Parker Sonnet Subtle Big Red

Not so subtle…or big.

In 1921 Parker released the first Duofold, nicknamed “Big Red” due to it’s large bright red-orange body. That design became an instant classic and continues to be popular to this day. Parker has carried that moniker over to its Sonnet limited edition lineup with the release of the Great Expectations Subtle Big Red model.

The Sonnet has been around for over 20 years and has always been one of Parker’s best designs – not too chunky, but not so narrow that it gets lost in your hands like some pens seem to do. The body is finished in a high gloss black lacquer with the clip and finial finished in Ruthenium while the cap and section bands are treated to an anodized red-orange color.

The nib is 18k gold finished in a Ruthenium trim and is one of the smoothest I have used. If you don’t like the feedback from Asian pens you may want to look at a Sonnet – it’s “smooth as buttah”. For a medium nib it is nice and wet but not overly so – not a gusher, so you can write at a regular pace without the ink pooling up. It does not have much in the way of flex, though you can squeeze a bit of line variation out of it. No issues with hard starts, skips, or railroading as the feed seems well up to the challenge.

The cap features Parker’s classic arrow clip finished in Ruthenium and a beautiful red-orange anodized cap band engraved with “Parker”, “Sonnet” and “France”. The red-orange color is really nice and the glossy black lacquer really pops the color and shows of the anodized texture. The cap is push to post and there is an inner plastic sleeve that keeps the cap from scratching the barrel. Posting is not really needed as the cap posts pretty deep so you only get about an extra inch out of it when you do.

The section has a textured matte finish which gives you a solid grip though a little more of a flare at the end would have been nice. The end of the section has an anodized accent band matching the cap. Filling is via the included cartridge or the Parker convertor. The nice thing about the convertor is the size – holds a good load of ink (comparable to a CON-50 in size).

As for the stats – the pen closed is 5.25″(133mm), uncapped is 4.9″(125mm). Weight comes in at 25g uncapped and 30g posted. Diameter is 11mm at the barrel and 10mm tapering to 9mm at the section.

Overall this is a winner with a great look and a great nib. Only minor complaint is the threading between the barrel and section – very tight threading produces a squeal as you turn, but a little dab of grease fixed that issue. As for the name – I think “Parker Sonnet not so subtle average sized red-orange” didn’t play well to test audiences…