Waterman Phileas Review

[ht1]

Quote by Helius: - The marble swirls on the barrels of the blue/red/green pens are attractive... until you notice the ugly seam where the lines don't exactly match up. The black pen doesn't have this problem as it's just a plain black plastic barrel.

 

 

I have five Phileas pens. Only one of them is black. I purchased one of them from an Office Depot about thirteen years ago, one from Office Depot six months ago, two from Pendemonium about five months ago, and about four months ago I received a replacement from Waterman for another one I purchased about thirteen years ago. I see no seams on any of them. I've used an 8X loupe, and I've even used a +2 power pair of reading glasses with the loupe. The +2 reading glasses are enough for me to see a seam. Is this something new?

 

ht

 

edited for typo

Edited October 7, 2006 by ht1

[Anne-Sophie]

I was given my blue Phileas when I was in France in 1999. I bought my green one in the U.S.

 

I haven't seen the seam on either of them and I'm not going to look.

 

I like the name and overall look of the Phileas, it's also a very comfortable pen and a great, smooth writer (both medium nib).

[helius]

I have five Phileas pens.  Only one of them is black.  I purchased one of them from an Office Depot about thirteen years ago, one from Office Depot six months ago, two from Pendemonium about five months ago, and about four months ago I received a replacement from Waterman for another one I purchased about thirteen years ago.  I see no seams on any of them.  I've used an 8X loupe, and I've even used a +2 power pair of reading glasses with the loupe.  The +2 reading glasses are enough for me to see a seam.  Is this something new?

I should probably clarify what I meant when I said "seam." It's not a physical seam like a gap when you fit two pieces of material together - the barrel is perfectly smooth as far as I can tell. What I meant to say is that there's a very visible line where there are abrupt discontinuities of the "marble swirls."

 

These are definitely my bling-bling-est pens.

[Arkanabar]

I'll echo most of what Helius said about the Phileas -- I had one I got at Office Depot or Max back in the late 90's, and it is attractive at first glance, highly decorated, poorly finished, and very smooth.

 

The Phileas looks like it is trying to be grand, and that makes it look even cheaper. -- Sonia Simone

This is DEAD on, and according to Steve Leveen's copy for this pen in his catalog back when it first came out, that was the idea -- an inexpensive pen with very grand looks.

 

I suppose it looks like the color was applied as a decal, Helius? That would explain its "seamed" appearance. If there's an overlap or a gap, then there's an even stronger indication of this manufacturing process.

 

"Precious Resin" is actually not too pretentious a term when you know what it is. MahBlah takes some higly resinous tree sap, like poplar or pine (I don't really know which), adds dye and and reinforcing fiberglass, and then subjects it to some sort of polymerizing industrial process they call "amberizing." Again, this is a fairly reasonable term, as amber is polymerized fossil tree sap.

 

But given how brittle the stuff is, I don't think it makes a particularly good material for pens. And even the demonstrator Meisterstucks in the MahBlah boutiques leak horribly, convincing me that this is an endemic problem with the pens.

Edited October 8, 2006 by Arkanabar

[georgem]

Mine has a medium nib. It writes really well but with a slight bit of "tooth" I've not bothered to try any smoothing procedures such as writing on brown paper bags, so it's not really enough to be a bother.

 

I'm using Diamine Royal Blue in it & really like the results.

[ht1]

Quote by Helius: I should probably clarify what I meant when I said "seam." It's not a physical seam like a gap when you fit two pieces of material together - the barrel is perfectly smooth as far as I can tell. What I meant to say is that there's a very visible line where there are abrupt discontinuities of the "marble swirls."

 

 

 

I had to look very hard to find the line you are describing. It's somewhat visible on my green Phileas, but I have to hold it under a bright light at a specific angle and use magnification to see it on this pen. I have to really struggle using a bright light, magnification, and constant tilting of my other Phileas pens to even detect a faint line. Even where I detect the line, my swirls and lines match on both sides of it. I'm not concerned about it, even on my green pen, because of the effort I have to make to see it. I'm wondering if it is visible, as you have described, on some, and barely detectable on others.

[thn]

Well, I finally received my Phileas from FPH and have been testing it since Saturday. So far, I've found that:

 

-for a $40 pen, it writes really well. In fact, it writes better than some pens that retail for twice as much. :blink:

 

-it's very lightweight. I'm disappointed to say that while it looks quite elegant, it feels cheap. I prefer pens with girth and heft. The Phileas doesn't satisfy in those departments. Because of this, control is lacking (for me, at least).

 

Basically, if FPs were only about writing performance and cost, the Waterman Phileas is an excellent choice. However, when you favor aesthetics and feel, it won't be the best pen. Nonetheless, I don't regret my purchase at all.

[helius]

Quote by Helius: I should probably clarify what I meant when I said "seam." It's not a physical seam like a gap when you fit two pieces of material together - the barrel is perfectly smooth as far as I can tell. What I meant to say is that there's a very visible line where there are abrupt discontinuities of the "marble swirls."

 

 

 

I had to look very hard to find the line you are describing. It's somewhat visible on my green Phileas, but I have to hold it under a bright light at a specific angle and use magnification to see it on this pen. I have to really struggle using a bright light, magnification, and constant tilting of my other Phileas pens to even detect a faint line. Even where I detect the line, my swirls and lines match on both sides of it. I'm not concerned about it, even on my green pen, because of the effort I have to make to see it. I'm wondering if it is visible, as you have described, on some, and barely detectable on others.

Hmm. I suppose you could've been lucky with your purchase, and/or I unlucky with mine. For what it's worth, I got mine through different Office Depot stores in/around Atlanta, but they probably all got their stocks from a central distribution center and were products of the same batch or something.

[MikeLip]

The Waterman Phileas has had at least one positive impact on the world of fountain pens.

 

It got me into it! :roflmho:

 

One day I decided I "needed" a good pen. I had purchased a Fisher bullet space pen, which remains in my pocket for those rare occasions where a FP won't cut the mustard. And those occasions are *very* rare. But I recalled that I had used a Sheaffer students' FP in high school - one of the last suckers to buy one from our school book store, I think. This was in the early 70s, and ballpoints were actually on TV along with that newcomer, the felt tip pen.

 

I remembered how it felt writing with that thing - different from ballpoints, certainly - but across the span of years, I couldn't recall whether that was good or bad. I went on a search for fountain pens and happened across Swishers site. He was closing out the Phileas, and I bought one.

 

Revelation! This is how a pen ought to write!

 

Now of course I have a number of FPs, and I'm waiting on a Bexley, a NOS Sheaffer Targa and a Parker Sonnet Cisele. I also have a nice Pelikan 250, plus a couple of Dukes and a Lamy. But the Waterman is the go-to pen, and it lives at work where I use it to keep my daily journal which covers three to four 8-7/8 x13 1/2" pages a day, plus. Not to mention the reports, test data entry, and the daily paperwork that goes into running a lab and keeping it stocked. The green marble-y color scheme is not my favorite (I'm pretty conservative and like a nice black pen in silver livery) but the nib is wonderful and it's all together a great pen when you consider I paid under $30 for it!

 

I have no doubt that I will end up with at least one multi-hundred dollar pen - I already have a couple of $100 pens, which would no doubt horrify anyone who thinks a Bic stick pen is just the thing - but it's always going to the Phileas that got me started!

Edited October 11, 2006 by MikeLip

[lisa]

Well, I finally received my Phileas from FPH and have been testing it since Saturday. So far, I've found that:

 

-for a $40 pen, it writes really well. In fact, it writes better than some pens that retail for twice as much. :blink:

 

-it's very lightweight. I'm disappointed to say that while it looks quite elegant, it feels cheap. I prefer pens with girth and heft. The Phileas doesn't satisfy in those departments. Because of this, control is lacking (for me, at least).

 

Basically, if FPs were only about writing performance and cost, the Waterman Phileas is an excellent choice. However, when you favor aesthetics and feel, it won't be the best pen. Nonetheless, I don't regret my purchase at all.

An F or M nib?

[wmbrady]

Hey gang,

 

I jumped into this review because I have a Red Phileas. I am very confused at this point. My pen does not have a line that I can see and there are no gaps in the trim. The pattern does look like a poor copy of a celluloid but it's not bad in it's own right. I use it with OMAS red ink and it has always performed perfectly, easy to load, good capacity, smooth writing and no leaks. I bought it to present it to someone who wants to "borrow a pen". It always bounced back quickly.

 

Now, I did buy the pen a long time back, right when it came out. Perhaps the quality has dropped or the manufacture moved off shore?

 

I just ordered a green one of recent manufacture. Perhaps it will answer some questions.

 

-Bill Brady

[Montrose]

I recently purchased a red Phileas after reading several positive posts. I'm a lefty and had to exchange the medium nib for a large to get the flow I need. I really like the color. The pen starts right up and is very smooth. I like the gold trim and handsome nib. I would never have noticed the line in the marbling in a hundred years. As far as the pen looking cheap, it's not going to pass for an expensive pen to the .0001% of the population who know pens. The others can wonder.

 

 

I have other vintage pens, most of which have sentimental value. I'm afraid of carrying most of them. I was looking for an everyday, dependable pen that wrote well and looked good. I'm very happy with the Phileas.

[Ernst Bitterman]

The first thing that attracted me to the Phileas was the verging-on-goofy, nigh-over-the-top styling. I burbled enough about it that it appeared as a Christmas gift, and on the basis of anticipation vs. reality it's about the best christmas prezzie I've ever had.

 

I find now that I'm collecting vintage pens that it's given me a false sense of proportion-- most old pens seem very wee indeed next to it, and there's not a lot of difference in terms of silhouette. This is an old pen, that is a Phileas much farther away.

[jonro]

All my Phileases are... Kulturs. I have a transparent orange and 3 of the solid Kulturs. I mentioned them in another post. They look just like the Phileas but don't have any marbling in the plastic and don't have the crest. I personally prefer the look because it is plastic that has no celluloid delusions (I am not knocking the Phileas). Even though I have an assortment of (more expensive) great writers, I still rank the Kultur/Phileas as an excellent pen, one that I enjoy using. Mine all have fine nibs. I find them very smooth and slightly toothy, definitely not scratchy. I agree with what someone else who said that a little toothiness gives him the feedback he needs to write more legibly. The Phileas/Kultur hits so many sweet spots as a pen that it belongs in the Fountain Pen Hall of Fame (when someone builds one).

Edited April 11, 2007 by jonro

[lisa]

I have a Kultur F, a transparent one, and a Phileas F. The nibs are not the same. Kultur F writes a line twice as fine and (I'm sorry jorno) I find it scratchy. The Phileas nib is smooth.

Edited April 11, 2007 by lisa

[Junk Collector]

I purchased 5 Phileas fountain pens for starting my own collection. The first 3 are all Black colored fine points and the 4th and 5th are a Black and a Red Marble medium point. I love the looks of all of them. I am writing with one of the fine points and it writes really nice. The fine point is not too wide and not too fine. It writes like a medium point. I like that.

The style and the quality of this particular pen is excellent. The only thing which I raise as an issue about the Phileas is that one of the fine points which I received has a stamping flaw with the letter "F" on the nib. The letter "F" was not stamped thoroughly on the nib to be able to see the entire letter. It's partically stamped on the nib and part of the letter is missing. Other than that, the pen and the nib look really nice. I am going to keep the one with the flaw because it's the last Black colored Phileas that the online distributor had and Black is my favorite color in the Phileas fine point. I could exchange it for another black Phileas, but it would have to be a Medium point one. I already own one Black and one Red Marble medium point Phileas and I don't think that I would want another medium point. But if I did decide to purchase another Black Phileas, I would still keep the one which I already own that has the flaw and order another Black one in the medium point. I just cannot get enough of the Phileas styling that I love so much. This pen looks almost like the more expensive Mont Blanc. It has some really nice styling to it. It's too bad that Waterman discontinued this particular model. I am hoping that they will replace it with something just as nice.

Edited April 27, 2007 by Junk Collector

[dwwst12]

I just received two Kulturs I bought on Ebay. One is all right, the other is catching the paper pretty badly when I make horizontal strokes up and to the right.....

Edited April 30, 2007 by dwwst12

[theblackpen]

The Phileas and the Kultur are great pens. My Phileas XF writes a wet and smooth true F(vintage F) line. The clear version of the Kultur can be used , from my own experience, as an eyedropper without using silicon grease on the threads. No ink spilled, no stained pockets, no other issues. Its monotone steel nib writes a true F line, as marked, drier but as smooth as the Phileas. Perfect sized pens, perfectly balanced posted or not. I'm very happy that I finally got my hands on them.