The Custom 823 is the truest ‘demonstrator-style’ pen with the largest ink reservoir available by Pilot. The smoky amber barrel with stunning gold accents lends an air of distinguished sophistication to this exceptional fountain pen. The pen is refillable for continued use with bottled ink through a unique vacuum plunger system to ensure a long lasting and smooth writing experience. Available with expertly crafted 14-karat gold nib in fine, medium and broad widths. The Custom 823 arrives in a striking presentation box complete with a glass bottle of Pilot ink.
Watch the video review below for a more in-depth look!
Thierry D (verified owner) –
The Pilot Custom 823 with a M nib customized in cursive italic by Dan Smith writes wonderfully well, gliding over the paper and delivering nice line variations.
Drew Gillis (verified owner) –
Mine is a medium nib.
I got this pen as a birthday present and at first I tried Fabre Castel Hazelnut Brown and the Pen was skipping a lot. From there I went to Iroshizuku Kon-Peki which ended up behaving beautifully. I also tried Montblanc toffee brown which was not as bad as the Hazelnut but still was scratchy, I know run the 100 year anniversary ebisu ink from Pilot. So I would just say don’t get discouraged or angry if certain inks don’t work.
Now for an actual review portion. I’ve had the pen for about 3 and a half months and it’s absolutely stunning. It’s easy to fill, holds a wonderful amount of ink, and is easy to clip to pretty much any material. The gold accents pair with beautiful amber color amazingly. It’s the most stunning pen I own so far and the most expensive. It has always written smoothly and consistently with the right ink in it. Cleaning is easy but getting the water out just isn’t going to happen unless you are extremely patient. It’s a very lengthy pen, but that’s something I enjoy about it. The pen posts very securely and has a wonderful balance and weight to it posted or unposted. The grip section is also very comfortable in the hand. My arm fatigues because I somewhat death grip all of my writing instruments. I believe most people won’t experience any fatigue. The nib size is also magnificent. It’s a large beautiful nib with some engraving design. Once again the gold pairs nicely with the translucent amber resin. It also helps to be able to see how much ink is left. This pen can seem to handle quick writing extremely well. Reverse writing doesn’t fair so well, but I never use any pen for reverse writing. Thank you!
Pens I have experience with:
Pilot VP fine
Pilot metro fine
Twsbi eco 1.1 stub and medium
Jinhaos broad and fine (don’t remember the model)
Many safari medium
Santosh –
This pen is awesome and majority of the popular fountain pen reviewers have reviewed this pen. My review is focused on my buying experience on nibsmith.com.
Little bit about me, as a kid I loved fountain pens but I gave up on them during my engineering days. I have been using them for the past 3-4 years and my pen collection comprises of only 3 pens. A beginner Lamy, Pilot Custom 823 and Montblanc Hertiage 1917. The Pilot soon became my everyday pen and the only pen I carry with me. I travel often and I LOVE the huge ink capacity and the pen writes great. Unfortunately, I lost my pen during the holidays. I started using my other pens, considered buying other pens but eventually decided to get the exact pen I lost. LOL.
My previous purchase of the 823 was on Amazon.com but this time I decided to buy it here and ask for the pen to be tuned (at no additional) cost. I had nothing to lose but I was guessing it would take about 10 days longer to receive the pen. The pen got delivered in about 5-6 days and I was excited to start using it. I inked it and the magic began. The pen was identical to the one I had before but it writes like a dream!!! It’s honestly hard to believe that Dan offers such a service for free. Granted the materials and looks of the pen are the same but this new pen is much superior to the one I had before.
I don’t buy pens frequently so this review is my way of saying thank you to the amazing job that Dan does. If you are considering buying a pen, especially expensive ones whose nib can be questionably tuned, go with this site. I know I am going to.
Thank you for reading!
lschroeder325 (verified owner) –
Purchased a medium nib, amber Pilot 823 and only have superlatives to describe both the pen and the service. Ordering pens with the hope that they write well out of the box isn’t always a given, but Dan’s unquestioned skill removes the concern. This pen glides, holds a gallon of ink, and is simply a joy to write with. When it comes to fountain pens, Dan is, as they say, the man.
Gavin Knight (verified owner) –
I bought this pen from Dan a few months ago and he ground it to an Architect nib for me. It is a stunning pen, and the grind is amazing. I have a decent collection of pens now, some expensive (ish) like this one – but the 823 is quite simply my best pen now. It is my go to writer. For future purposes Dan will be one of the first sellers I come to, especially if I’m looking for a specialist grind (or even just a time-of-purchase ‘tune’).