Cross Time

It is Cross time on my desk display stand. I used to have quite a few more pencils by Cross, but let a few go recently.
A little bit of luxury.

Cross - finally out getting some sun and fresh air

From top to bottom

ATX

Century II Medalist

Solo (probably a Solo Classic to be specific, but I'm not 100% sure)

Tech 3 Multi Pen - 2 x BP + MP tips

Cross Classic Century Pencils

Cross Classic Century Pencil

The roots of the A. T. Cross Company go all the way back to Providence, Rhode Island and the year 1846. Elegant gold and silver casings for wooden pencils were among their first products and pencils continue to be an important part of the Cross product line up. The Cross website has this to say about the Classic Century range of writing instruments.

Forever Classic 
An icon of American design and innovation. The choice of movers, shakers and ground breakers since 1946.
Does form follow function? Or does function drive form? Whatever your point of view, Classic Century delivers. Its sleek profile and patented twist-action barrel sparked a design revolution. Generations later passionate fans remain loyal to the iconic silhouette, while trendsetters appreciate its authenticity. Cool comes full circle.

I’ve ended up with three Cross Classic Century mechanical pencils – two old BP/MP sets and a recent MP.

From top to bottom

• Classic Century 10K Gold Filled/Rolled Gold 0.5mm mechanical pencil with 23-karat gold plated appointments. Twist action ratchet lead advance with retractable sleeve. Cross item 450305. This is a current item. 
• Classic Century Classic Black ballpoint pen / 0.9mm mechanical pencil set, with the Mobil Pegasus logo on the pocket clips. Screw mechanism lead advance. Cross item 2501. This is a vintage item, and marked “Made In USA”. 
• Classic Century Lustrous Chrome ballpoint pen / 0.9mm mechanical pencil set. Screw mechanism lead advance. Cross item 3501. This is a vintage item, and marked “Made In USA”.

Two generations. Modern 0.5mm and classic 0.9mm.

At some stage I suppose I should try and find out when Cross introduced 0.5mm and when they dropped 0.9mm. If you've got an old Cross catalogue feel free to tell me what lead diameters it has in it.

A perennial favourite. A lot of the Cross writing instruments down my way seem to have been business gifts, embellished with company logos.

Pull the top half of the body off to access the eraser. The classic Classic has an eraser, but as a screw action mechanism new leads are fed in through the tip. Spare leads are stored inside the body beneath the eraser, but thats just storage, to replace a used up lead a new one has to be removed from under the eraser and inserted in through the tip.

The current Classic has an eraser as expected, and you pull that out to access the lead refill magazine.

Note the change in font for CROSS on the pocket clips. Current above classic.

The modern Cross Century Classic in 10K Gold Filled – as timeless and popular as a day at the beach with fish-n-chips for dinner.

The Cross Classic Century 10K rolled gold pencil featured in this article was supplied by Euroffice, an office supplies specialist in the UK, in exchange for being featured on this blog and an acknowledgement.

Cross Century II Mechanical Pencil Review

Cross Century II Mechanical Pencil Review

Years of blogging have corrupted me. I started this blog with rock-solid righteous prejudices –

Rubber grips = horrible and bad
Side-clickers = dodgy, mutant growths
Silver and gold trims = I’ll be tactful and just say they were not to my liking.

It is now clear to me that this blog has performed some sort of mental adjustment upon me, whittled away at my beliefs to the point I sometimes just don’t know where I stand.

Down to business then. Stylistically the Cross Century II is a development of the Classic Century, with arguably the most significant difference being the wider body of the Century II. With the Century II the top half of the two piece body is wider than the lower half, somewhat reminiscent of the look of a capped writing instrument with the cap posted. The proportions of this pencil with its straight lines and tapering ends are rather easy on the easy on the eye.

See, that’s what I mean about breaking down prejudices. To me, the polished chrome body and 23K gold trims of the Medalist colour scheme should look…well, just not right…but somehow...?

There is a thin black grooved line towards the base of the gold end cap – I really quite like that little aesthetic addition. The gold and especially the chrome are highly polished and really stand out.

Whilst 0.5mm is the only lead diameter option for the Century II mechanical pencil, it is available in 5 colour options, mine being the chrome and gold trim 'Medalist' colour scheme. Well, that’s 5 options in the retail range, there could be more in the separate business range, particularly as part of a BP/MP set.
 
In the hand the Century II has a reasonably substantial weight and feel, and is noticeably top heavy. The bright polished chrome finish is never going to win accolades for its grip enhancing properties. Actually the chrome body isn’t entirely plain – there are groups of very fine lines running the length of the body, but they don’t really contribute anything to the grip. At least with no specific grip zone you can grasp the pencil at any point and rotate it at will.
 
The lead advance mechanism is a standard twist top ratchet. You twist the top half of the body clockwise about 135 degrees to activate the mechanism. It is spring loaded so it springs back as soon as it is released. Ten activations will get you about 7mm of lead. You can operate the mechanism one handed, but two is best. There’s no doubt that twist mechanisms are slow and cumbersome compared to push-tops and most other mechanisms.

The whole top half of the mechanical pencil pulls off to allow access to the lead refill chamber. There is a small eraser under the top half for occasional use.

The eraser plugs the end of the lead chamber so you pull it out to put more sticks of lead in.

PAT 5,662,424 is marked on the body of the pencil mechanism which is the standard Cross patent, with links back to Kotobuki of Japan.

The lead sleeve of the Century II is a short thin metal pipe. The sleeve is retractable. You twist the top half of the body clockwise to advance the lead, but anticlockwise will lock the mechanism into rest mode and the lead sleeve can be pushed back up into the tip. As usual you can also retract the sleeve by ‘activating and holding’ the lead advance mechanism and pushing the sleeve in.

The pocket clip is not spring loaded but quite strong and functional. The rounded end allows the clip to slip easily onto a sheet of paper or shirt pocket. It also looks quite stylish.

“Cross” on the top half of the body and on the pocket clip are the only external markings on the pencil. I always wish manufacturers could somehow include some style or model identification on their writing instruments as well.

• Best Points – Overall looks, plus I like the rest mode option for the mechanism.
• Not So Good Points – Grip not the most secure.
• Price Range – High.
• Does this pencil make it into the Top 5? - No.

Dimensions – Length 140mm, diameter 9mm on the lower half of the body. Balance point about 85mm up from the tip.

Notes:
1 - This Cross Century II mechanical pencil was supplied by Euroffice, an office supplies and stationery specialist in the UK, in exchange for a review of the pencil and an acknowledgement.
2 - The Cross item number of this Century II Medalist mechanical pencil is 330305WG.

Cross ATX Mechanical Pencil Review

Cross ATX Mechanical Pencil Review

The Cross ATX mechanical pencil appeals to my personal tastes. The body is a gently tapering shape and the pocket clip flows onto the body, continuing the smooth elegant lines. Classical simplicity. Mighty attractive.

My ATX mechanical pencil is the cyanic blue with chrome trims colour option. The cyanic blue is a very dark shiny blue lacquer type finish which shows many fine striations when the light hits it in a certain direction. Apparently this is actually reflections from the brushed metal finish of the main body beneath the lacquer. The ATX is a reasonably substantially sized writing instrument, but at 25 grams and with a fairly central balance point, it is somewhat lighter in the hand than its size and dark colouring might otherwise suggest.

Down in the general area where most would grip the pencil the diameter is about 8 – 10mm. The lacquer finish is smooth and shiny, but as far as such finishes go, and combined with the reasonable body diameter, it provides an acceptable level of grip.

The lead advance mechanism is twist top ratchet. The top half of the body is rotated to activate the lead advance one increment and then it springs back. If you have good dexterity then you can operate it one handed, but many would need to use both hands. There is quite a bit of rotation before the lead advance mechanism is engaged which means there is an amount of play between the two halves of the pencil and at times there is some intermittent wobble noise when writing with the pencil. Ten activations of the mechanism will advance about 6mm of the 0.5mm lead.

The lead sleeve is a short 2mm long pipe and it is a fully retractable sliding sleeve so the pencil as fully pocket safe as you would expect from a luxury writing pencil. If you twist the top half of the body the opposite direction than that which advances the lead, then the twist mechanism locks and the lead and sleeve can be pushed back into the body. This twist and lock feature of Cross mechanical pencils was pointed out to me by a commenter on this blog earlier this year. Just like push top ratchet mechanisms you can of course also push the lead and sleeve back into the body when the mechanism is at held twisted at its maximum lead advance position.

The top half of the body pulls off to reveal a small eraser, which in turn pulls out to allow access to the lead refill chamber. The mechanism housing is clearly marked “PAT. 5,662,424”.

Now, if you look that up on Google Patents, you will see that it is for a “ ‘Mechanical Pencil’ Assignee A. T. Cross Company, Lincoln, R.I. Inventors Kageyama Shuhei; Ebinuma Tadayoshi, both of Saitama-ken, Japan; Thomas Clem, Lincoln, R.I.” Now, those first two names and their address didn’t exactly fit with A. T. Cross and it piqued my interest. This patent lists two other patents in its citations section, so I thought I’d follow through to them. The first of these is “ ‘Rotary knock type mechanical pencil’ Inventors: Hidehei Kageyama, Robert V. Lozeau Assignees: Kotobuki & Co., Ltd., A. T. Cross Company” Ahhh, Kotobuki, now there’s an interesting relationship revealed. Anyway, I won’t rush off on that tangent any further…for the moment.

“CROSS” is marked clearly on the pocket clip. The pocket clip is strong and will certainly keep your pencil attached to whatever you clip it to. It’s very hard to see, but “CROSS” is also marked on the top half of the body, near the centre ring.

My ATX pencil was purchased a few years old and it states on the protective packaging sleeve “Assembled in USA with US and foreign components”. I don’t know what country of origin statement is on the mechanical pencils currently shipping from the A.T. Cross company distribution centre.
• Best Points – The looks.
• Not So Good Points – That occasional rattle noise can be annoying.
• Price Range – Mid.
• Does this pencil make it into the Top 5? - No.

Dimensions – Length 141mm, diameter 12mm at widest point. Balance point about 75mm up from the tip.

But wait, there’s more! (Though no free steak knives)

Back on 9 September, ‘Benjamin’ left a comment on this blog suggesting I review the Cross ATX mechanical pencil, and also compare it to the Lamy 2000. Now, I don’t normally do that sort of comparison thing, but without establishing a precedent…here are a couple of photos of the Cross ATX and Lamy 2000 so you can get more of a direct comparison between the two.

18 grams for 2000, 25g for ATX.

Clips - sprung and not sprung.