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In this post I will review the Waterman Expert Deluxe Fountain Pen. The one which I have has a fine nib. Official Product Link of the pen Flipkart Link from where I bought the pen Background: I have been using the Waterman Expert for more than 3 years. It is my second waterman pen. Prior to this I had owned the Waterman Phileas and being really satisfied with that I decided to go in for another waterman. This pen also has the fine nib like my Phileas. This was also the most expensive pen in my collection at the time of purchase. In short I had a lot of expectations from this pen even before I had tried it out. Appearance & Design (1-10) - 8/10 - An appealing design. I went in for the deluxe version in black colour. It has a metallic cap with chrome finish. It has five horizontal bands and has a sloping top. The clip has a slit in the middle just like any other waterman. You can also find waterman and paris written at the base of the cap in white over a black band. The barrel is black lacquer over a metal body and has chrome bands to match the cap. It has a steel nib which also matches the cap colour. Overall the pen has only two colours - chrome and black and they are well-coordinated. As a whole the pen follows a cigar shape with it being wide at the middle and narrower at the ends. The grip section is comfortable to hold with the width increasing just above the nib to prevent your fingers from slipping. The pen looks upmarket and has a good design. Construction & Quality (1-10) - 8/10 - The pen is solidly built. The construction quality is good and the pen feels solidly built. There is nothing much to complain and the pen can handle some abuse. (I have never this pen so I don't know what would happen).Even after 3 years of fairly regular use this pen is in good condition. I am happy with the construction. Weight & Dimensions (1-10) - 9/10 - Balanced when unposted. The weight of the pen feels just right. It is neither very heavy nor can you call it light. I have fairly big hands and the pen fits in well posted as well as unposted. This pen is thicker than its sibling, the waterman hemisphere. Personally I find the thickness of the pen to be just right and the hemisphere is too slim for me. This pen has a very heavy cap so I prefer to write with the cap unposted. Having the cap posted seems to alter the balance for the worse and it feels as if you have to hold the pen in your its position rather than it naturally resting in your hand. Nib & Performance (1-10) - 10/10 - Wonderful Nib. The pen I have is with a Fine nib. The nib is made out of steel and there is nothing fancy about it. It is a relatively small in size. What you expect from a nib depends from person to person and this is subjective so one should always take this with a pinch of salt. Here is my opinion... Of all the fine nibs that I have ever tried this is the best. I bought this pen after using the Waterman phileas. That was also a fine nibbed pen and I went for this with similar expectations. The nib is smooth and fast. There have been no issues with any of the inks that I have used with this pen. Being a fine nib the inks are very quick to dry. However off the box the nib was not as smooth and you need to give it some time, write some pages with it and then it shows its true colours. Being a fast and a quick to dry nib it is ideal for note-taking applications or where writing speed is an important factor. I really love this nib and this pen has always remained in my circulation thanks to the nib. Filling System & Maintenance (1-10) - 9/10 - Classic reliable converter. The filling system design and the overall maintenance effort involved with the pen is same as that of any other converter based pen. The converter is the standard waterman converter which can be used across almost all their pens around this range. Since the nib is fine it does not use a lot of ink and a single top up can last a fairly long time. Cost & Value (1-10) - 7/10 I bought my pen online in India from flipkart.com. It cost me around Rs. 5400 that is around USD 80. Depending upon the other pens in your collections you may categorise it as average or an expensive pen. I don't think you can call it cheap in any way. At the time of purchase it was the most expensive pen in my collection. For what it costs it is a pretty simple device. It has the classic looks and performs well. Depending on what you expect from this price point you may either by happy or disappointed. Thus, this again is a very subjective score. In my opinion this pen was "expensive" at the time of purchase but after some years of use I feel that the money was well spend and I am satisfied with my investment. Conclusion (Final score [sUM/6]: X) - 8.5/10 It is a wonderful pen. It is not too fancy but has everything that it should have. Feels like a complete package. It is that sort of pen which very few people will dislike and you will need to put in some efforts to find any shortcomings. It is that pen which may not have many "fans" but which is liked by most of its owners. It is a safe bet to go with and I recommend this pen. Link to my blog where this review is posted

I bought PILOT [FD-15SR] deluxe urushi fountain pen. Does anybody know, how to disassemble section? Because I want to clean the feed manually.

Can you help me to identify the attached pen. It is a Pilot, and according to its shape and nib it is a Deluxe. On the nib it is indicated H278, so it was made in 1978. On the label with Japanese characters states “Lady”. So I assume that it must be a Pilot Delux Lady from 1978. But, it is not the classical Deluxe. Just look at the three rings on the end of the section. I have never seen this design before. Anyone has seen already this model? Thank you in advance. ​The only way I can show the pen is by this links: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TmX2hzZFK-dUZZYVRwR1RtWC03Z1hKMHNKSUZSUGlHVGRr/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TmX2hzZFK-ZzczdmYzbWtDYWNVdlNfbDY4YXVJemdSU0hj/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TmX2hzZFK-dnBOUTE5amZOTlE4eUp6MXY1QnpWby1xSE5V/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TmX2hzZFK-OGk1SU54YU9qRExGNEhYcTNxRUNNQWNRN1dj/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TmX2hzZFK-Y25uN3pKTG1yLTlqVUhZV1h1R0R4T0llYnl3/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TmX2hzZFK-Ym1jdzRvWFozaElpX3NIajVIejBEY3ozU0lJ/view?usp=sharing

I have one black Estie Deluxe LK (but the section is a bit loose, I'll finish that repair, it's an easy fix), and 3 Estie Deluxe SM's. All pens are lever fill, the SM's are all double jewel with no chipped or broken jewels, and in restored condition ready to write. The SM's I've got are a black, a burgundy with matching pencil (sadly no box though), and an olive green colored one. The burgundy and olive colored ones both have dark red jewels, while the black one has black jewels. The burgundy and olive ones both have snap on caps, and the black one is a threaded on cap, as is the black LK. All of these pens were bought as part of a larger group, or lot of pens bought for something else in the group/lot, so I just tossed them aside until I needed a project and one by one they eventually all got restored. So now I'm wondering if these are as popular with certain Estie collectors as some of the other Esties? I've spent most of my short time in this hobby focusing on J family pens, transitionals, and Dollar pens, so I've never paid much attention to these. They seem like nice pens, but I have no idea of value, if there's any at all. I've tried to research going prices but there just aren't many comps out there that I can find for some reason. So are there collectors for these later model Estie lever fillers? And if so what sort of price range do they bring? Here are some pics I borrowed from the interwebs that show identical Estie SM's to the ones I have, including the pen & pencil set. And here's a pic of an LK identical to mine. *Pics borrowed from Esterbrook.net* (I Hope that's ok)

Decided to step up from my flaking Jinhao x750. Decided on a Monteverde invincia deluxe chrome. I had read here about finish issues on the all black models so decided on chrome. All of the pics I have seen online had an all chrome grip and step down. What I received from a retailer with a black plastic step down. It is a sharp edge screw in type that has a larger diameter than the grip. Quite annoying on such a beautiful pen. Is this something new?

Hi all, I have one little Esterbrook pen and to me it looks like multiple pens. Can someone kindly tell me what I have purchased? It was purchased from a dealer, not on ebay. What is it? How old is it? Best nib? My concern is that the jewel caps seem wrong for the pen and match the grip. I knew the grip didn't match the barrel when i purchased, but thought it was okay because the jewels matched. Did someone just cobble this together? Also... I recently purchased an unopened box of Esterbrook dip nibs, Assortment #11. I cannot find anywhere what the contents are. Is it worth more to leave intact or should I open the box and use some and sell/trade the others?? Seems to be the latest version of box. Thanks all for ANY help!!

This is a first post, story, and request for assistance all in one. To begin I would like to say hi to all in this wonderful community. I have followed for a while and just made an account to share this story and ask for help. I have used nothing but fountain pens for writing for almost three years now (ever since I started college), and can't imagine going back to anything else. Though up to this point I have owned only modern pens, including a Waterman's Harmonie, a TWSBI 540, and, my favorite, a full sized Sailor 1911. This is where the story begins. My grandfather has recently passed away, and in the process of cleaning his hoarder like house a multitude of fountain pens were discovered. Most of my family members disregarded them, thinking they were junk and a product of the past, but my dad, knowing that I used fountain pens asked if I would want them. I said absolutely, even if they are broken and junk I am sure I can piece parts together to make a functioning pen I can remember my grandfather by. To my surprise, many of them are in great shape, minus the fact that almost all of them were left with ink in them (I will have a lot of pens to go through and clean in the next couple of weeks, as I only took on one project set for this week as I have finals to be studying for). The functioning lot included a couple Esterbrook J's, two Esterbrook dollar pens, numerous Wearever pens (many of which I passed around to my cousins to have as a keepsake), although one I made sure to hold on to as it has a 14k gold nib, which struck me as odd as I believed most Wearever's were pretty inexpensive, one pen/mechanical pencil set that I believed was labeled Parkette (although I can't quite remember), one Conkiln, which had a filling system I have never seen before and also had a 14K mark on the nib, and a handful of others that I don't even remember. Many of these I will have to do research on and will ask questions about in the future, but there was one set that I immediately fell in love with and brought back with me to campus (the rest I sent home with my dad). It is a Sheaffer Sentinel Deluxe-TM Ensemble. I know so because I was lucky enough to find the pen and mechanical pencil set in the case with the cardboard box on it. I knew that this must have been a set he received as a gift, but I wanted to know why he received such a nice pen set; so I started doing research. After doing some internet searching, I believe it is a Touchdown thin-model (TM is on the box) and think it must be from 1950, as that would have been when he graduated high-school, and the information I have found says they were in production from 1950-52, but I noticed one thing that didn't seem to match. The nib does not have the 14K gold plate on the top half. This is when I ask for help. Can someone tell me when this pen was produced so I can figure out why my grandfather was gifted such a nice pen set? The only other details about the pen that I can think of is the the nib says SHEAFFER'S, and then something so tiny I can't read it, and then, MADE IN U.S.A, and the barrel of the pen says W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO., FORT MADISON, IOWA, U.S.A., MADE IN U.S.A. Thank you for your time and help, PensMakeMemories

I'm repairing a Wearever Deluxe fountain pen and noticed that the J bar was corroded and broken. I'm thinking about purchasing a new J bar online but am not sure what size to get. Any suggestions? Thank you! -Jason