However, hope springs eternal, and I keep buying and trying these types of pens. I want to like them, but somehow they never seemed quite right. Until now. In 1961 Bic Orange pen was introduced, featuring a fine 0.8mm (0.031in) point and an orange barrel instead of translucent. Bic makes this pen at its own plants in Europe.

Vinjamuri, David. "Bic For Her: What They Were Actually Thinking (As Told By A Man Who Worked On Tampons)". Forbes . Retrieved 17 April 2017.a b Stamp, Jimmy. "The Universal Typeface Project Averages the World's Handwriting to Produce an Incredibly Average Font". Smithsonian . Retrieved 15 March 2017.

a b "Everyday Icon #3 The BIC Biro". Phaidon. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013 . Retrieved 16 May 2017. Hauser, Christine; Anderson, Christina (21 April 2017). "At This Museum, Failures Are Welcome". The New York Times. Smith, David (14 June 2008). "It's 70 today, but our favourite pen just keeps rolling along". The Guardian. For a few years now, pen manufacturers have been making broader pen points than 1.0 mm, which for a long time used to be the most standard nib size (I am guessing) commonly available. Of these larger sizes that started appearing in the stores, 1.4 mm and 1.6 mm seem to be the most common. (I don't recall ever seeing a 1.2 mm nib. Do they exist? Would they be that much different from 1.0 to be able to tell any difference at all? Inquiring minds, etc. etc.) I would look at these pens and think, "Who in the world would want to write with that chunky thing?" And then I would buy them. And try them. And generally not care for them, so the answer to my question would be, "Not me, obviously."In 1944, near the end of the Second World War, entrepreneur Marcel Bich bought a factory in Clichy, a suburb north of Paris, [2] and with business partner Edouard Buffard founded Société PPA (later Société Bic) in 1945. "PPA" stood for Porte-plume, Porte-mines et Accessoires; pens, mechanical pencils and accessories. During the war Bich had seen a ballpoint pen manufactured in Argentina by László Bíró. Between 1949 and 1950 the Bic Cristal was designed by the Décolletage Plastique design team at Société PPA. [3] [4] Bich invested in Swiss technology capable of shaping metal down to 0.01 millimetres (0.00039in), which could produce a stainless steel one-millimetre (0.039in) sphere which allowed ink to flow freely. [5] Bich developed a viscosity of ink which neither leaked nor clogged and, under a ballpoint pen patent licensed from Bíró, launched the Cristal in December 1950. [3] a b c Lemon, Michael (28 April 2015). "Bic Cristal Pens | The World's Most Popular Pen". OSU.EDU. Ohio State University . Retrieved 26 March 2017. a b "Humble Masterpieces" (PDF). New York: The Museum of Modern Art. 27 September 2004 . Retrieved 13 March 2017. In September 2006, the Bic Cristal was declared the best selling pen in the world after the 100 billionth was sold. [9] Design [ edit ] Four Bic Cristal pens and additional caps The pen's dimensions are 5 + 7⁄ 8 by 1⁄ 2 inch (14.9cm ×1.3cm) with the cap, [10] or 14.5cm ×0.7cm ( 5 + 11⁄ 16in × 1⁄ 4in) without the cap.