Pen Review - Newton Preston in Seven Seas Acrylic

Some nine months ago, a fountain pen not dissimilar to this beauty appeared on an Instagram feed. Some six months ago, this pen appeared on MY Instagram feed:

THE NEWTON PENS PRESTON

BACKGROUND

I don’t usually start my reviews with a background, but not everyone knows about Shawn Newton – and if you like fountain pens – you should!

According to his web web site, Shawn started making pens in 2011. His motivation was extraordinarily altruistic: to give school students who worked well, were going through hard times, performed above-and-beyond, an expression of appreciation. This concept has evolved so that he now raffles pens to raise money to assist students with college expenses. He raised his first money to make pens by selling his own pens and then trying a kickstart campaign that exceeded his ambitions and set him up. Now he’s out there on the pen scene and showing his pens to the world!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The Newton Pen comes in this nifty cylinder with a very cool pen cleaning cloth...groovy!!

Just look at that Seven Seas Acrylic!!  Wow! It’s bigger than I expected too. Not sure about the look of the long cap on top of the body; but I’m pretty impressed!

8/10

APPEARANCE AND DESIGN

I was drawn to Newton Pens via Instagram (that evil program that keeps inspiring me to find more!). When I saw one of his student pens in this acrylic, I just had to get it!

This colour is just fabulous! The gold clip contrasts beautifully on the pen to subtly break up the very blue of its blueness ! (does that really work?)

Shawn has a series of different designs, each called after different buildings. This one is the Preston. I wanted a look that would show off the colour – and I like largish pens. This one delivers.

While you can post this pen, it’s not really designed for it, and if you do, there is not much space to do it so the cap tends to over-balance the pen in your hand. As a poster (I hate having to put the lid somewhere and try to remember it), this is marginally inconvenient, but not a major issue.

This Photo by Newton Pens

Like I said earlier, the jury is out on the length of the cap. The cap takes up exactly half the length of the pen, and sits over the body of the pen (so naturally the cap is wider than the section). This creates a little leap in the middle of the pen that interrupts the continuity of its design.

This Photo also by Newton Pens.

The cap is also straight; whereas you can see that the body of the pen is tapered (more slender at the nib section and tapering out to the width of the cap about three-quarters of the length down, and then slender again at the tail). 

Uncapped, the body is attractive (if a smidge pudgy). 

Newton Pens Image

Capped however, something isn’t quite right to my eye. To a degree it looks like a cap from a different pen has been added to the body so that the colours match.

One other item to not here is the clip. I really like the look of this gold clip. Length, design (more tapering), colour, all work with this pen. Unfortunately it’s not that robust. The clip is rather thin. This works nicely on the pen, as a thicker clip I think would have been too chunky. But the delicate nature of the clip means that it will bend with use; and it won’t bend back. I have had the pen now for 6 months and the clip is now a touch further away from the body of the pen than where it started.  

7.5/10

WEIGHT AND DIMENSIONS

The Preston is a long, wide pen (just the way I like it). Capped, it’s 14cm long and about 1 ½ centimetres wide (cap). The body tapers from 1cm wide at the top and base, to 1 ½ cm just before the base.  If you do try to post, you can do so for about 2cm until the body of the pen thickens. Not really sturdy in this position, but do-able.

Comparison with a MB 149

The acrylic is light. So the pen is light – but not too light. It’s very comfortable in the hand; and happily keeps me writing for long stints without creating fatigue.

8/10

NIB AND PERFORMANCE

Shawn prepares your nibs for you at your request and preference. I wanted a medium stub; and the one I received has been perfect (the real test: have I inked it more than once? Indeed!). The nib, which, by the way, is two-tone steel (JoWo I think; – but he seems to use Pilot nibs too) is nicely adorned with a touch of scrolling and a stylised “NP”.  Yes, it’s not gold. No, it doesn’t flex - although there is a touch of spring  (not bad given it’s Autumn – sorry, bad pun). But for a steel nib, this one is a cracker!

8/10

FILLING SYSTEM

Cartridge Converter.  Hey, it works. It’s not a piston; but it’s still smooth, effective, and has reasonable capacity.  Not a real eye-dropper guy here, so not sure about conversion; but I don’t know I’d want to try it.

8/10

COST AND VALUE

My Newton Preston is a bespoke pen. Bespoke pens aren’t cheap. But in the context of the love that goes into it, the individuality of the pen, the service, the after-sales service and the craftsmanship; this was a very inexpensive pen. In any case, the pen cost less than lower end, big brand pens; and delivered in quality and substance in excess of many of them!

9/10

CONCLUSION

I think Shawn does a brilliant job and I’m more than happy with this pen. It gets comments wherever I go for that extraordinary colour; and it is a joy to write with. This pen is a keeper. More power to Shawn, both for his motivation and his skills.

81/100

0-50 = to be avoided at all costs
51-60 = if it’s cheap and you don’t really care….
61-70 = a nice pen with the makings of something better (just don’t spend too much)
71-80 = A better than average pen with just a few flaws that stop it from being really good
81-90 = A good pen, a keeper only a few minor places off being great
91-95 = Now THIS is a pen! If you can get it: keep it, love it, cherish it, and keep it away from the dog
96-100 = Grail

Along side my Omas Lucens Ogiva. The NP was the blue writing - Iroshizuku Kon-Peki

This is a Picture on the Newton Pens site of one of hiss special orders. Does this man have skills????