Cross Calais Refillable Ballpoint Pen Presented in a Luxury Gift Box - Medium Point, Black Ink, Satin Chrome

Writing Types

Ballpoint Pen

The Ballpoint is the most popular tip technology and, in many ways, the simplest.

A Ballpoint pen uses a small rotating ball made of carbide to disperse ink as you write. This ball acts as a buffer between the material you’re writing on and the ink inside the pen. The ball rotates freely and rolls out the ink as it is continuously fed from the ink reservoir. Ballpoint Pens are not capped, but instead retract and store via a rotating mechanism in the barrel. Low maintenance and easily refillable, the Ballpoint Pen is the option for the everyday pen user.

Selectip Rollerball Pen

Our most versatile tip technology is proprietary to Cross, and is known as Selectip Rolling Ball. A Selectip allows you to 'select' the kind of refill you want to use in this writing instrument from the following options:

Gel Rolling Ball: A mix of Ballpoint ease of use and the elegance of Fountain Pen ink-flow.

Jumbo Ballpoint: Ballpoint technology with a bolder, fuller write-out.

Porous-Point: Most commonly known as a Flair or Marker Point) The inks in a roller ball are generally aqueous based. This results in a smoother, fluid (or wet) lay-down of ink similar to a Fountain Pen. Aqueous based inks, due to their fine fluidity, also tend to dry out quicker, thus care must be taken to always cap, or retract, Selectip pens between uses. Unlike Ballpoint Pens, most Selectip Pens have a separate cap which prevents the ink from drying during storage.

Fountain Pen

One of the oldest styles of writing instrument, fountain pen nibs actually adapt to your own personal grip and writing style over time, creating lines on the page that - like your signature - are all your own. Ink flows by capillary action from an ink reservoir to the fountain pen nib, which is the delicate split metal mechanism which contacts the paper. A favorite of the true connoisseur, fountain pens are each a work of art in their own right. Cross offers nibs in two widths: Medium & Fine.