A Worthy Successor to Airmail?#
If you.ve been in the Indian fountain pen scene for any number of times, you might have heard of ‘Airmail’ and/or ‘Wality’. This was a pen brand based out of Mumbai, with Airmail being the Indian brand, and Wality being the export focused brand. This was a well received brand among pen enthusiasts, mostly for providing solidly built workhorse pens for an affordable price. The pens were usually eyedropper pens, with some piston fillers here and there, and they usually came with their in-house nibs. Two of their most famous models were the 69 series and the 71 series, with the 69T(L) and the 71JT being the brand’s most iconic models. These eyedropper-only pens used to be made out of clear acrylic for the barrel and compression moulded plastic (usually the same CAB resin used in other Indian pens) for the section and cap. The pens came with an airmail branded #8 nib(in international nib sizing terms, it’ll be more like a stubby #6 nib, more akin to the size of Sheaffer nibs you’d find in pens like the No-nonsense, School pen, Award series, etc.) over a basic ebonite feed. These pens were very popular among the community, not only because of the great build quality, but also the customization potential. since the feed was a standard 6.3mm feed, same as you’d find in a typical #6 nib, there were plenty of people often modding their pens with the aformentioned #6 nibs, mostly from Kanwrite, to some basically threaading the section to fit a nib unit from JoWo or Bock. Another hack was swapping the feed to a Sheaffer feed used in the No-Nonsense pen. This eliminated the main problem of eyedropper pens, which was the burping of ink after the ink level gets below around 1/3rd. I personally have 2 71JTs and a 69T, all of which I’ve modded with Kanwrite nibs and Sheaffer feeds, and they’re incredible workhorse pens for the price. Here’s a picture of my 2 79JTs with the said modifications, I left the 69T at my hometown at the time of writing this so couldn’t get it:
Sadly, in early to mid 2024, airmail finally closed it’s doors. Due to dwindling sales and overall lack of demand for fountain pens in general. One last ditch effort to remain in business, was to make some of their models use a cartridge/converter filler (or 3-in-1 fillers as it was marketed). But it didn’t make as big a splash as they hoped such that they could stay afloat. After the closure, as usual with any discontinued product that is popular, the pens have shot up in value. I remember buying the teal 71JT in 2021 for around ₹450/- from Subbu sir of ASA pens, to now, fairly used ones are going out for approx. ₹1200-1300/- and mint ones going for ₹1500-1800. I’m sorry, but for that price, there are far better options in the market. The FOMO surrounding them is the cause of the high demand. For months I’ve been thinking, we do have so many airmail inspired pens from the market from the likes of brands like Oliver, Artex, etc. (All made by Click pens, I believe), why not make a pen from acrylic like the 71JT, and put a nib unit instead of a friction fit setup to make possible a 3-in-1 setup, and with the improved feed also make the pen resistant to burping.
Thankfully, the ever opportunistic Click, sensed the opportunity, and have (mostly) solved the gap in their latest release, the Retro. I’ll get to why I say mostly in the forthcoming section. So let’s get on with my opinion on the pen.
TL;DR#
If you’re looking for a pen with the airmail look, good build quality, a good #6 nib, and the ability to use it as a cartridge converter pen, this pen is a good option for the price on offer which is ₹900. It’s definitely cheaper than the airmails that floating around the market. So if you just want the feel of the pen, and care not for the brand, this pen is a great choice.
Design and Build#
As I mentioned before, this pen is based on previous airmail pens, as such it shares all of it’s characteristics. The long tapered cap, the wiiiiide cap band, the short yet comfortable section, and identical end finials. Lets get through them one-by-one.
Starting from the top, we see a silver finial with a conical end and a chamfer going transitioning into the clip, which in airmail tradition is short and thin, which covers half of the cap. It’s a bit stiff, but functional. the cap is made of acrylic, and tapers up before transitioning into a wide cap band, with a horizontal pattern and a laser engraved click logo in the bottom,. A small section of the acrylic is then exposed to the bottom with a medium step-down to the barrel.
Coning to the barrel, let’s start from the back where we find the same finial as in the cap, with a metal band to maintain that symmetry, which then transitions to the long acrylic barrel, which tapers up till about halfway, then tapers back down to merge with the section without any step down. The threads are quad-start and are nice and smooth, if you tend to hold the pen a little further away from the nib, the smooth transition along with the clean threads offer a nice place for you to hold the pen.
I’ve went for the white and blue color variation, which feels more of a light green and blue to my eyes. They do have other color options including a green and blue option as well, though I personally think the plain black or white colors with the thin striping looks particularly good.
Coming to the section, it’s a short section with a small taper, and a miniscule flare out towards the end. The section is not made with the same acrylic. Rather, the same kind of plastic used in their models like the aristocrat, and is compression molded.
Then we come to the nib. This is where this pen differs from the airmail. As while the airmail had an Indian #8 nib friction fit over an ebonite feed, this pen uses a Indian #35(International #6) nib on a nib unit and a plastic feed.
This allows for the use of a cartridge/converter alongside the typical eyedropper mode, since there are enough threads in the section that with an appropriate amount of silicone grease, you can ensure a leak free eyedropper experience. It’ll write a bit wetter too if you’re going to go full ink tanker on it.
Overall, as for design, they’ve went for the Airmail 71J look. And this is why I said Click mostly solved the problem in the intro. If they’ve made this with clear acrylic and made it look like the 71JT demonstrator, I think we have a winner here.
As for the size, it’s a medium-large pen, here are the measurements. Measurements:
- Capped: 151.3mm
- Uncapped: 134.9mm
- Thickness of the barrel: 13.2 at the thickest and 11.0 at the thinnest
- Barrel wall thickness: ~1.8mm
- Cap thickness: 16.0mm
- Section dimension: 11.4mm tapering to 10.2mm over a length of 17.5mm The dimensions are bang on with the Airmial as you can see from the size comparisons. From left to right, we have:
- Click Retro
- Airmail 71JT
- Airmail71J
- Kanwrite Desire
- Gama Forever
In hand, you’ll get an idea on why the airmail 71s were popular in the pen community, for a pen of this size, it is very comfortable and unposted, the length is just right as well, for me at least.
Writing Experience#
The click retro is available with nib sizes ranging from extra-fine, all the way to double-broad. I’m more of a fine nib kinda guy, but for this one AI decided to go with a double broad. the nib is engraved with the click logo(which I think is made by Kanwrite, looking at the stamping). Coming to the writing, for the ink, I just used the long blue cartridge that came along with the pen, since I was too lazy to choose an ink for it. Coming to writing with it, on the upside, It’s an extremely smooth nib, with good flow despite the plastic feed, and keeps up with normal and fast writing. On the downside, my nib came with a bit of baby’s bottom, which is a common occurrence with broader nibs in my experience(or I’m just not that lucky) leading to hard starts, but once the ink gets flowing it just flows…. I eventually fixed the baby’s bottom using a #7000 grit sandpaper, which solved the hard starting, while maintaining the smoothness of the nib.
I do like how the nib writes, however, I might just roughen the tip just a bit with something like a #4000 grit sandpaper, just to give a bit of feedback because as of now the pen is so smooth for my taste that I’m not getting that much control in writing with it. So if you like glassy smooth nibs, go for the double broad. Just keep in mind, you might or might not have a slight baby’s bottom that causes hard starts. And since it’s a standard #6 / #35 nib, you have plenty of options regarding nib swaps. Just pull the nib and feed out and swap with your choice of nibs, go for a Kanwrite nib in the standard sizes, or go for their specialty grinds like obliques, architects, stubs, etc. Or if you’re fond of ze Germans, put in a JoWo or a Bock nib in it. It’s this level of customizability that is great with these pens.
Verdict#
There is nothing much to say here, it is a great performer and a good value for money. If you want a pen with a good build, versatile filling options, a great nib and that classic look, then this pen is a great option, and for those who want to experience the flavor of airmail but are not ready to pay for it, or you’re apprehensive to but because it’s an eyedropper only pen, then this pen does present a solid case for itself at ₹900.