Montblanc Vintage 1960–1989 Multicolour pens from 1955 to 1977: Pixomat and Chromatik

Montblanc never made multicolour pens itself. Until the 1970s they came from Fend(t) in Pforzheim, who had developed and patented the sliding mechanism early and made such pens for many brands (forum post of 12 January 2006, forum post of 24 February 2007).

The maker

At first the pens had pencil and coloured-pencil leads, later ballpoint refills. Fend developed the multicolour ballpoint refill in the 1950s, and it became the international standard (forum post of 1 November 2004, forum post of 25 February 2007). Fend stopped production in 1993.

The models

• the four-colour pencils 60 to 64 (1955–1964)
• the multicolour ballpoints 5 and 50 to 67 in round, three-, six- and twelve-sided shapes, chrome-plated, in silver or rolled gold
• the Pixomat series 58 and 100 to 108 (1961–1977)
• the Chromatik 70 to 73 and 80 to 83 with the matching pencils 50, 52 and 53 (1973–1977)

The Pixomat takes standard D1 refills; they are changed through the front opening and the pen is never opened (forum post of 22 March 2010). The Chromatik is of American origin.