Like many of its rivals, this Parisian originated luxury goods manufacturer has for several decades been selling fountain pens along side their other products to provide a complete service to their customers. The D-line is at the top of their regular range, though there are a couple of variants with other names (Eternity and Liberty). So having picked one up in a Cult Pens sale, just how does it fair.

Mention S. T. Dupont and many will think of a giant bio-chemical corporation, the creator of Teflon, however that is DuPont and the wrong company (note the difference in use of capitals). Post a fire that destroyed the original coach building business in 1872, Simon Tissot-Dupont bought a leather workshop and sold to high end clientèle, leading first to a shop then the brand we know today. While 1973 saw the first ballpoint pen, from what I can tell they did not produce their first fountain pen until 1996 with the Olimpio.

Unlike some of their rivals, S. T. Dupont do make their own pens, whether this is construction, lacquering and finishing or the complete production I do not know. Needless to say they have a reputation for the quality of the final product matching the rest of their range, and I have to say this particular pen does largely live up to that.

The D-Line is a descendant of the original Olimpio and you can see the similarity with the wide curved cap and the straight body tapering down towards the end finial. Here you have the smooth lacquered graphite grey guilloché body and cap with matt charcoal grey finials and barrel band. It is an attractive pen without being in your face (unlike many of the other variants of the D-Line). The dark and light greys work well with each other providing a subtle elegance.

The finials hint at an artists eye in the design. The one at the base of the barrel may be a single piece but the groove works with the shape plus matches with the width of the top disk, which is very slightly domed. The cap finial is a more expressive affair and I would suggest is of three parts, the base ring, the clip hosting cone, and the top finial disk which is impressed with the S. T. Dupont emblem (the letter D).

The barrel band has S. T. Dupont Paris impressed upon in, and like the cap finial emblem, this is actually part of the moulding else stamped as there is none of the usual give-away grooves from laser engraving.

While the section is metal and shiny, the grooves prevent it from being slippery to the touch. It is not the longest of areas, in fact for me it may be a touch on the short side, however the step up to the barrel is smooth and shallow allowing for a comfortable grip to be found. Also the finger protector by the nib is very noticeable and there is a slight tactility to it. For me I find my thumb rests on the barrel ring.

The cap pulls off and pushes on. There is a satisfying click sound on closing and it is a crisp action, however Diplomat fidget spinner cap fans do not get excited for it does not provide the same level of sensorial stimulation/distraction. Alas, like a number of its peers at this price point, the seal is not the best and I do notice a greater level of ink evaporation than I would like. I would suggest 4-8 weeks for the converter to empty if you are not doing much writing.

The cap does post, but while firm there can be a little lateral movement. It does however, heavily back weigh the pen so I personally would not recommend it unless you are one of the left handed writers for whom this helps.

The clip is internally sprung and has a nice stiffness to it. It works well, gliding over pocket seams and keeping the pen firmly in place. The shield shaped dimple near the top does look like it should have something engraved, embossed or impressed on it, however it is plain.

In the hand the pen is weighty and reasonably balanced, but not perfectly, as the actual balance point is slightly further back than on many pens, just behind the fingers in the crook of the hand. This works for me but for some of you this may be an issue.

There is a long running discussion over who makes the nibs. The consensus is Bock, though if so I suspect in a similar manner to one of their rivals, Graf von Faber Castell, as in the nib is made to their own design and agreed upon alloy and then hand finished by S. T. Dupont. Certainly this 14k gold nib is very smooth, but at the same time also very stiff and nail like. You can get some line variation but it needs a little more pressure than I would be comfortable with and also the ink flow does not keep up. Interestingly no where on the nib or box does it say the tipping size. From measurement and writing impression this almost certainly is a medium. In fact, from what I can tell, if there is a Large in the name then that just means the pen comes with a large sized nib. One thing that is not obvious unless you look closely is the sides are not a straight curve, but actually almost a quill shape.

The feed is unique to S. T. Dupont, and I would suggest looks a little small compared to the nib. It is plastic and the ink flows relatively well. I would suggest this nib is on the wetter side, though as forementioned, start trying to push things and you rapidly get tram lines. As can hopefully be seen on the pictures, the ruthenium plating/coating does match the section and works well with the over all colour combination. One thing of note is the feed is not quite neatly lined up with the nib though I do not think this is enough to have any detrimental effect. Still a little clumsy on an expensive luxury pen.

The threads for the section are actually a plastic insert, which is odd as the inner barrel ones are metal, possibly brass. It does confuse me as to why and I do consider it a design flaw as the pen could do with slightly more weigh towards the front to provide a more neutral balance point, plus on a few occasions I’ve found the section start to unscrew from the barrel.

The filling system is cartridge converter and came with a branded Schmidt unit installed. There is also a single blue short international cartridge in the box to get you started. While I have no issues with the converter, and it is my preferred filling system, I do think it is more than a little tight for a pen of this price point to have just the one cartridge included.

The box is a black rubberised affair. Along with the usual tray with securing ribbon sitting over the paperwork and cartridge. There is also a rubber insert to keep the pen in place. I rather like this touch, though think it is unnecessary and would have preferred a second cartridge instead (even if I personally do not use them). There is also a plain white cardboard box to ‘protect’ the black box, though this does allow for the hosting of bar codes and stickers, which is why most pen makers presumably still use them.

Now on to the elephant in the room. The cost. £825-£895 depending on vendor. Yes you read that correctly. Now it looks like this particular version has now been dropped from the range and though cached pages (Bing still gives you the option even if Google has now dropped that function) we can see it was originally £930 at Cult Pens. Sure this is a direct rival to produce from Dunhill (who’ve now dropped fountain pens), Cartier, Graf von Faber Castell and Caran d’Ache, but even so that is a high price. Now I actually only paid £280 for it when Cult Pens decided it was better to lose money and clear shelf than keep in stock something that was not and may never sell.

So what do I think. Well it is a very well made pen. There is nothing specific to indicate it was hand finished, even the lacquering, but as a whole it is a quality product, but one with flaws resulting from design decisions. Namely the plastic threads and the ink evaporation. Now the latter I am willing to excuse as it is very hard to tackle that without a screw thread cap and this pen is no worse than many of its rivals with similar systems, but the plastic threads are an odd one and smack a little of penny pinching (as is including just one cartridge). There are also a few other little things, such as the lacquered and metal work not quite perfectly lining up (something I’m happy to ignore in a £500 pen, but not at this price point), the cap not being firmly fixed when posting, and the section occasionally coming unscrewed. The pen does write very well, and while the nib may not to my personal tastes, as it if very rigid and I like a little bounce, I have been quite happy to use this D Line and carry it around with me.

So would I recommend this pen, or another in the S. T. Dupont D Line range to others. Not at this price point. It is too expensive for what you get and a slightly flawed design. Certainly if reduced by a decent amount then consider it, but unless you are getting a great bargain where you should get your money back if it does not work for you (such as my situation) then this is a pen you certainly need to try before buying.

Pros:

• Attractive pen.
• Good design language.
• Smooth nib.
• Excellent bargain at the price I paid.

Neutral:

• Balance point may be a little too far back for some people.
• Feed looks undersized compared to the nib.

Cons:

• MSRP is far too high for what you get.
• Silly little signs of penny pinching.
• Plastic threads on the section.
• Ink evaporation.
• Posted cap does not fully fix in place.
• Feed not properly lined up with nib.

Writing Sample:

Size Comparison Pictures:

Here with not only the ubiquitous Lamy Safari/Al-Star, but also a close rival in the form of a Graf von Faber Castell Anello, plus also a Montblanc 146 (as I know someone is going to complain about me not considering that or the Pelikan M800 as being a rival).