Favorite Pens of the Year: A 10 Plus One Selection Worth a Look

Introduction

Every year we take stock of the pens that actually earned writing time, not just shelf time. This list is personal and unranked: eleven pens, ten plus one, that were reached for most often over the past twelve months. Some are brand-new releases that grew on us quickly, others are evergreens that keep delivering year after year. The common thread is simple: beautiful materials, comfortable handling, and reliable, enjoyable writing.

Visconti Speak Easy

The Visconti Speak Easy is a weird, wonderful pen. It hides a compartment for alcohol in the barrel, complete with a rotating ring that lets you label what is inside, cycling through rum, vodka and grappa before landing on the Visconti logo. We do not drink, but we absolutely love this pen anyway.

The celluloid is genuinely beautiful, the size is large and imposing, and the metal compartment makes it pleasantly heavy. That same compartment leaves almost no room for an ink reservoir, which historically made it awkward to fill. With the right fold-away converter and the newer gold nib, it has become far easier to live with, and it now writes wonderfully. It is also a true conversation piece; people notice when you unscrew this one at a meeting.

Conid Kakari

The Conid Kakari arrived as a gift, which makes it special on its own, but it has also proven to be a lovely writer. It uses a bulk-filler style system with a clear reservoir, giving it massive ink capacity that keeps going for days. The titanium-trimmed version we use pairs a stub nib that writes very nicely, even if the gold trim clashes slightly with the titanium accents.

Compared with its obvious sibling in the Conid KingSize, we find them essentially interchangeable in daily use. The KingSize filling system may be marginally easier to operate, but the Kakari is every bit as capable and has been an enormous amount of fun.

Lambrou Pens LB6

The Lambrou Pens LB6 remains a favorite years after we first got it. The diffusion-bonded acrylic is stellar, an incredibly deep red, and the faceted model captures light beautifully, almost like gothic church windows. It is a limited edition of ten pens, handmade by the great pen maker Paul Rossi, who sadly has passed away. His art lives on in pens like this that people still use all over the world.

It is oversized and very girthy, yet still comfortable enough for extended writing, and the number 8 Bock titanium nib currently fitted makes it a pleasant, smooth writer. The faceted cap and barrel also make it a magnet for questions whenever it comes out of a pocket.

Inventery Pocket Pen

The Inventery Pocket Pen sits in a very different price range from most of the pens on this list, and that is part of its charm. This second version is made in the United States and the brass finish we kept patinas beautifully over time. The standout feature is the extender: remove the middle section and you are left with a true pocket pen, similar in concept to other expandable designs. Note that the converter cannot be used in the shortened configuration, so it is slightly finicky.

It is available with either fountain pen or rollerball tips, and you can run fountain pen ink in the rollerball. The number 5 steel nib is smooth and fine, the weight is satisfying, and it is robust enough to survive rolling off a desk. A great everyday office pen.

Titan Pens Roo 2.0

The Titan Pens Roo 2.0, made by William Shakur, is a 3D-printed triangular pen with rounded sides, and the ergonomics are excellent. The faceted, softly rounded section is one of the most comfortable we have held, and the piston filler fills essentially the entire barrel with ink, so it writes page after page without ever running dry.

Our example is extra special because it was made to house an orphaned number 8 Yovo nib, which as far as we know is discontinued, bought from a pen maker who has since passed away. Wearing a double broad titanium nib, it stays wet and consistent through massive ink sessions. The translucent gray material looks sharp too, and it sparked a genuine desk conversation about ergonomic pens the first week we used it.

Magna Carta Mag 1000

The Magna Carta Mag 1000 is a large, vintage-inspired pen built around a number 10 nib with an ebonite feed. Put a number 5 steel nib next to it and the difference is almost comical; the enormous nib is simply fun to use and looks fantastic.

It is an eyedropper pen, and while it technically accepts a converter, the converter drains straight into the feed and writes dry. The simple fix: pour ink straight into the barrel. It becomes a high-capacity, fantastic writer. The nib runs fairly stiff, which suits some hands perfectly, and it was easy to adjust the flow slightly wetter to suit our preferences. No-frills, but well made, with the rounded edges exactly where they should be.

Yard-O-Led Viceroy Grand Victorian

The Yard-O-Led Viceroy Grand Victorian in the Victorian finish may be one of the ultimate pens in the world. Handmade in the UK from sterling silver, the pattern takes several thousand hammer strikes by hand to create, and the silver smiths can reportedly identify their own work. It has developed a delicious patina over years of regular use, which can be polished off if you prefer a brighter look.

The 18-karat broad nib is not too broad, sings a little, and starts up immediately every single time. You feel the artistry and the weight of the silver in the hand, yet it remains comfortable and is genuinely reliable as an everyday writer. Yes, it is expensive, but in our view this is one of the few cases in the pen world where you truly get what you pay for.

Deatatens Subri

The Deatatens Subri proves you do not need to love wood pens to fall for a well-made acrylic one. The transparent material is more than translucent, letting you see the ink level directly, which looks especially good with a translucent yellow ink. The pump filler is simple, elegant, and offers a nice capacity.

The fine stub grind Pierre applies is incredibly pleasant to write with, and the threads are the smoothest we have ever felt on a pen, gentle ribs with no sharp edges at all. It is comfortable, nicely sized, and there is a larger model available if you want something girthier.

Eno Bolt Retractable Pen

The Eno Bolt Retractable Pen earned its spot through sheer practicality. The bolt-action mechanism retracts the fountain pen nib completely when you finish, sealed by a silicone patch, and we have experienced no leakage and no drying out. That makes it ideal for quick notes, which is exactly how it gets used during statistics lectures full of hand calculations.

The fine nib is smooth, nice and fine without being scratchy, and the whole pen disassembles fully so every part can be lubricated and maintained. The material is a bit gimmicky, and we would love a girthier version, but it is a genuinely lovely writer that we chose to keep.

Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 SBR Brown

Our plus one is the Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 in the SBR Brown material, and it would have been obscene to leave it off. It is a triple international collaboration: the material created by Jonathan Brooks in the United States, the pen crafted by Salvatore Matranga of Leonardo in Italy, and it is sold through a Dutch retailer, reaching us in Canada.

The deep dark brown with golden swirls reads almost black from a distance, revealing more detail the closer you look. As a 2.0 model it adds an ink window and a disassemblable piston. Our oversized example holds a huge volume of ink behind a wet double broad Bock titanium nib, while the regular size offers the same material in a more standard format. A fantastic, comfortable pen and an easy favorite.

Overall Buying Advice

Eleven pens, eleven very different purposes. If you want conversation-starting luxury, the Speak Easy, LB6 and Viceroy Grand Victorian deliver in spades, with the Yard-O-Led being the clearest case of craft justifying cost. For high-capacity workhorses, the Conid Kakari, Roo 2.0 and Mag 1000 all go days between refills. On a tighter budget, the Inventery Pocket Pen and the Eno Bolt offer genuine everyday value, and the Subri and Momento Zero Grande sit comfortably in the middle as superb all-rounders. Match the pen to how you actually write, not just how it looks on a shelf.

Conclusion

What ties this list together is not price but pleasure: every one of these pens got used, not displayed. Whether you are drawn to hand-hammered silver, massive ink reservoirs, or simply a nib that starts every time, there is something here worth a closer look.