Review: Sailor 1911 Large Anchor Grey Fountain Pen - Zoom Nib @PenChalet

I am pathetic. I love the Sailor 1911 Fresca Blue so much - a North American exclusive - and then I saw another North American exclusive... the Anchor Grey. It doesn't matter to me that it's exclusive. I was more so excited by the cool pastel-type grey color. I'm a big fan of Sailor so in that regard, this review will be biased by the fact that I picked this pen for myself.

ABOUT

Body material: Plastic
Trim: Rhodium-plated
Cap: Screw on
Posts: Yes, friction
Filling: Sailor proprietary cartridge/converter
Nib material: 21kt rhodium-plated gold
Length (capped): 141.0 mm/5.55"
Length (uncapped): 123.1 mm/4.84"
Length (posted): 153.5 mm/6.05"
Length (section): 16.8 mm/0.66"
Diameter (barrel): 11.2 - 13.3 mm/0.44" - 0.52"
Diameter (section): 10.5 - 11.7 mm/0.41" - 0.46"
Weight (all): 26 g
Weight (cap): 9 g
Weight (body): 17 g
Price: $324.00USD
Where to buy: Pen Chalet

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PACKAGING

The Sailor 1911 fountain pen has straightforward packaging. There is the classic blue hard case box with the Sailor logo printed on the top in gold lettering. Inside the blue box, the pen is held in place by an elastic and ribbon on a felt bed. The bed is removable. There is also a cartridge, a converter, as well as a little pamphlet about the Sailor Pen Co. and your pen. Little wasted space with this packaging. It's plain packaging, but I don't feel bad about not keeping it. It also doesn't seem (depending on how you feel about packaging at all) too wasteful. It's not my favorite packaging though.

APPEARANCE

The Sailor 1911 Large fountain pen is not a huge pen, but it is the larger of the two 1911 sizes. It is a torpedo shaped pen with rhodium-plated trim. The center band is wide and is engraved with Sailor Japan Founded 1911. The finial is unmarked. The clip is plain, coming to a rounded off end. It has no branding on it, so it isn't particularly unique. Near the end of the cap, there is a raised center band and a thinner, flat band just a small space above it. The larger band is engraved with: Sailor Japan Founded 1911. The section is round and tapers ever so slightly towards the nib, and ends in a flared ridge. The cap threads at the back of the section are the same color as the pen so they blend in.

I love the Fresca Blue and I felt like the Anchor Grey was a nice friend for it. It's sort of a warmish pastel grey that caught my eye. Can't really explain it. I just like it! The resin does pick up micro scratches over time, but if you don't let it rub on other pens and keep it in a sleeve or something when you tote it around, it'll look pretty good. My Fresca is still looking pretty good.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

The zoom nib is a single tone 21kt nib. It has a single slit, a round breather hole, and is engraved with: 1911, 21K, 875, Sailor and Z on the side, the Sailor anchor and some flourishes. The Zoom nib on this pen is so exciting that I cannot believe I don't already have a zoom nib. I've used one before, I had one several years ago (but sold it because I didn't care for the gold trim so much), but since the fun colors of the rhodium-trim Fresca Blue and Anchor Grey came out, I had to try again. My goodness I waited too long. The Zoom nib is the perfect factory nib for "fun" handwriting and hand lettering. I truly enjoy it. It is really smooth, ink flow is moderate, drying times are pretty fast, and it's well tuned and adjusted. It's so much fun to create rounded letters with or sharper letters, depending on my mood. It feels good and I love seeing the letters that come out of this nib!

As I have said before; of the standard nib selection, my favorite nibs are the Music and Zoom nib - they offer the most variation and feel the best for my writing preferences.

The cartridge/converter system works without issue, as usual. Not a huge ink capacity from the cartridge but I don't mind as I like to change my ink colors and it reduces the chances of the ink drying out before I use it up.

IN HAND

The clip has moderate tension - it can be lifted but it is snug - quite practical. It has a reasonable length so it will clip on safely to papers/pockets.

The section is small but comfortable - no sharp ridges or anything. The cap threads themselves are a bit sharp but they are well out of my grip space. If you have large fingers, they might get in your way, but even so, it's not too sharp. They're not so bad that I wouldn't want to use the pen.

Top to bottom: Sailor 1911 Large Anchor Grey, Sailor 1911 Large Fresca Blue, Sailor 1911 Standard Peacock Blue, Lamy Safari.

I think this is a great pen in hand - it's extremely comfortable, great weight, great balance. It writes well unposted but it's perfected posted because it posts deeply and comfortably. Writing for extended sessions is no problem. If you have larger hands, you'll likely prefer the 1911 Large size as it can be used unposted as well as posted. If you prefer the 1911 Standard, then using it posted might be ideal. I prefer the Large size.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

As I said at the start, I am biased. I specifically picked this pen because I am a fan of Sailor. Sailor pens are solid. I love them and think they produce some great stuff. Some people have objections about the little converters but to be honest, I kind of like it because it means I get to change my inks around more. They're simple but comfortable pens with really nice nibs, available in a heck of a lot of colors and a couple models - there's surely something to please everyone. I love them. It's fairly expensive but I am not looking for the best value fountain pen here, I wanted it because it's fun and I like the color and model and writing experience!

The Zoom nib is unique and set up for an Architect customization should you wish to increase the variation. It's a pricey pen but one I'll have for a long time, if not forever. I think it's great as is and is one of the most fun factory nibs available. Not only is it fun for hand lettering, calligraphy, and general fun, it's an excellent daily user.