Inklings - Waterman Harmonious Green

[DrDebG]

There are few ink brands out there as iconic as Waterman inks. My very first bottle of ink was Waterman South Seas, and many, many years later, Waterman inks are still a favorite brand for me. And Harmonious Green is one of my favorite greens.

 

Many have given the history of this ink currently made in France, so I will dispense with further introductory remarks.

 

Waterman inks feature as stable, glass bottle with an opening large enough for most pens. The bottle contains an ample amount of ink (50mL) and is sold a very reasonable price. I purchased my bottle from Pen Chalet when it was on sale.

 

The ink is a medium green which leans towards blue, and has a lovely burgundy sheen which complements the green very nicely. It is very well behaved and flows smoothly from the pen. For this review, I have used two fountain pens - a Conklin Duragraph with 1.1mm stub nib, and a Pilot Metropolitan with EF nib. The papers used include HP All in One 22 Copy Paper, Tomoe River 52 gsm and Clairfontaine.

 

Waterman Harmonious Green is closer in shade to more emerald greens such as Rohrer & Klingner Smaragdgrun than greener shades such as Leonardo Green. The flow is excellent, and while not heavily lubricated, there is enough lubrication to make even my driest Pilot Metropolitan write smoothly and easily.

 

PROS:

 

Lovely green shade leaning towards blue.

Medium saturation

Burgundy sheen seen in pooled areas with wider nibs

Nice shading in wider nibs; minimal in finer nibs

Little to no bleedthrough even on copy paper

Minimal showthrough

No feathering except on cheap paper

Flow is excellent even in dry pens

 

CONS:

 

No water resistance

Slightly longer dry time

 

Overall, this is an excellent ink and holds on to its long standing reputation for reliability. If you like this color, I highly recommend getting a bottle.

 

 

**All photos were taken with an iPhone and the images have not been retouched. You may note a slight pink cast to the paper due to the pink blotter placed behind each page.

Edited February 7, 2020 by 5Cavaliers

[Jamerelbe]

Thanks for the review - I've ummed and ahhed about this ink for some time now, but given the relatively low cost, I *may* just pick up a bottle!

[Jan2016]

Nice review, and thanks for the comparison with the swab cards.

[Mercian]

Thank you for this

 

Especially for showing the contrasting effects of narrow & broad nibs.

[chromantic]

Thanks for the thorough review. I gave this a go once but found the color very disagreeable due to that underlying blueness.

[ENewton]

Thank you. I like the range of nibs and papers you've chosen.

 

Also, having Kujaku in a Metropolitan right now, I found myself wondering how close a match they were, and behold, there was Kujaku among the comparison swatches.

[Eclipse157]

Thank you for the review. The color is completely outside my favour though.. I only tolerate Diamine Schubert because of its name

[lapis]

Thanks for this nice review (and one beautiful pen!). Hmm... I know that these inks have only been "renamed" and not reformulated in 2012 but my Waterman Green (on paper) looks much less tealy/bluish than your Harmonious Green (on the screen) -- although my South Sea Blue and my Inspired.Blue both look the same....

[DrDebG]

Thanks for this nice review (and one beautiful pen!). Hmm... I know that these inks have only been "renamed" and not reformulated in 2012 but my Waterman Green (on paper) looks much less tealy/bluish than your Harmonious Green (on the screen) -- although my South Sea Blue and my Inspired.Blue both look the same....

 

Thank you for the comment, lapis. I thought so as well. I used up my old Waterman Green a number of months ago so I can't compare. But this Harmonious Green, when I just recently received, has much more blue than I remember from the original Green. I will try to find some of my older writings for a comparison.