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Hi everyone, I am a long time lurker on this forum but this is my first post. My first and only Visconti was a Homo Sapiens Bronze Age with a 23k Pd EF nib. It was my best nib but I found the pen slightly uncomfortable due to the slightly thicker section. However all the discomfort was counterbalanced by the really awesome nib. It made the pen worth it. It seemed I had won the Visconti nib lottery. Unfortunately, I dropped the pen and the nib developed some serious problems and I sold off the pen. However my awesome experience with the nib made me a Visconti fan. Recently, after selling a bunch of pens I ordered the new Visconti Opera Master Polynesia in 18k EF nib and am expecting this pen in the next 10 - 15 days. I bought this pen primarily because of three reasons: 1) First (or one of the first) Visconti pen with in house 18k nib 2) It seems the new Opera Master redesign has supposedly made the section thinner and the whole pen less top heavy 3) Demonstrator pen with the awesome double reservoir power filler (useful for large ink capacity as I do not change inks frequently) I am still worried about the metal section of the pen as I have oily hands (one of the other reasons I like the lava section on my Homo Sapiens). Can anyone who owns this pen or the new Visconti Opera Master Oceanic or Amber (the other two new design Opera Masters) let me know their experience regarding the nib, section slickness and the overall comfort with the pen? Just as an FYI, I have medium sized hands and am able to use pens of size comparable to Pelikan M800 comfortably. Thanks in advance!

It is not that strange for me to find myself to be irrationally attracted by what I tried firstly, even after recognized that the first choice actually does not fit perfectly to my taste. My first serious fountain pen was Visconti Opera Master Black Guilloche with 14k gold fine nib. I thought it was a great pen, but it did not took so much time to feel that the pen was a bit heavy for me. So I tried Montblanc, Aurora, etc., but.. I kept attracted by Visconti, irrationally. I tried Visconti Black Divina almost without any investigation, And.. that irrationality gave me a huge chance to find a pen that fits perfectly to my taste. So I decided to try all current production-line Visconti pens as much as possible. Even though I missed some of them, such as Michelangelo and Pininfarina, I want to share my experience with five pens; Opera Elements, Opera Master, Homo Sapiens, Medici, and Divina. I will cover their nibs in separate review because five of them basically use the same nibs, and fortunately, they have all different nibs from EF to BB. Appearance & Design (10/10) From left to right, longer to shorter. Opera Master Black Guilloche, Divina Desert Spring, Homo Sapiens Bronze Age, Medici, and Opera Element Dark Amber. The right-most one is Montblanc 146 as a reference. Visconti is famous for its fascinating design. The Opera Master Black Guilloche is the most classic one among five of them, even though the black guilloche finish gives a bit of fanciness. The other four pens do definitely have unique designs and materials. Divina Desert Spring is made of beautiful brown-based celluloid with a bit of white marble and blue- and white- accents. Most regular Divinas such as imperial blue and green have silverly or gold-colored metal lines along five facets turning around the pen, but this version does not have that. The pen body tapers towards the bottom and the grip section. Homo Sapiens Bronze Age is probably the most well-known and recognizable model of Visconti. It is made of resin mixed with lava, so it gives unique texture and feeling. Besides the body material, clip, finial, and cap band are made of bronze. The photo did not capture them correctly, but it is being aged so they have a hint of pink color. Medici is, I think, the most underrated and out-of-interest pen among five of them. But its acrosilk body has astonishing depth and feels very solidly. It is facetted, so it reflects lights in a beautiful way. The last, Opera Elements Air, is my favorite among these pens aesthetically. The resin body is a bit translucent so you can see the grip section and converter in it through cap and body. I am really sorry that my iPhone camera cannot capture this pen's beauty. Construction & Quality (5/10) Starting from the Opera Master, the facets are not perfectly aligned when it is capped. Actually it is the only pen that does not use the "Hook-and-Safe" mechanism, but that can't be a reason for the misalignment. Furthermore, the cap thread is not well-built so you can keep turn it feeling it is capped already. The Divina Desert Spring, which is the most expensive pen out of these, is neither free of the construction quality issue. Even though the facets are perfectly aligned by virtue of the capping mechanism, but the captured converter is a problem of it. The captured converter is not well captured. It actually moves a bit when you write with it. It really makes hearable sound and unpleasant feeling to your hand. The capping mechanism also has an issue. In the case of Homo Sapiens, for example, the cap starts to be "Hooked" when you try to close the cap without any pressure. It means the "Hook-and-Safe" thread is so crisp that the cap can be pushed in by its own weight. However, it doesn't work properly in the case of Divina. It is made of celluloid as I mentioned, so it's lighter than Homo Sapiens' cap. However, in spite of the weight, it is not understandable that you need to really push the cap to make it hooked. Because it is celluloid pen, and there's no metal cap band on it, it feels me uncomfortable to push the cap till the cap finds its proper position. The Homo Sapiens Bronze Age is actually the only one that makes me feel the pen is really well built. It feels extremely solid. I think this pen is the single most adequate pen for the word "Solid Pen". In the case of Medici, the filling mechanism has a bit of issue. It uses the Visconti's power filler, so you have to turn the end knob to make the vacuum plunger work. When closing back the knob after filling the pen, I need to push one corner of the knob to make it turned. It means that the knob is slightly out of alignment with the main body. The Opera Element Air has two issue: one with its converter, and the other with its capping mechanism. It comes with a screw-in-type Visconti converter. But the screw-in is not perfect, so there's a little bit of space between the grip section and the converter even when it's maximally screwed in. Thus, the converter hits the body when you write with the pen. For the capping mechanism, it's "Hook-and-Safe" thread is a bit longer than the others'. It's not obvious because the others are oversized pens, but this one is not. I guess the spring is not working properly to make the capping smoothly with the long thread of it. It feels somewhat stuck a bit when I open and close the cap. Overall, construction quality of these pens are disappointing especially considering their prices. It seems like five capping mechanisms are made by two or three different manufacturers. The clips are too. The springs in the clips give all different feelings and have all different working-angle range. Clip on the Divina widens up to 15 degrees easily, but that on the Medici is a lot stiffer, and that on Homo Sapiens widens only up to 7 or 8 degrees. Engraving of their brand name on the clip mostly have some defects. I can't say that the construction qualities of these pens are superb. Weight & Dimensions (8/10) The Opera Master and Homo Sapiens are quite heavy pens, due to the metal parts. But they are not off-balance in any sense. I would say the Opera Master is a bit too heavy for me, but it is just matter of my taste. The other two oversized pens, Divina and Medici, are quite lighter than Opera Master and Homo.Sapiens considering their sizes. But they are not as light as Montblanc 149 due to the metal parts of the filling mechanism, I guess. Opera Element, which is the only non-oversize pen in this list, has actually similar weight to the others because of the metal grip section. All five pens are well balanced unless they are posted. Regarding to posting the cap, I don't feel comfortable to post most of Visconti pens because of three following reasons. Firstly, magnets for "Visconti My Pen System" at the end of the cap makes the pens back-heavy when posted. Secondly, they cannot be posted deeply because of the spring inside the cap for the capping mechanism. Finally, faceted bodies cannot make enough friction to rounded inner wall of the cap. Surely, caps are also faceted but the inner walls are always rounded because of the capping mechanism. Overall, weight and dimensions almost perfectly fit to my taste, but they may not fit to whom need to post their pens. Nib & Performance (1-10) I posted a separate review on their palladium nibs. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/329814-visconti-23kt-palladium-nib-comparison-ef-bb/?p=3953651 To summarize, you should be ready for writing an e-mail to your favorite nib meister before buying broader nibs, if you are not comfortable fo adjust the nibs by yourself. Filling System & Maintenance (9/10) Visconti is famous for their Power Filler filling mechanism, which is basically a vacuum filler. Among five of them in this review, Medici and Homo Sapiens use the Power Filler. They have massive ink capacity. The only short point of this filling mechanism is that it is hard to clean the pen, but I feel cleaning these two pens are not that uncomfortable as you may guess. Yes, it is annoying to clean them compared with cleaning cartridge/converter pens. But compared with the piston filler pens such as Montblanc 146, Power Filler is better in my opinion because I don't have to continuously turn the piston turning knob to fill/empty the pen with water. For me, just pulling and pushing is easier than turning left and right. Divina uses so-called captured converter system, and I think it's one of the worst filling mechanism for this oversize pen. It does not have huge ink capacity, and it is not easy to clean. Opera Element is a conventional c/c filler pen with screw-in converter. I prefer screw-in converters rather than push-in types because it feels secure. Opera Master Black Guilloche has a bit unusual filling mechanism even among Visconti pens. It is basically a c/c filler, but the converter uses vacuum filling mechanism, not piston mechanism. So it holds more inks than conventional c/c filler pens. Originally the vacuum converter is glued to the grip section, but I could detach it to make the cleaning procedure easier, without any loss of its performance. Overall, filling systems of all these five pens have somewhat unique features. Except for the captured converter of Divina, I would say they are all great. Cost & Value (8/10) I bought Opera Master, Homo Sapiens, and Medici from local retailer. The Opera Master Black Guilloche, especially, was such a bargain. I remember it was around USD 400.00, while its MSRP is around USD 800.00. Divina is pre-owned one from a user here in FPN, and Opera Element is from Ebay. Visconti is not making the most practical and economical pens in the world. But considering their unique designs, nib materials, and filling systems, I would say most of their pens worth their price especially if you get them with a bit of discount. Conclusion (40/50) An IT youtuber that I've subscribed often says that, it is more important not to have a critical defect, than to have something like 10GB RAM or world's best 8k display, for a flagship smartphone. Even though I'm a crazy fanboy of Visconti pens, I have to admit that their pens sometimes have defects, even except for their nibs. But I think their adorable design and unique features may overwhelm the quality control issue.

Hi all! I'm very excited to review my latest acquisition. Two dreams have come true for me with this pen: my own Crimson Tide (grail pen), and a Visconti nib that works! Enjoy. First Impressions (5/5) Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr The pen came in a nice sturdy box. It's sturdy and shiny, and is used in a lot of other Visconti pens in this price range. I'll keep it as display case. I'm a little upset that it didn't come with a crystal ink well (I think the Blue Swirl and the Black resin ones do). But oh well! Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr The pen sits serenely in the box. Very nice interior finish, soft and clean. There were L.E. papers when it came but I think I lost it... (I've been swapping some display boxes, and threw away the box that came with this one originally). Appearance and Design (4.5/5) Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr When it comes to Visconti pens, some are gaudy, some are cool, some are elegant. This one is handsome. I'm a die-hard fan of demonstrators, and the Crimson Tide combines the beautiful red and white and black stripes that convey a sense of tumbling waves against a transparent body; and when the ink slushes around, the name "Crimson Tide" becomes apparent. The gold trim works well with the pen (though I would have preferred the rose gold trim). It makes the pen rather flashy, without being excessively so. Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr The cap is made of the same material as the pen body. As such, it offers an unobstructed view of the beautiful nib. The bridge shaped Visconti clip is also thoughtfully enameled in red, though some letters are not perfect. Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr From this angle, one can see the "squaring the circle" (or circling the square, I don't know) design of the Opera series. I quite enjoy the design, as it adds some flair to the common round cylinder shape. Another benefit is that the pen will not roll around when laid on a flat surface. However, there are some faults: 1. The clip is off-center by a tiny bit, but is noticeable when carefully examined. 2. The cap and barrel's flat sides don't line up perfectly. It is evident that Visconti intended it to line up, but it's off by a little; noticeably under careful examination. 3. There were some residues (transparent, seems to be oil) inside the barrel. It is barely barely noticeably even when carefully examined, but it is there and I have no way of removing it. Perhaps it'll wash off with some inking. 4. The cap threads are metal on resin. Out of fear of cracking the barrel, I never close it to full force, so the cap is little loose. Not enough to have me worry about anything, but doesn't give the satisfying tight closure. Overall, I expected a little higher quality fit and finish at this price, but it does not generally detract from the pen's handsomeness. Weight and Dimensions Length (capped): 155mm Length (uncapped): 142mm Weight (total): 62g I usually don't mind heavy pens, but my smallish hands proved to be a bit too small for this... At a whopping 155mm and 62g, it is long and heavy. It is noticeably back heavy due to the brass piston knob, though the brass grip section compensates a little... Forget about posting, even uncapped and uninked, this pen is heavy enough to lower my writing angle down! On the plus side, the heft and size really make you feel like you're holding something special. Nib and Performance (7/10) Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr Nib: I had 0 expectations for this nib. Absolutely 0. My only expectation for Visconti is to give me a nib. If the pen has a nib, then Visconti's done its job... I even considered asking Ron at PenChalet (not affiliated) directly shipping the pen to my nibmeister, but decided in the end to see how horrible it is firsthand. But alas! It wrote, and wrote well! It is a Visconti fine nib, and writes like a European medium mainly due to the wetness, and I found it to be well ground and smooth. Not as hot butter on glass smooth as one would imagine, but is without fault. It skips only a little on Rhodia, to a completely acceptable degree that does not worsen the writing experience. As with all Visconti nibs, it is a little soft, but that doesn't really matter to me since I write with extremely light pressure anyways. The only minus is that even for a Visconti, the nib would be considered wetter than usual. The tines don't touch at the tip. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Section: The grip section is metal and is quite slippery. The concave shape helps a little, but the back-heaviness makes it difficult to hold easily. I also sweat a lot which doesn't help. I wish Visconti used a resin piston knob like the L.E. Homo Sapiens pens to make the heavy section unnecessary. Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr The nib writes too wet for my handwriting, as you can see a lot of letters were closed off. Only F was available at the time, so oh well! It wrote well, did not skip, and hard started for the brief of a second at the very first letter of the sample. I found the pen + nib combination to be rather unwieldy; I had a hard time controlling the pen and it felt like the pen was pulling my hand from letter to letter... There is an appreciable amount of line variation to be had; comes in handy when adding a little flourish to the capital letters and what not, but would not recommend constantly pressing it. Notice that the name of the ink is Rouge Opera... quite a match, eh? Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr Shocking news! Visconti palladium nibs are not designed for Asian characters! With a combination of how unwieldy the pen is for me and how wet and wide and smooth it is, it's hard to write Chinese with it for me... My go-to pen for writing Chinese still is my Nakaya EF. This Visconti is a very pleasant nib, but I have no control over it what-so-ever and my writing looks like a 5 year old's... But boy is it fun! For those interested in a comparison between my controlled vs uncontrolled Chinese handwriting, here's my writing in 0.3mm mechanical pencil. It seems that with my Opera Master, I cannot keep the direction of the strokes well due to a lack of friction with the paper and the weight of the pen. Untitled by Kevin Guo, on Flickr Filling System:(5/5) The pen uses Visconti's double reservoir power filler, and has a larger ink capacity than smaller pens like the Homo Sapiens. I measured about 3.4ml of ink, getting a mostly full fill without using the technique to fill it completely. This is a lot of ink, and a very useful system! Love it! Cost and Value (5/5) I bought this pen for $720USD and free shipping to Canada from PenChalet. For a brand new L.E. Opera Master, and one that has been sold out for a few years, I consider this a great buy. Obviously it's nearly impossible to find brand new Crimson Tides any more, but perhaps some will come up at some point! I bought this for my 20th birthday, and the L.E. number turns out to be 20 as well!!! Perhaps it is fate... In the end, I am very satisfied with this purchase and will treasure this pen for years to come.

I recently grabbed a Visconti Opera Master Clear Demo and I am now completely in love with this pen. I have been eyeing this pen for a long time. One was available from a seller based in Australia, but I never pulled the trigger because of all the foreseen pain involved with dealing with customs and international shipping... Then, last week I was in Tokyo and I went to Eurobox, a one man second hand pen store located in Ginza, to pick up a pen that I had purchased upfront before my trip. While I was waiting for my turn - two gentleman were already being served by the shop owner - I stumbled upon this pen. It was stored in a tray in a cabinet among many other pens... I decided to sleep over it - since I do not like impulse purchases - but eventually I fell and I made an appointment to complete the transaction before leaving. The pen turned out to be not even inked... and came with its original box and paraphernalia. I can understand the previous owner, it is such a beautiful piece of craftsmanship that you might be reluctant to load it. But this was a pen to be used and upon my return home I filled it with Syo Ro ink that kind of matches the color of the swirls. I could not be more happy, the pen writes like a dream and it is a pleasure to hold and event just to be contemplated. There are a number of reviews of the pen on this forum and elsewhere: Revire from Yuki Onitstura (2010) - links to photos broken Review from PenEngineer (2012) Review from RyanM (2015) Video review from Sbrebrown (2014) - he claims it is his grail pen For a high end (and expensive) pen, it is a lot of attention. I am not going to repeat what you can find elsewhere, just adding some personal observations. Reviews are mostly positive and the main complaint is the difficulty to clean the double reservoir system. I plant to stick to one ink. When I filled, it sucked enough ink to fill only half compartment. This is fairly common. There are tricks to get a full load, however, event at half capacity, it is such a staggering amount of ink (several milliliters) that I do not fill the need to stretch it to the limit. My pen came with a "vintage" 18k F nibs. I am not a fan of fine nibs, but I am happy of this one. It is a hard nib, no flex here of course, and it is great for me. What I like is that it consistently lays down a wet line that allows shading to appear with the right ink. I have read about quality control issues around, luckily my pen does not appear to have any defect and the ink is securely contained in the reservoirs. When I first held it it was a shock. It is a heavy pen, while I am accustomed to light weight. However it took less than one day to become accustomed. It is a huge pen, so posting is not really necessary. A common complaint with Visconti is the loose clip that does not guarantee any adherence. Well, the clip on this pen contradicts this assumption: the clip is springy and provide good adherence to my jacket internal pocket. I agree with other reviewers that a small glitch is the engraving on the cap band: it is engraved Opera and not Opera Master. Opera and Opera Master are actually slightly but not negligibly dissimilar. But that's really nitpicking. Time to time Visconti releases new Opera Master limited editions that follow this design. There is one currently around called Crimson Tide that is basically the same pen (but with red swirls). The blending of yellow, green and blue swirls in my version makes this writing instrument particularly attractive to my eye. It is a demonstrator nonetheless and it clearly shows the ink squashing around. Value-wise, I would probably be reluctant to pay full retail, but if you can find a good deal with a new old stock like I did and are in the market for an high end stunner, this is seriously a beautiful and yet functional pen.