Visconti Opera Master Crimson Tide Le (F)

February 20, 2017

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.

Edited February 20, 2017 by ICantEvenDecideAMajor

February 20, 2017

I have a black Opera fountain pen and it's one of my three favorite pens. Designwise it's unique. It performs very well and, above all, it fits in my hand perfectly. Good review.