Over the past few years I have praised the Pilot Custom 823 in its own review and in a Pilot Custom 823: Revisited second post. I eventually ended up owning three of these pens, and I was incredibly proud of the fact, but I have since reduced my collection to just one. I want to do a comparison post between this pen and the 823, but first I think it is only right to give this pen its own review first.

Design

There is no beating around the bush. This pen looks like Pilot’s 823 model. It is a fairly slim pen (it is actually marginally slimmer than the 823 and the section feels better because of it, but that’s for another post) and has similar generic features to the 823 such as blind cap and finial (which are not unique to the 823). What the 699 does share that is somewhat unique to Pilot is the cap band, just not as well executed.

The pen comes in, as far as I am aware, in two flavours: an amber colour and a blue one, which I have seen in person but do not own. It is a similar colour to Platinum’s Chartres Blue #3776, while the brown, while remaining conscious of returning to this comparison, is similar to the Pilot 823 amber, though from memory I do think the 823 is a touch lighter in comparison (though this might just be the fact that my 699 has black ink in it right now and the 823 sat un-inked for about 6 months before selling it).

The body transitions really smoothly to the section, which gives a level of aesthetic appeal to the pen, as well as functionality (which I will get on to later).

Nib

For this price, it is unsurprising that this pen has a steel nib. It has a nice level of feedback to it but isn’t scratchy. The flow is really good, has a small amount of line variation (though not much to be honest) and reverse writing works quite well for a decent amount of writing.

The nib is a decent size (I was originally going to mod this to put a Mabie Todd nib on it, but I don’t have any that are large enough to fit the feed). The nib is gold plated with a silver coloured accent and standard Jowo/Bock swirling motif around the edges. There is a design that I can’t make out – I am not sure if it’s a pen, a knife or.. Both. A pen knife? Quite literally. Also inscribed is “Wing S”.

Filling

This is a vacuum filling pen. There was time not too long ago when vacuum filling pens were limited to the Pilot 823s, Viscontis and other high end brands, until TWSBI came along with their bulky/industrial Vac 700 that reduced the price significantly – now Chinese brands are entering the market with even cheaper alternatives.

Typically when you get a vacuum pen you have to unscrew the blind cap to write.

Feel

This pen isn’t too weighty and is a nice size to fit in the hand. The thing that I really like about this pen is when looking (or, rather, holding) the section. It is so comfortable to hold and sleek to sit flush with the pen, it really makes writing with it pleasant.

Would I Buy It?

It goes without saying. This will remain in my collection for a long time, putting my final 823 at risk. Especially if I can find a vintage gold nib to put in it (the Mabie Todd ones I have to hand are too small, sadly).

If Not This Then What?

I really don’t know what else to recommend. You can of course go for the Custom 823 and spend more than 10x the amount for basically the same pen if you really want. You get a gold nib and a weightier pen – perhaps better customer service/repairs? But even then, if you break a 699 then just get another one and you’re still not out of pocket compared to a single 823. If the design isn’t your thing, then you could look at the Chartres Blue, which isn’t as conservative looking – I’d be interested to see a clear barrel one.

At this price, I don’t know what else to consider – the pen does everything you’d need and more.