In 1982 Pelikan re-established the production of high-quality fountain pens. In 1965, Pelikan stopped producing the 400NN, and after this Merz & Krell only produced it for a period. The return to old values is shown by the fact that the only substantial difference between the new M400 and the old 400 is the feed. Modern feeds are produced by injection molding, so finer fins are possible, which run across rather than along the length of the nib.
The Pelikan logo was made to correspond to the type of pen, so that pens in a case could be rapidly identified. The fountain pen´s logo was still in the matching color, while the rollerball´s logo is grey. The models after 1997 have uniform design marks and the style was upgraded with double decorative rings on the filling knob, a second ring on the cap and a ring on the grip section.
In the early years the model was sold in Japan were labelled as # 500 or M500, see photo of the leaflet below.