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.