Fountain Pen Review: Traveler’s Company Fountain Pen in Factory Green (Fine Nib)

The Traveler’s Company, best known for their leather notebook covers, has released fountain pens using their brass bullet pen casing. The current fountain pen available is in the limited edition Factory Green color ($75) or brass ($71). In the past, they have sold ballpoint pens and pencils in the bullet style so this is the first time they’ve released fountain pens in this style.

The Factory Green is matte coated over brass so the overall pen is fairly weighty. The clip is a simple bent aluminum clip that is silver tone. On the end is a loop should you want to hang the pen from a chain or ribbon.

In white ink on the green body is the company branding. It’s clean and simple like so much of Traveler’s Company’s design.

When the pen is opened, there is a long grip section in brass and a silvertone nib with “Traveler’s Company TR C” and the nib size debossed onto the nib.

Above, the pen is shown open with an original Traveler’s Notebook for scale.

One of the biggest plusses with the TC fountain pen is its pocketability. It snaps open and closed which makes it different from other pocket fountain pens. Most that I’ve used are twist closures so the snap open and close makes it great for a quick note.

One of the biggest downsides is the small space inside the pen means it can only use a cartridge or one of those tiny Kaweco cartridge converters (mini or squeeze). For a travel pen, cartridges are fine for me. If I’m using it at home syringe filling empty cartridges allows me to continue to use my bottled inks.

The nib on the pen is good quality steel. It’s a small nib but is proportionally scaled for the size and shape of the pen.

The TR fountain is narrower than many fountain pens but, since this is a small pocket pen, I think the thinner, smaller dimensions are appropriate. If you prefer a wider pen, I recommend that you stick with the Kaweco Sport in Brass for a comparable weight and feel but a bigger pen.

Pictured above, left to right: Kaweco Sport, Kaweco Lilliput, Traveler’s Company Fountain Pen, Fisher Space Pen, Pokka Pen.

When open, the Traveler’s Company fountain pen is the longest of the pocket pens. The grip section is also the longest with the least amount of hinderance.

The TC fountain pen weighs 28gms with a cartridge when open (5.7″ / 145mm) or closed (4″ / 103mm). If used without the cap, its only 16gms and a mere 3.34″ (85mm) which is really too small to do much more than put a checkmark on your grocery list.

Costwise, the TC fountain pen is competitive with other brass fountain pens. It is more expensive than a lot of plastic pocket pens. It’s an investment… but it’s pretty, functional and I love the snap mechanism.

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DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.