NEW: Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Top Down
We have a certain obligation to update people when some of our favorite items that we review here eventually end up making us not so happy, and sadly today is one of those days. The first time we brought you the Sailor Professional Gear Imperial was back in May of 2012, and it was a glowing review. Ever since that day this Sailor Professional Gear Imperial has been in almost daily use, but with gentle care.
18 Months Later: Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Logo Cap
Today in the midst of preparing another totally unrelated review something seemed wrong with my beloved Sailor Professional Gear Imperial. A quick look revealed that the decorative Sailor logo on top of the cap was not the same as it once was. I noticed that the majority of the black coating on the silver slug in the cap had flaked off. I was able to brush off some more with a light rub of my finger tip, which made me wonder how this happened in the first place. You can see that there is still some black left, and I actually tried to rub that off to at least make the entire thing look silver, but I had no luck. Obviously this doesn’t impact how nicely the pen writes, but it is certainly an eye sore on this pen now.
I have to think that on a nearly $500 pen, the added cost of making this part of the pen so the black coating would not come off so easily wouldn’t be a big deal. If it were to raise the price of the pen by $10-$20 to do so, would sales have been lost? I highly doubt it. I know that over at EdJelley.com they reviewd this pen as well, so I have to wonder if they noticed this problem as well in the 10 months since their review. If you have this pen let us know your experience here in the comments.
Wow, that’s no good!
I haven’t noticed mine doing that at all, but now I’ll be on the look out. I actually just finished up reading a “Top 5” list that included the Pro Gear Imperial and the cap looked fine (http://fpquest.com/2013/10/15/favorite-five-modern-pens/).
I would try contacting Sailor about it, that doesn’t look like normal wear and tear for such a pricey pen.
@Ed Jelley – Thanks for the feedback and that link. Hopefully I am just unlucky and the rest of the people that bought this pen dont have that issue. I should have mentioned that mine is stored in the pen loop on my Levenger Circa notebook and in my laptop bag when not in use. Nothing comes in contact with that part of the pen 95% of the time.
I think I may reach out to Sailor though, you are right.
Certainly contact Sailor. They will make good on this. Ask them to explain what they’re going to do to prevent this from happening again, don’t just accept a repair or replacement. Tell us if you don’t achieve satisfaction. Good Luck – David
@David – Thanks as always for your feedback, I’ll let you know how it goes once I reach out to them.