Waterman Audace

[NeoTiger]

This is the fashion pen from Waterman, the lipstick look-alike, the Waterman Audace. Now before you all look at me funny, no I'm not a girl, this pen was bought for my girlfriend. I've managed to get her using fountain pens, so I decided to get her something that looks nice.

 

First Impressions

 

I've seen the Audace in the local pen shops before, and my first reaction is that it looks just like a lipstick. I bought this Audace from the Pen-Seller-from-France on eBay, the price was pretty good (much lower than retail anyway). The pen comes with a cloth pouch with magnetic closure, and in a generic Waterman white cardboard box. So the packaging isn't flash, but the pen pouch is a nice touch. One cartridge is included with the pen, no converter.

 

Appearance

 

The one I bought was the "Lounge Blue" colour, which is blue with some square patterns. Looks pretty nice. The pen body appears to be made of a light metallic material (possible aluminium), has a black plastic section, and stainless nib. The cap does not have a clip.

 

There are no complaints as to the quality of the finish, everything looks like they were assembled well. However, a small metal cylinder has fallen out of the cap (which I assume was in there for weight balance issues) so I'll need to glue that back in.

 

Design

 

The size of this pen is similar to the Parker Sonnet, but with a longer body and shorter section. The cap is also shorter, so the Audace is shorter when capped but a few mm longer when uncapped.

 

The pen is just a fraction lighter than the stainless Sonnet, and is well balanced. The cap is light (especially after the metal cylinder fell out), so posting doesn't affect the balance much.

 

Nib

 

The stainless nib is smaller than the Sonnet (which makes it tiny), has no breather hole, has the Waterman logo and "F" for fine.

 

The nib performance is suprisingly good. It does draw a nice fine line (Waterman's medium is too broad). The nib was a bit dry at first, but a bit of nib flossing has helped increased the flow and my girlfriend is very happy with the smoothness.

 

Filling System

 

Basic cartridge filler. Has the long Waterman cartridge included which I assume is Florida Blue. No other comment really, but I guess a fashion pen like this will always be a cartridge filler, as it is the easiest to manage for new users.

 

Cost

 

I bought this pen from Pen-Seller-from-France on eBay for GBP15 plus shipping. I don't remember what the retail price is.

 

Conclusion

 

Good fashion pen, writing performance is suprisingly good after minor adjustment, my girlfriend loves it.

[NeoTiger]

Additional pictures of the Waterman Audace.

[NeoTiger]

Close-up of the nib.

[NeoTiger]

Size comparison.

 

Parker Sonnet stainless

Waterman Audace Lounge Blue

Pilot Capless Blue Carbonesque

Edited August 9, 2006 by NeoTiger

[watermanpen]

This is a beautiful pen, and the original price is several times than this seller from ebay.

 

I have chosen the gold plated edition, which is essencially a piece of art, not only you can present it to your lover, but also you can leave it yourself as a collection.

[sonia_simone]

Very pretty little pen! Great price, too--at least from your seller.

[Maja]

Thanks for the great review, Neotiger, and all those photos

 

Nice to see a size comparison with two other pens I currently own. Somehow I imagined the Audace to be a small pen (not having seen one in person until a few days ago, but it was by itself in a glass case) so the size comparison photo you posted is very helpful. Ditto for the weight comparison; I thought it was a much lighter pen (must be that lipstick image in my mind ) ....

[NeoTiger]

Yeah Maja, I totally agree. The Audace looks like a much smaller pen until you compare it to other pens. Because of the short section, it also feels like you are holding a small pen (however, it is not uncomfortable to write with, but my hands aren't too big anyway).

 

Same for the weight, I expected it to be lighter than the Sonnet I have, but when I compare the two they seem quite similar.

 

Thanks for posting the additional photos watermanpen, you've included the pen pouch which I forgot to take a photo of. I thought this was a nice touch from Waterman to include a pouch.

[Lillight]

It's great to know other pp have the Audace too! I got 2 from the same seller on ebay: one is Enchanted Garden with medium nib

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/lillight/36e319be.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/lillight/eeb789c6.jpg

and the other is Ethnic Chic with fine nib (same as the one posted by watermanpen). I got converters from the local distributor whoe doesn't carry Audace fountain pens, only ball-point ones.

 

I find that the line width is very much dependent on the type of paper I use. Some acid-free pages absorb very quickly so the medium nib gives broad strokes.

 

I really enjoy using these lovely pens.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I have an Enchanted Garden Audace with a fine point, but I think it is packed up in a box right now.

 

Dillon