up – sans all unnecessary signs of ostentation, save a minimalistic clip. The finish (read machining or turning if you may) of the pen is so precise that threading seems to lend itself to do the bidding of the owner, just the way it effortless glides on the paper converting one’s thoughts for posterity.

This variant too is available with both the golden and the steel clips, which have been worked upon to exude the vintage look to accentuate the art of minimalism that the pen is Click’s tribute to.   

For More information: http://www.uniquepen.in/

Watch this video:

The Black Prince from Click – YouTube