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No. 242 Grey Tiger Eye
This 242 is the grey coloured version of the beautiful brown/red colour "Tiger Eye" design. This one is unique in its own right because it was made in Spain during the 1950s, instead of Germany. However, its design is identical to the German-made pen and the material was in fact imported from Germany.
These coloured Tiger Eye designs are different from the Danish 24x design (link) mainly in terms of (a) the rounded top here v/s the pointed cap top (b) the spade clip here v/s the prismatic clip. In this sense, the Tiger Eye designs are more similar to the later version of the black 24x produced in Germany.
One thing that separates the Spanish produced version even further is its nib - it is a common 14C that was used on gold nibbed pens produced in that country. Notice the worn out imprint on the cap that is trying to say "Fabricado En Espana" or that this pen was made in Spain. In fact, I purchased it in Barcelona.
Enrique Wiese started the production of MBs in Spain, post-WWII. It is speculated that domestic production was taken up at that time because the Hamburg factory could not meet local and international demand after its bombing in 1944. Also, trade controls mandated by the Spanish dictatorship made it difficult to import pens at that time. Labour and parts were cheaper in Spain, and so MBs would only be affordable in the country if produced there. This makes sense because it seems that Spain's production of MBs stopped once injection moulding technology was introduced in the late 50s and through the 60s. The new technology reduced the need for manual labour considerably and with it the cost of pens too.
See some other Spanish-produced pen reviews such as the Grey Chevron 344 (link), and No. 44 grey stripe and gold stripe (link).
This picture shows a 244 brown/red Tiger Eye made in Germany (link) next to the 242 grey Tiger Eye made in Spain.
Bibliography:
Guillen, J. M. (2014). Montblanc Pens Made in Spain. Guillen.
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