Review Of The Airmail/wality 69Eb Ebonite Fountain Pen

December 10, 2016

The Wality/Airmail 69 EB is a very good candidate if you are considering a simple, economical (mind you, not cheap) Indian ebonite fountain pen. I got this pen from ASA Pens in April this year and had been meaning to review it for quite sometime now. I always ended up writing with the pen rather than reviewing the pen because of unassuming charm it has when it writes. The pen isn't an attention seeker. Its job is to write and it does that perfectly. While many pens have come and gone in the last 8-10 months in my collection, this has remained as my stock pen. Hence, this is more of an ode than a review of the pen.

The pen is made of ebonite and I think this (Mottled Brown) was the only color available when I bought it. It was available only as an eye-dropper and I bought it with the stock Wality fine nib. The pen is medium in size and is comparable to the Guider Acrylic. It is slightly bigger than the Plantinum Preppy. There are a lot of imperfections on the barrel as well as the cap. There are a couple of lathe marks as well. The clip is tight and I would have preferred some flex. However, it is not as dangerous as the Deccan Bullet (more about it here). Here is a size comparison with these pens.

(From the left: Platinum Preppy, Guider Acrylic, Wality 69EB, Deccan Bullet)

The pen is quite sturdy and has withstood rough usage, since it is my daily pen. The stock Wality nib was initially a little scratchy but after about 2 days of writing, it became quite smooth. There is a slight feed back which I prefer and it writes a fine but wet line. There is no flex with the nib, and its not a concern for me because I wouldn't know what to do with it.

The threads on the barrel are smooth and don't irritate the hand while writing. I have been writing with this pen for about 8 months now and haven't found any problem with the nib or the way it writes. I also feel its getting smoother and smoother progressively. I have used it for long writing sessions without any fatigue. It is dependable, light and well balanced. The pen being an eye-dropper has minimum eye-dropper issues like leakages during travel and when the ink levels are low. These are all expected glitches of an eye-dropper fountain pen, and need to be handled with care. Here is the writing sample

All in all, I am very satisfied with this pen. It is economical, it is a delight to write with and makes you want to write more. Thanks to Wality for making them and for ASA Pens to sell them online.