The Pen Type-B is designed by the superb CW&T and is the best pen I own. The Brooklyn studio makes the pen in brass or titanium. (Pictured, left to right: matte titanium, polished titanium, polished brass, Cerakote-coated titanium.)

I purchased my first one, in brass, in 2016, and it has travelled around the world with me — from the Mediterranean to Los Angeles to the Dominican to Vanuatu — always tucked nicely into my Freitag notebook.

For my taste, the Pen Type-B is the perfect size — not too long, too short, or too thick — all important in a pen. It’s beautiful, and superbly engineered to have everything you need and nothing you don’t. It’s just right and just works, because at its most base, what you need a pen to do is write reliably and feel comfortable in your hand when doing so. When you put it down, it needs to not roll away. That’s it. Anything else is window-dressing.

So, what if you could have all that in an elegant, minimal form-factor, and have the pen accept one of the most beloved and available refills on the market, the Hi-Tec C? You can.

Pen Type-B are manufactured at a multi-generation machine shop in Vermont. Each pen is carefully made above and beyond the necessary tolerances to ensure a perfect fit between the pen and the sleeve. It takes over 20 highly tuned operations to craft a Pen Type-B.

Precision machined to create a piston-like effect between the pen and sleeve. The pen makes a nice popping sound when you pull it quickly from its sleeve and falls slowly back inside — though of course you can just push it in.

All models come with a Black Pilot Hi-Tec-C 0.3mm cartridge. Hi Tec-C cartridges are available in 4 line widths and over 30 colors. To replace the ink cartridge, simply unscrew the back of the pen with a coin.

Not a fan of the Hi Tec-C? You can buy a spacer for a couple bucks that allows the Type-B to accept a number of other popular refills, including ones from Muji at Yonge and Dundas, among other locations.

Besides the look and feel, the models have a few differences:

The Brass model has a stainless steel pen and an uncoated brass sleeve. The lack of coating is by design and allows the sleeve to develop a patina over time. There’s a photo of my old Brass model in the gallery below.

The Cerakote-coated Titanium model has a matte black ceramic-polymer coating. The coating is durable, but over time it will wear to reveal the titanium underneath.

All Titanium models have a titanium pen and a titanium sleeve. Titanium has the hardness of stainless steel and the lightness of aluminum. That’s really hard to beat. This means the Titanium models are about half the weight of the Brass.

Brass – $220
Titanium Matte – $290
Titanium Polished – $290
Titanium Black Cerakote – $315

An aluminum case — pictured in the gallery below — is available as an add-on for an extra $30.

Text 416 556 6278 to schedule a pickup.

More photos are below or watch CW&T’s official video to see all the features of the Pen Type-B: