The pen featured a rotary deployment, it's refill exposed by turning the pen cap. The pen cap is tipped with a piece of black acrylic and on the very top of the pen, a dot of the pen's metal identified it as the ballpoint when looking down on it in the shirt pocket, to distinguish it from the matching pencil. The pocket clip is of sturdy construction, firmly affixed to the pen and having a slight knee. On it, the name Cross is embossed and clearly visible.
The refill, in part, drives the design of the pen. The Cross refill has become one of the two worldwide standards, the other being the Parker. While not universally a rule, and less so today than yesterday, a knockoff pen is either made in the Cross refill design or the Parker refill design. The Cross just deploys the refill directly so that each time the writer is writing with its ball in the same location; the Parker as originally designed rotates the refill so the ball is in a slightly different location with each deployment. It's debatable which design is better, since many contemporary pens including some by Parker using the Parker refill deploy as if it were a Cross, with a straight out deployment.
Although available in 14 and 18k gold plate, the iconic Century is of chromium finish with fine, etched lines running parallel it's length. Pictured above are three subtle variations, on the left having a knurled landing for the writing fingers (thereby curing one of the deficiencies of the pen, in my opinion), in the center the classic pen, and on the right the same pen in a contemporary frosted finish. A selling point for Cross pens has always been an unconditional lifetime guarantee which I have in fact used and which Cross actually does honor.
As to my personal pen history, I became aware of this pen in a pen and pencil set that always rested securely in my father's police uniform shirt pocket. I perceived the set as part of his uniform, and until very recently it would have been the pen set of choice for any man wanting to appear professionally serious. As a young man, however, I could not rationalize the price of the pen. It was, however, the only route from the Papermate / T-ball Jotter world. Selling as a set for, perhaps, $25.00, and as a pen for $15.00, it was just out of reach and for any adolescent would have been seen as pretentious.
When one emerged into the work world in a certain appropriate work, one waited to be gifted such a pen or outright bought one. When I was 21, I gave a 14k Gold pen and pencil set to the men in my wedding party.
During a certain period in pen history, I would say that every serious writer would have to pass through the Cross pen, and truly for a large slice of my young manhood, in the circles I circled, there was no other option. Among my memories are those of a contemporary who exclusively used the pen, and gnawed on the acrylic tip as it if were a Bic cap until it became deformed.
Unfortunately, owning a Cross pen was more rewarding than actually writing with one. Aside from its obvious class and understated sophistication, I would remark the pen is a solid instrument, mechanically precise and durable.The pocket clip is almost was if it were a piece with the top. The pen refills by simply pulling the cap off as opposed to unscrewing it. Not a hint of clickiness or wobble can be found in the writing experience.
Its thinness is a problem, but only today post the European invasion. When it was the only classy alternative to others when men wrote in Roberts Reminders and clipped their pens in narrow pen loops in their buttoned pockets, thinness was what you did. Personally, even now, the thinness itself is not a drawback for me ham-fisted as I might be.
Chromium, however, is a problem for me. It's a scratch magnet and there's just no way to overcome that. It's cold. Hate that. Worst of all, I never feel I have a firm grip on the pen, which always seems to slide when my palms are sweaty, which is usually whenever I'm engaged in signing something serious like a contract, you know like when I need the pen and want the pen to be noticed most. Cross is obviously aware of this criticism, and in addition to alternatives around the landing point of the fingers, Cross began producing the Century in an alternative matte finish with gold appointments.
Unfortunately, the matte finish brought the pen to another price point making it the type of item one waited to be gifted as I was the black one above which actually has my name engraved on the cap. The finish gives the pen a slightly larger feel in the hand and does cure the sliding sensation of the Chromium, but then it's not the classic Cross either.
But in any configuration, I cannot achieve anything like acceptable penmanship with a Cross Century. The thinness and the chrome are only a small part of the problem. It has more to do with the stiffness of the Cross refill, which always feels as though it's fighting me. New Cross refills require a break in period before they become smoother writers and even then I've had very few over the years that consistently feel the same way over the life of the refill. Cross offers no advanced inks in their standard refill, either, while even Parker has expanded and is widely available for Parker in the aftermarket refill category. Cross blue ballpoint ink is a gray blue, a darker or at least less interesting blue than I prefer. Not so for the blue Cross fountain pen ink which I really like. Again, there are no alternatives offered by Cross. I had some success with aftermarket clone refills that were more smooth and blue.
I could never journal with a Cross Century. When I try, the pen reduces my handwriting to the quality one uses signing on a credit card reader. It is a utilitarian pen, and just not the pen for conveying thoughts beyond the caliber conveyed in an action plan. Still, this pen is a part of my life and my memories and I will have one somewhere around me until the end. The Century can be bought today for about $25.00, and every once in a while a better deal on one turns up.
I'm thinking, though, when that Parker Duofold arrives - well, I'll finally be able to put all the other pens to bed! And someday it will!!
