In 1950, a young, promising Pilot designer named Shigeki Chiba came up with the idea for this pen. He loved the idea of a large inlaid nib. However the fabrication engineers told him it was impossible to tool the dies to make this pen. He fought hard for his design, whichin 1950 Japan, was a little unorthadox for the hamonious ideal workplace. The upper managers decided to have Chiba-san work in the factory for a few months to better understand the manufacturing process. At the time, Chiba-san felt he was being punished, but every day as he worked the presses, he started to understand how complicated his designs were. He went back and designed the much simpler Super shown to the right.

The Pilot Super was a tremendously successful pen, and it was the pen that allowed Chiba-san to make a name for himself. So with the success with this pen, He had enough clout to win the go ahead with his original Ultra design. The pen won several engineering awards, but the design was simply too costly to make a profit, and Pilot lost money on every Ultra they sold.

Today these Pilot Ultras are terribly hard to find. In Andy Lambreau's book "Fountain Pens Of The World" he says that the Ultra is a rare and highly sought after pen. This one is in perfect mint condition in the original "Tuxedo" box. Quite a find.

$1,300 SOLD