Montegrappa 24 Heures du Mans 2023 LE Fountain Pen

In the slipstream of the open-edition 24H Le Mans Legende pen series, Montegrappa’s celebration of 100 years of Le Mans culminates in a daring new Limited Edition. 24 Heures du Mans 2023 is on the starting grid and ready to speed to dealers from the end of September 2023.

Limited to 100 fountain pens and rollerballs, the extreme design of 24 Heures du Mans 2023 combines cognoscenti styling with sports memorabilia hallmarks to salute a century of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Using aluminium and carbon fibre to simulate a modern hypercar cockpit interior, the edition’s affinity for high-performance motorsport is obvious in every detail. Track-authentic optics, materials and mechanical haptics make it a remarkable executive toy/trophy for pen and auto aficionados, with a total weight of less than 60 grams!

The detailing on the aluminium components is realised using anodization, engraving, lacquering, UV printing and enameling – most visibly on a panel of (passive) acrylic control buttons located on the top face of the barrel. Multi-axial machining is used to create this complex segment, realised with a sporty, U-shaped grip profile.

Further graphic detailing references race milestones, including a parade of landmark car designs, and all-time performance stats on a cap-mounted dashboard. Custom componentry includes notched alloy trim rings, a chicken-head blind cap control and a clip modelled on the race’s iconic Mulsanne Straight (Les Hunaudières). The race’s official centennial emblem is reproduced on the cap top and body.

The race’s institutional logo is engraved into a ruthenium-plated, 8mm 18K gold custom nib (EF, F, M, B, Stub 1.1). Its 32-tooth ratcheted piston-fill mechanism can be operated via the switch and dial appendages affixed to the blind cap.

Custom packaging for 24 Heures du Mans 2023 is suitably ceremonial, comprising a lacquered wood/acrylic display-case miniature of the race’s official winner’s trophy. A laminated outer box carries foil-stamped race centenary branding and layouts of the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe through the years.

Italy's first pen producer, Montegrappa, began manufacturing pens in 1912 in its factory in Bassano del Grappa in Italy. Utilizing natural celluloid and precious metals,Montegrappa combines traditional methods such as die-casting with more recent innovations as low-relief engraving to form their precious art objects. Whether Montegrappa use colors reminiscent of the master painters or ornamentation suggestive of Baroque palaces, the Italian heritage and romance is infused into each product.