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I happened upon some new-old-stock bottles of "Waterman's Permanent Blue Black" ink. They were in pristine condition, and the cap sealing was good such that no ink appears to have evaporated. I see no precipitate or any other issues. The ink has a chemical scent I can't quite identify accurately, but it makes me think of paint and art supplies, for the lack of better description. I don't know if this ink has any amount of iron gall or not, but I suspect it has a small amount. If anyone wishes to contribute to this ink's description and dating, it would be great. The bottle has the following embossed on the underside: There are no visible dates on the bottle or the carton, but the following is stamped on the inner side of one of the carton flaps in black ink with silver shimmer--and it's difficult to read. Box #1: Box #2: The ink itself goes down on the page in a cool-toned (with a very slight purple tinge) hue of medium saturation and then dries to a muted very slightly teal-tinted blue. The color change is gradual over the next day or so to what you see on the photographs. The final color of the ink is quite consistent with the bottle cap. I can't explain why that is, but, subjectively, the color of this ink feels just right to me -- a classic. The water resistance test was a wash under running water, 3 days after the writing was done. I really like the look of the paper towel "chromatography" -- medium blue fading to slightly more cyan vintage light blue to almost cream. The more ink is concentrated, the more the blue is shifted toward green, as can be seen on the Col-o-Ring card. There is some red-magenta sheen. Not sure if I am going to hold on to both bottles yet--I got them out of curiosity, but it turned out that the ink inside was surprisingly good. And the bottle, along with the carton, look great on my desk. That "19 cents" printed price

Hello all Waterman fans. This is my first post in Waterman forum since the set below is actually the first Waterman i own. I got it along with some other pens and from my research it appears to be a 70s or 80s school pen named Waterman JIF. Am I right? I wonder if the ballpoint is actually matching the pen or from a different model. The red/orange plastic is definitely the same and it has the same logo on the top. Will be grateful for any comments and info about this model. Thanks. PS. I will be probably selling this set, but I already do have another Waterman on my mind Concorde.

What is this pen? What is the brand / producer / origin? What model is this? This is a pen given to me by my father in early 80-ties. I used it for a couple of years as my every day pen. I cannot identify the producer nor the model. Must be produced somewhere in 1970-ties ot late 1960-ties? Much likely to be from China ? Maybe Japan? Maybe someone is able to read the signature on the nib?

I wasn't sure if I should put this here or on nibsand tines, but this is a waterman specific nib question. I bought my husband a waterman ideal "red" nib. It was mentioned that it is a no. 7 nib. Which pen would this fit? I saw a waterman 52 with a no. 2 nib, so I'm confused as to which pens he can use the 7 on. Any help is appreciated as I'm very new to fountain pens and trying to understand my hubby's hobby. Thank.

I was fascinated by the recent article, Waterman's Almost Forgotten C/F Cartridge-Fill Fountain Pen, in the most recent issue (Volume 7, Issue 1) of Paul's Fountain Pen Journal. I would direct you to the article's rendition of the history of the pen and its great photos of the pen and advertisements for the pen from the past. I won't repeat its information here. I was stimulated by the article to hunt on Ebay for this pen. There are many examples of this pen offered on Ebay, both from American and International sellers. I now have purchased three of the pens in different colors, have bid on another, and have purchased perhaps a one-of-a-kind display box of 12 different C/F nibs-in-sections for this type of pen. I wanted to share some photos I've taken today. The C/F I already received is this one, which has a gold-plated cap and reddish-brown barrel. It came with all its papers and a box of 8 cartridges, the ink in which mostly has evaporated, plus a "place-keeper" empty cartridge. I substituted a "broad-flex" nib-and-section (from the 12 nibs) for the one that came with the pen originally. I cleaned out two of the formerly filled cartridges, and then filled one with Diamine Monboddos Hat (dark purple) ink. Wow! The pen wrote immediately and was very smooth in its first "outing." We'll see how it performs over time. I would welcome any experiences or comments others have about this pen.

Thank you to everyone who was so warm and welcoming on my first review a few months ago! Finally returning with another review Tender purple: we know her, we love her. Reminds me sometimes of the pansies that would spring up in my backyard growing up. transcription: "Waterman Tender Purple Lamy Safari F nib, Rhodia DotPad I've had since the mid-2010s SMEAR TEST: five seconds or less! Well, I mentioned it in my first review, so it seemed only fitting to review Tender Purple next. This is THE purple to me00this is the colour I think of when someone says the word "purple". Weirdly, not quite as wet or fast-flowing as I remember, but I've had this bottle since the mid-2010s and haven't pulled it out since at least 2021, so who's to say! Maybe I'm misremembering, maybe it's a quality of aging, maybe it's Maybelline! (I should say, "not as wet as I remember" isn't to say this ink is dry, it's still lovely and wet.) No feathering, maybe the slightest bit of spread. No bleedthrough, but ghosting on this paper. There is some shading with this pen/ink combo, thought not all that much. A respectable but subtle amount, we'll say. Not too much to say about the bottle here. Stable, nice big opening. I did have to run the bottle under the tap because dried ink had glued it shut, but that's more on me for not pulling this one out in a long while despite it being only one of 3-4 bottles of ink I have with me on this side of the country. Thanks for reading ❤️❤️❤️ " Waterproofness test reveals it to have all but no resistance to the droplets.

Hey all, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Apologies for that. I saw these old Waterman safety tools for auction on EBay. Similar ones show up from time to time. Does anyone know how they’re used? I maintain a small stable of vintage Waterman safeties for my cartooning practice, and just wondering if these would be at all helpful to take a flyer on. Thank you in advance!

I have a Waterman Le Man from (I think) the early 80's. I have searched this forum for guidance on disassembling the pen and have found some posts from 8-10 years ago. almost all of the links are dead and most of the images linked to are broken. I have found a good picture of a Le Man disassembled but not the process of disassembly. Is there anyone here who has a resource that will give some insight on breaking down the nib unit. I am worried about breaking the aged plastic parts of the feed section. Background: The pen was part of my first used pen purchase which occurred at a pen show. It came as a part of a 2 pen deal and being my first foray into the used market I made the mistake of not inspecting either pen adequately. I was lucky with one but the Le Man - not so much. It appears that a previous owner had eyedroppered the pen. As a result the interior of the brass body was severely corroded. I was able to get a cartridge into the pen with some effort and it wrote fine but I could not get a convertor to make a seal. I have cleaned 90% of the corrosion using multiple applications of ketchup. After doing some research I choose ketchup because I thought it would not react with the gold trim or plastic parts of the feed. After removing the corrosion around the feed I was able to install the convertor. I filled it up with some ink and all was good for about a week. After a week I started to see ink in the cap. Not a lot but enough to make a mess. I think the ink is leaking from the seem at the gold band at the base of the nib. My thinking is that the plastic section is cracked and needs to be replaced or maybe the unit just needs to be broken down and cleaned really well and reassembled. Either way I wont know until I take it apart. Here is a link to images of the pen showing the ink: Image Gallery Any help finding resources on a Le Man 100 is appreciated.

Hi everyone, A few weeks ago I bought a used Waterman DG (Directeur General) in the gold plated spec. When I received the pen, I didn't expect it was that used. The area round the nib is very corroded ( I guess because it's a brass body). So much it is unsuitable to write with I think. Then there's the nib... I truly feel sorry for it. It is an 18kt gold nib so that's that 😅. Writing with it will be impossible as I'm too inexperienced to repair this kind of damage. Nonetheless I think it is a wonderful and quit rare pen I saved from permanent death. I also found some documents in the original box of the pen, I don't know if they are correlated. It's an original French pen I bought on a holiday in France (I'm Belgian). I discovered the document later at home. Any ideas on what I could do with this pen? After feeling this pen, I feel very tempted to buy a silver one, but they are even rarer. For context, see photos :). Keep on writing, Lars

Greetings! I was recently gifted with two fountain pens and two bottles of ink from a friend in her 70s. They'd been sat in her husband's desk for so many years that neither of them can remember getting them or ever using them. One is a Waterman; some Google-fu suggests it's a Laureate? M gold (plated?) nib. It was used as it had an empty long international cartridge in it. It writes so nicely! I love how slender it is. One is a Pilot; steel M nib. No other markings or indications. Appeared to have never been used. Writes okay with the Waterman ink; not as smooth as my newer Pilot Metropolitans. Two bottles of ink: Waterman Washable Blue Ink and Pilot Shin-Ryoku. The blue is meh but that Shin-Ryoku is a gorgeous teal. Any ideas how old these might be? Seems like maybe from the 80s or 90s? I assume they don't have high value but are nice enough pens to add to my small collection...and I am really liking that Waterman. Edited to add: What exactly constitutes "vintage" when it comes to fountain pens and ink?

So I found this pen amongst a few others in a bin in my garage. It belonged to a late family friend who used it. In fact, it had an old cartridge in it and upon further inspection, it still wrote. How that ink didn't dry out is beyond me. But I cleaned it out and and tried it with a little converter. It looks like a medium nib with some line variation but nothing like the 52 1/2 V I just picked up. Is it worth me holding on to this or should I look for something better? Also am I correct? This is the Chrome Torsade? Right? Thanks!

My latest 1960s Waterman came in the mail today (my first actual C/F) and the sac in the converter that came with it has sadly long-since gone hard and crumbly. As I was able to successfully disassemble it without destroying it, I'm hoping to be able to put a new sac in there and get it up and running. After all, the C/F converters I already have aren't going to last forever, and my old Watermans are my absolute favorites. Has anyone else done this and had it work? If so, what size sac did you use?

I recently acquired a waterman ink-vue that is missing the nipple and retaining collar for the inksac(8 and 13 in the right side of the attached photo). I understand these are difficult parts to find, so I’m open to suggestions regarding any other repair option.

Please help identify this vintage Waterman safety nib pen. What I know so far: 1 It’s a Waterman safety nib (much like the Montblanc Bohemes) 2 Julia Gusano said it’s from the 1920s. 3 It has an eyedropper filling system. 4 The silver has a 935 grade. 5 It’s smol.

Hi there, I've been a silent member of the FPN for 11 years now, it's high time to come out from the closet! I was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland, where I got my first fountain pen as a kid from my daddy. My father is a notary emeritus and he gave me a deep purple Waterman (no idea what model it was, but it was new back then in the 90s and had a steel nib). My Dad always wrote with his Waterman Le Man 100, he owned several of these. He used the havana Waterman ink. In consequentce I was, too, writing only Waterman pens, oblivious to the whole universe of other pen-makers. I looked down to my friend (and penfriend) Ania's Parker which I considered vulgar (hihi). And up to my uncle's Montblanc, but Daddy said, that Montbalncs were delicate, prone to problems and - the bottom line - had the screw system. So I stayed happily with my Waterman, till one day in London I lost it. I was about 16 years old back then and it was a true tragedy... My beloved pen, with which alone I wrote so many letters and pages... Daddy took me to the Waterman boutique in one of Warsaw's shopping malls and he bought me a new Harmonie (black, CT). I really liked this robust and heavy but slim and elegant pen. After maybe two years there was some issue with it, I sent it to Waterman for reparation and got a brand new one instead. In the meantime I was using one old Waterman with a gold nib ground by my Dad to a custom oblique. It scratched a bit but I loved the line variation. And then I went to Italy to continue my philophical studies. In a little exquisite pen shop next to St. Anthony's Basilica in Padua I got my first Lamy Safaris. I was delighted by the calligraphy nibs one could swap at ease! I got several of these pens and used them with different nibs and inks. But my nostalgy for Waterman was growing (in the meantime I lost my old Waterman with the custom ground nib on a train from Warsaw to Vienna, I took it out to write down some insider's pizza recommendations in Venice to some stranger in the compartment and forgot it there). I started searching for Watermans with oblique and stub nibs and realised that one could buy some new old stock Préfaces. I got myself one in black resin and one silver plated with an F nib and a stub nib separately. These were my new favourites, I loved them. After several years in Padua I moved back to Warsaw and then to Cologne, where I live now. Upon my arrival in Cologne a disaster occurred: my whole backpack still packed with valuable fountain pens (the silver-plated Préface and all my Lamys, thanks God the black Préface with the stub nib was not there) got stolen. (Alongside with my laptop and kindle...) Now I own several beautiful Waterman Gentleman pens with different nibs and I like them even more than the Préface. And I use them at home, taking my pink Lamy Safari to the University It writes great and if I loose it, I can rebuy it. So as you see from my lengthy fountain-pen autobiorgaphy, I love fountain pens as writing instruments but I don't really collect them (well, if you exclude 5 different rare finishes of the Gentleman that I have accumulated lately). I love the section inky thoughts and might be tempted to tell you more about the exclusive Diamine Kölsches Rheinwasser Ink that came out recently made for the local pen store Ortloffs. Still, what intetests me most, are archival / waterproof inks. I would love to try out an old Waterman or Pelikan with a flex nib. Best wishes to you all, fellow fountain-pen freaks!

Dear Waterman Folk, I have a little collection of Gentlemans (Sterling Silver Grain d'Orge Oblique, Sterling Silver Godron F, Gold-Plated Godron M). Now I got two more delightful Gentlemen which on the cap instead of the W Logo have emblems of BMW (Dark Cherry, M nib, see photo) and "Porsche Club de France" (Tobaccco, M nib). The tobacco colour seems rare to me. How rare are these pens? Do you know other branded editions of the Gentleman? The nibs are normal 18K, deliciously smooth writers. I wonder if some people collecting the Gentleman find this exciting:) I don't even have a car, let alone a Porsche ! I am looking for the one in black or blue laqueur with gold flakes though. Please share your knowledge and thoughts on these pens !

Hello, I was just cleaning up my Waterman Hemisphere and found that I did not know how to take the feed and nib out, if that is possible in the first place. I was wondering if somebody would be able to tell me how to disasseble it. Thank you, Nick

I have recently become somewhat of a vintage flex addict, and in particular, ebonite is my kryptonite. In this process, I acquired a Waterman 55, which is by far my favorite pen due to its versatility and smooth nib. It's usable as an everyday pen, but still has the flex when I want it. But my pen had a somewhat dark chocolatey brown color, quite noticable compared to my rich black Conklin 2 next to it. I didn't realize how brown it was until I got the Conklin pen. I've tried soaking it in oxi-clean, soaking it in ammonia, soaking it with mineral oil, and lightly polishing it. I don't want to polish it too hard, because it does still have some chasing left, and I like the Waterman imprint. I keep reading on here of dyes for ebonite, but I can't find any actual examples of such dyes. What are people using to dye old ebonite? I know dying is controversial, so if there's any other way to make my Waterman 55 the nice rich color like my Conklin 2, please share. I'm somewhat new to vintage pens.

A. Not a problem? B. Big no no? C. Why can't you leave well enough alone? I don't currently have any problem with my 3 Carène, I'm thinking of using an ultrasonic cleaner with more troublesome pens that are hard to disassemble, or I just don't know how to like the Parker 105; but it would be nice to know if it would damage the Carène with its inlaid (and glued?) nib. Same question for Geha Goldschwinge, with the diference that they seem way more fragile than Carènes... But one of them would probably really benefit since even Rapido Eze can't get it to write with the right flow...

I have a friend with this Waterman roller ball pen. I'm not an expert on Waterman's but I've seen a few in my day. I've never seen this one and was wondering if anyone could help identify it by model and approximate value? It's new, in the box, never been used. Thanks for your help.Waterman Pen

Hello FPNers, I bought a Waterman 52 in amazing condition 5 months ago. But recently, the lever has not been staying in place in the closed position. It keeps popping up a little bit. Does anyone know what the problem might be and how to fix it? Many thanks! Best, John

Hello FPNers, I bought a Waterman 52 in amazing condition 5 months ago. But recently, the lever has not been staying in place in the closed position. It keeps popping up a little bit. Does anyone know what the problem might be and how to fix it? Many thanks! Best, John

Hello everyone, I was reading a childhood memoir by Satyajit Ray (renowned Indian film-maker and writer). There, he mentioned of "black Waterman and Swan fountain pens which were made of a material called Gutta Percha". As a fountain pen enthusiast, naturally, I was curious. A quick Google search showed something related to dentistry instead of what I was looking for. Wikipedia says it is a form of latex. Does anybody have any idea what is Gutta Percha? Also, does anyone own a waterman or swan (or any other brand's pen) made of this material? warm regards, Auntor

Hello fellow FPNers, I am considering buying a pen which the seller has described as a "Waterman 52", but I noticed that the clip is attached near the top of the cap (please refer to the attached images). I know the Waterman 52v has a higher-mounted clip like the pen on sale, but all of the other Waterman 52's I have seen so far show the clip attached lower down on the cap. Could someone please tell me if the Waterman 52 ever came with a higher-mounted clip? Is the pen for sale actually a Waterman 52? Or is it some sort of Waterman frankenpen? Your advice would be much appreciated! Best, John