Wingback ⚠️ With reservations

Three objects. Wallets, pens, key holders. Brass, steel, leather. Not 30 finishes, 3. Brass patinas, leather ages, the pen becomes yours. London does things small. Price climbed to $199, customer service documented as poor. The object is beautiful. The service, less so.

Alasdair MacLaine designed vacuum cleaners at Dyson. Not just any vacuums – ones where every curve, every mechanism, every click is conceived to last and to please. In 2014, he left the Malmesbury giant with a fixed idea: to apply this obsession with industrial detail to objects slipped into one's pocket.

His first project landed on Kickstarter in 2014. A solid brass pen, CNC-machined, designed like an engine – with tolerances, not whims. The funding goal was shattered: ten times the amount requested. Wingback was born from a prototype and a community that was just waiting for it. Everyday objects designed with the rigor of a design office, not a marketing department.

The workshop settled in London. Metal parts are machined in Birmingham, in what remains of Britain's industrial heartland. Assembly and engraving are done by hand in the London studio. Three materials: brass, steel, vegetable-tanned leather. Three products: pens, wallets, keyrings. No wild diversification, no seasonal collection. The range fits on one shelf.

The Mechanical Pen is the centerpiece. A remarkably fluid twist mechanism, a CNC-machined body where each piece bears the micro-grooves of the cutting tool. Wingback calls this the "Machine" finish – where others would polish to anonymity, they leave the trace of the process. The brass patinas with time, fingers, pockets. Each pen becomes unique.

The Winston leather range – full-grain minimalist wallets and cardholders – long upheld the same exacting standards. Feedback was unanimous: thick, supple, well-cut leather. But recent productions show signs of inconsistency. Less meticulous finishes, after-sales service sometimes on the defensive when faced with complaints. The contrast with the excellence of the pens is all the more apparent.

Climate Neutral certified since 2023, Wingback remains a designer brand, not an artisan one. The rigor comes from engineering, not tradition. The price has climbed – 199 dollars for a pen – and the "Made in London" factor weighs in against Asian competitors who machine just as well for less. But the twist mechanism, the patina of the brass, the trace of the tool on the metal – that, no one quite copies.