Although Montblanc fountain pens definitely do have a premium attached to them, their Meisterstück range is usually the pen of choice for any wealth-based Instagram influencers looking to flaunt the money they have. That said though, there are some excellent pens within the Montblanc Meisterstück range of fountain pens with the Montblanc 145 being the most popular pen by a long shot.
Although it is not the most expensive pen in the Meisterstück range, it offers the best possible mix of build quality, performance, usability, and writing experience relative to its price point in the market. Unlike many of the other options available in the Montblanc range of fountain pens, the 145 tends to be a very popular option amongst the fountain pen community for both collecting and practical use too.
Due to being such a popular pen with many people seeing the 145 as their first possible Montblanc addition to their fountain pen collection, we constantly see people reaching out and asking for advice and if the price tag for the Montblanc 145 is actually worth it. Due to this, we have decided to focus todays article on our Montblanc 145 review and cover all of the common questions that we often see asked about this pen.
Montblanc 145 Review
The Montblanc 145 fountain pen is from their Meisterstück range and is a part of their Classique line that has seen constant, steady growth in its popularity since its release onto the market. Although a number of fountain pen enthusiasts do avoid the Montblanc range due to the price premium on their fountain pens, the Montblanc 145’s excellent performance can make the premium worth it as well as the bragging factor of being able to say you own a Montblanc pen.
If you rather focus on the functionality and writing experience of the pen rather than branding, something like the Pelikan m600 can be an excellent alternative to the Montblanc 145. The argument can definitely be made that the Pelikan m600 is a better option in many cases than the 145 and even though Pelikan is an excellent fountain pen brand, their marketing team has not done as good of a job as the Montblanc team in cultivating their reputation.
We are now going to be going over a number of different features of the Montblanc 145 to share our thoughts on each of them as well as share recommendations for when the 145 may be the best option for you. Please keep in mind that this is our opinion and as with most things, your own personal writing style and preferences for your fountain pen will come into play for each feature.
The Nib Of The Montblanc 145
Starting with what many consider to be the most important factor of any luxury fountain pen, the nib of the Montblanc 145 really is an excellent piece of engineering and you can tell that both time and care has been taken from the initial design of the nib all the way through to the final machine work to ensure it is the best it can be. The nib has a 14K gold nib with a rhodium-coated inlay offering a nice level of flexibility when writing due to the higher gold content than some competing nibs on the market.
Although the difference really is minimal, fountain pen nibs with a higher gold carat rating do have the perception of helping to keep to your true writing style due to the additional flex in the nib. This is technically true when compared to stainless steel or even gold plated nibs but the difference really is minimal for the vast majority of people and any potential purchase should not be heavily weighed on this point.
Just like all other premium fountain pens on the market these days, the Montblanc 145 is available with an extra fine, fine, medium, and broad nib. Unlike many of the competing brands in the luxury fountain pen market, the Montblanc range does have the advantage that none of their nibs are scratchy and that they all offer a very smooth writing experience.
Some brands can have issues with getting their extra fine nibs correct to offer the user a silky smooth writing experience and often end up scratching. As you would expect from the Montblanc Meisterstück range though, even the extra fine nib option on the 145 offers a silky smooth writing experience even when used on lower quality paper helping it score points over the compeating pens at this price point.
All nibs in the Montblanc fountain pen range are individually stamped after the final hand grinding process during production and then tested by the Montblanc master craftsmen to ensure that every pen up up to their high standards before shipping. This is why the Montblanc range have such an excellent reputation when it comes to their performance although their price points are definitely controversial.
The smooth writing experience of the Montblanc 145 helps the user avoid fatigue on those longer writing sessions and the pen starts up very well with minimal skip on the first few strokes before normalizing as you write for a longer period of time. Although this initial skip is rare and does not happen with all pens, we did want to point it out to our readers due to the price point of the pen but this will probably not be a major issue for the majority of our readers anyway.
There is no feathering from the nib of the pen and although it is definitely a wet writer, bleed and ghosting is minimal when using the official Montblanc ink range. Although other premium level inks will perform well in the pen, Montblanc does claim that you should only use their ink brands as they have been “optimized” for use with their pens.
Although this may be true and all premium fountain pen brands tend to make the same claim, it will be very hard to prove this either way. In our opinion and the opinion of the majority of the fountain pen enthusiast community, premium ink is premium ink no matter the brand. There are plenty of reports from people who own pens from the Montblanc range and other premium fountain pens and do not use the ink from the same brand as their pen and have no issue at all.
The Montblanc 145 Barrel
The barrel of the Montblanc 145 is made from precious resin using the signature Montblanc production technique to make their celluloid using only the highest possible quality nitrocellulose and camphor. This ensures that both the cap and barrel of their pens are are touch and robust as possible while also being extremely lightweight as to not impede your writing experience.
The pen is available in a number of colours and styles as standard with additional special editions of the pen being available in additional colours and trims too. The standard Montblanc Meisterstück 145 is available with either a silver, gold or platinum trim around the barrel and cap but the try and colour combinations will come down to your own personal preferences and style than anything else.
One of the very few criticism from the community about the Montblanc 145 is that it uses a piston converter cartridge based system rather than being a piston filled fountain pen. In all honesty, both systems do have their advantages and disadvantages but for general writing use, the converter system on the 145 will make little to no difference to the a large number of people as they will probably not even be able to tell the difference.
That said, a large number of fountain pen purists prefer a piston filled fountain pen like the Pelikan m600 over a cartridge converter system. That said though, the converters tend to be much easier to clean and re-ink potentially helping to drastically reduce the amount of time required when cleaning and servicing your fountain pen.
An easy way to think of it is that if you don’t even know the differences between a piston filled fountain pen and a converter cartridge-based system then it probably won’t matter and you will be able to go with the Montblanc 145 and not know the difference. If you do know the differences between the two systems but don’t care either way then go with the 145 too but if you do prefer a piston filled system then go with a piston filled alternative.
Another area where the Montblanc 145 manages to score points over the competing pens on the market, even its competition from within the Montblanc Meisterstück range is its size. With the Montblanc 144 often being considers to be slightly too small and the Montblanc 149 often being considered to be too large unless you have larger hands, the Montblanc 145 fits the sweet spot in-between being an ideal size the the majority of people.
The barrel of the pen comes in at 12.2cm with a closed length of 14cm and a posted length of 15.5cm making it ideal for the majority of people for general writing. With the barrel being just under 1.2cm at its narrowest point with an even narrower section, it also ensures that you are able to comfortably hold the pen for those longer writing sessions without building up fatigue.
The Cap Of The Montblanc 145
Just like all of the other Montblanc fountain pens, the 145 comes with the “white cap” on the finial of the pens cap that represents the peak of mont blanc, the highest mountain peak in the Alps and the namesake for the company. The cap is made from the same precious resin as the barrel of the pen with a matching silver, gold or platinum trim depending on the pen design that you decide to go with for your purchase.
As we mentioned earlier when covering the resin making process for the pens barrel, the cap is also very lightweight while also being extremely robust too. The lightweight of the cap ensures that you are able to use the Montblanc 145 posted without it being back weighted and spoiling your writing experience. This keeps the pen perfectly balanced for writing at all times and ensures that it offers you the best possible writing experience possible.
Although some fountain pen enthusiasts do prefer a pull-off cap, the Montblanc 145 comes with a screw-off cap as standard but in reality, for a pen at this price point, a screw-off cap is a much better option. It ensures that the cap does not accidentally come off the pen and go missing potentially saving you hundreds of dollars. On top of this, if you are planning to use your Montblanc 145 for work and you wear expensive suits. the screw off cap ensures the nib does not accidentally end up exposed and get ink all over your shirt and suit.
A minor point of criticism for the Montblanc 145 is that its clip is a little tight when compared to other popular luxury fountain pens. The clip does have plenty of spring in it but tight mold can be a bit of a pain until you are used to it but it does help to ensure that your pen will stay safely in your blazer pocket or attached to your notebook without popping off and going missing.
Montblanc 145 Writing Samples
The video above goes over a basic unboxing of the Montblanc 145 and then shows a number of writing examples to show you the writing experience that you can expect when using the fountain pen. The nib is super smooth to write with and glides over the paper with ease feeling like you are moving across silk.
The pen performs in a similar way for all nib sizes on the vast majority of paper types but using a low-quality ink can detract from the writing experience. Although Montblanc recommends that you use their ink with the Montblanc 145, there really is no need but we would always recommend that you do use a premium quality ink with the pen for optimal performance.
Conclusion
The Montblanc 145 really is an excellent little pen but we can definitely see why many fountain pen enthusiasts will choose to go with something like the Pelikan m600 instead of the 145. It can be hard to justify the higher premium on the Montblanc range when you are essentially just paying for the brand name and their better marketing department rather than any practical improvement in the pen.
We have already gone over why Montblanc pens are so expensive when compared to other brands and touched on the reasons that people will still opt to go with the Montblanc brand. Only you know your own personal circumstances but if you are able to justify the higher price tag then the Montblanc 145 will make an excellent addition to your fountain pen collection and many people like the bragging factor of owning a Montblanc.
