B100 Rollerball Pen

Pentel's B100 rollerball is an icon of Japanese industrial design and a pioneer in its category. Introduced in 1972, the B100 was the world's first water-based pen. In a market that was dominated by oil-based, viscous ballpoints with metal ball tips, the B100 had few precedents.

The B100 design is defined by two features that were groundbreaking at the time of its release: its free-flowing, saturated ink and its resin ball tip. The ink makes satisfying, dark marks in three colors, and the resin tip is slightly flexible, so you can actually vary the line width by changing your hand pressure. This makes the B100 an unusually responsive writer, even in today's pen market.

Because the resin tip depends on softness in the writing surface to work smoothly, we recommend using the B100 in a notebook or on a stack of paper, not with a single document on a hard surface. If there isn't enough flexibility in the surface, the ball is pushed too hard into the pen, leading to skips and scratches. But if you simply put some extra sheets behind your writing surface, you'll really see this pen shine.

Unchanged since its release 50 years ago and still popular today, the B100 is a great, inexpensive pen for any desk. Sold individually; please select your color from the drop-down menu. Made in Japan.