Caran d'Ache

[garythepenman]

My Caran d'Ache Lemon Ebony finished in black laquer and rhodium plated silver trim with rhodium plated broad gold nib.

Well I'm no journo and certainly no photo journo so for pics and a very cool zoom in function you should visit the carandache website. The rest of this blurb is how I feel about the pen and the service I have recently received from this Swiss pen manufacturer.

Firstly the pen. Reasonably weighty at 47.4g when you consider a huge Pelikan M1000 weighs in at only 33.5g

The cap which is 17.2g has all of the weight at the top so when posted the pen feels top heavy and not well ballanced at all but if you leave the pen naked and use it, the ballance is perfect.

The laquer has a very warm feel, not dissimilar to an old celluloid and the blackness is absolute, like a black hole.

The fit of barrel, section and cap is perfect. I particularly like the way the section and barrel screw together.

The section (the bit you grip) is quite thin in diameter so this pen would suit a smaller hand, I tend to hold my pens further from the nib so I find in this case I'm gripping the barrel / section join. No problem.

The filling system is either convertor or cartridge, it should come with both. Every ink I've tried suits and the pen works first time, every time except when empty..doh..

The broad nib (only F,M, is super smooth but not very flexible, so if you're in to Pelikan style nibs with a bit of flex it's probably not for you. I tend to like all kinds so again not an issue for me.

Overall the pen is very understated, reserved in appearance and superbly made. The Leman comes in a range of finishes to suit.

 

The service I have received from Caran d'Ache has been first class. As there is no distributor in New Zealand I went straight to the top and e-mailed CD in Switzerland, would the response system work like a Swiss watch ?. Yep.

The next day an e-mail from CD in Japan (closet office to NZ) from the boss saying he would take personal care of any service related issues I have. Wow..Well I had no service issues, all I wanted was a broad nib not medium. Off went the pen, nib changed and returned from Caran d'Ache Japan at lightspeed. All for free. Well done.

 

So whilst no classy catalogue quality photos (congrats to all who post magnificent pics) and no understanding of what the hell I'm doing, that's my 2 pennies worth.

Edited October 25, 2008 by MYU

[Maja]

Great review, Gary! You 'done good' ....

Wow, that is great service indeed! Classy service for a classy pen!

Thanks for posting your thoughts on the CdA Leman.

 

~Maja

 

P.S I had to laugh when I read this part:

Every ink I've tried suits and the pen works first time, every time except when empty..doh..

It happened to me yesterday with a pen that was working well but then just stopped writing. I shook it a bit to get ink to the feed...nothing. Opened it up and the convertor was empty of ink

[Blade Runner]

Thanks for the great review and the writing sample.

47 g! I like hefty pens.

What ink does it like and have you found any it doesn't like?

 

Cheers,

J

Edited October 25, 2008 by MYU

[Slush99]

Thanks for the review! I also like hefty pens.

 

:ph34r:

[garythepenman]

Hi Jeen, In reply to what ink, well I've tried the following with no ill effects whatsover.

 

Any Waterman ink.

MontBlanc tourquoise.

Old Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue

Sheaffer black

Lamy green

 

I would say because of the basic feed / nib setup any ink will be OK in this pen. I'll also add because of the nice feel of the laquer and it's smooth lines the Leman is a pen you like to feel and hold even when not writing. Great value for the money.

[davyr]

thanks for the nice review, gary. cda is not a name i read about much, esp. here, so i appreciate the review. i'm surprised there aren't many more swiss pen companies, given the preponderance of swiss watch companies.

[emrecan]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the great review and writing sample!!Caran d'Ache pen looks great but they are on the expensive side.

 

Thanks,

Emrecan

[garythepenman]

Emrecan, I agree they can be expensive but I managed to get mine for $NZ269.00 which is approx $US189.00

For that kind of money it's brilliant.

[marklavar]

I'm surprised that CdA is so little mentioned in these forums. In Europe it's quite well known as a manufacturer of pencils, along with Faber Castell. The fountain pen business has only recently become more high profile, but they do make very good pens. I had a Leman myself, but what I didn't like was that, though fairly hefty, it was a little short for my liking, as I tend to go for oversize pens. Nevertheless I highly recommend CdA - their pens are some of the highest quality you'll ever find. The one I had wrote amazingly smoothly and never gave the slightest problem.

[marklavar]

I've just purchased a CdA Leman Godron Gold, from Pengallery. M nib. I'm eagerly looking forward to receiving it!

[labrat]

Having just joined this forum I must say very informative.

 

I've also just bought a Leman (a bit extravagant) and whilst a bit surprised at the weight it is a wonderfully crafted pen and I agree totally with what garythepenman has said about this pen.

New cartridge in and ink flow was there by the time I'd screwed it back together - certainly beats some pens I've used!

 

One query I have which this may not be the right place for is around the ink flow.

I find it a bit on the wet side and whilst the Med nib is what I'm used to I do find it a bit heavy on the ink. My other main pen is a Sheaffer (bought some 10+ years ago and not too sure which one it is - may have to post a picture for someone to identify it for me) and that tends to be much 'drier' by comparison. Does anyone know of an ink that is possibly slightly more viscous so doesn't flow quite so rapidly? Or would changing the nib to a fine one possibly be another option (so long as it's not too fine - although my sheaffer m nib is smaller than the leman)?

[fpfanatic5]

Having just joined this forum I must say very informative.

 

I've also just bought a Leman (a bit extravagant) and whilst a bit surprised at the weight it is a wonderfully crafted pen and I agree totally with what garythepenman has said about this pen.

New cartridge in and ink flow was there by the time I'd screwed it back together - certainly beats some pens I've used!

 

One query I have which this may not be the right place for is around the ink flow.

I find it a bit on the wet side and whilst the Med nib is what I'm used to I do find it a bit heavy on the ink. My other main pen is a Sheaffer (bought some 10+ years ago and not too sure which one it is - may have to post a picture for someone to identify it for me) and that tends to be much 'drier' by comparison. Does anyone know of an ink that is possibly slightly more viscous so doesn't flow quite so rapidly? Or would changing the nib to a fine one possibly be another option (so long as it's not too fine - although my sheaffer m nib is smaller than the leman)?

 

Regarding your question about ink flow, yes, some inks write drier or wetter than others. What ink are you currently using? MontBlanc and Pelikan/Cross are generally known as dry inks.

[labrat]

Having just joined this forum I must say very informative.

 

I've also just bought a Leman (a bit extravagant) and whilst a bit surprised at the weight it is a wonderfully crafted pen and I agree totally with what garythepenman has said about this pen.

New cartridge in and ink flow was there by the time I'd screwed it back together - certainly beats some pens I've used!

 

One query I have which this may not be the right place for is around the ink flow.

I find it a bit on the wet side and whilst the Med nib is what I'm used to I do find it a bit heavy on the ink. My other main pen is a Sheaffer (bought some 10+ years ago and not too sure which one it is - may have to post a picture for someone to identify it for me) and that tends to be much 'drier' by comparison. Does anyone know of an ink that is possibly slightly more viscous so doesn't flow quite so rapidly? Or would changing the nib to a fine one possibly be another option (so long as it's not too fine - although my sheaffer m nib is smaller than the leman)?

 

Regarding your question about ink flow, yes, some inks write drier or wetter than others. What ink are you currently using? MontBlanc and Pelikan/Cross are generally known as dry inks.

 

Many thanks for that information - I'm using the Caran d'Ache ink that came with the pen (blue) and bought some black cartridges as well.

[Doug C]

thanks for the nice review, gary. cda is not a name i read about much, esp. here, so i appreciate the review. i'm surprised there aren't many more swiss pen companies, given the preponderance of swiss watch companies.

 

 

I know what you mean. I tried to sell a beautiful Leman RB in Blue a few weeks ago, and didnt get any interest at all. Not a single question, and I thought it would be the first one sold.

[JMAN]

I'm surprised that CdA is so little mentioned in these forums. In Europe it's quite well known as a manufacturer of pencils, along with Faber Castell. The fountain pen business has only recently become more high profile, but they do make very good pens. I had a Leman myself, but what I didn't like was that, though fairly hefty, it was a little short for my liking, as I tend to go for oversize pens. Nevertheless I highly recommend CdA - their pens are some of the highest quality you'll ever find. The one I had wrote amazingly smoothly and never gave the slightest problem.

 

I couldn't agree more! I have two CdA pens and love them both. Like some of the other people needed a minor repair on one of them - they couldn't have been nicer!

 

They are easily two of my favorite pens - write flawlessly right out of the box and look stunning.