Conway Stewart Button Filler Issue

[Calabria]

Hi-

Having just seen Kingsman I looked for my limited edition (ca. 2004) "Duro" and tried to fill it but the button mechanism doesn't seem to do anything.

 

I never was a fan of that pen because of the mechanism, but it's quite beautiful. What is the problem and if it needs repair, where can I send it?

Thanks!

[Calabria]

PS And seeing the Kingsman Conway Stewart offered at an astronomical price at Mr Porter - I wonder who is making that pen?

[MikeW]

Your Duro likely just needs the sac replaced - any competent pen repair person should be able to do that for you.

 

As to who makes the Kingsman pens, I seem to recall there being either Kingsman pens or parts or both that were available at the auction of Conway Stewart's assets - perhaps Mr. Porter bought the completed pens or someone else bought the parts and made the Kingsman pen's and sold them to Mr. Porter.

[Calabria]

How sad – apparently – that weeks or months after striking a deal with the film production company this historical company closed its doors.

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll reach out to someone who does pen repairs.

[Ghost Plane]

In the US, I'd send my CS pens to Ron Zorn at Main Street Pens.

[Calabria]

Thank you for the tip!!

[Ghost Plane]

Know for sure he can handle the lever fillers, so I'm assuming he'll do just as good a job on the buttons.

[Calabria]

Thanks Ghost Plane! Mike Masuyama just got back to me and said he'd do the job!

[Ghost Plane]

Woohoo!! Nice guy. Pleased to know he can fix these.

[SteveE]

It is also possible that your pen may be an early production Duro. Some of these had some (to me) defects in the geometry of the parts of the filler mechanism. I had one of the first Duro button-fillers, and in order to get mine to fill, I had to push in the button with a tool of some sort - well beyond the end of the barrel where your thumb would stop. I think I used the "clip" of a BIC ballpoint or something and pushed the button until it was about 1/16 or 1/8 inch below the surface of the plastic of the barrel. Then, and only then, would the pen fill.

 

I ultimately returned the pen and exchanged it for an early lever-filler Churchill (and you can read all the stories about the lever-fillers), and that is why I don't have any other CS pens. Great ideas, horrible execution. I won't miss them.

[Calabria]

SteveE-

That sounds about right! I never got the pen to properly fill, the button seems somehow ineffective. I never tried using an implement as you described - and how that would be done while simultaneously submerging the nib in ink escapes me.

What a shame, aesthetically the pen looks pleasing.

[SteveE]

Filling the Duro wasn't difficult, as long as you use two hands for the pen, assuming that your ink bottle is stable without having to hold it in place. Hold the pen in one hand, depress the button with the "tool" held in the other. It worked, but it was so "clunky" that I returned and exchanged the pen for the first edition Churchill - you know it, the one that is so well known for eating its sac. Oh, well, another drawer queen.

[Calabria]

I always wonder why pen makers don't opt for the simple and reliable piston filler.

"Drawer Queen" is funny - I have a few members of that royal family!

[jar]

The ones with the button that looks like this require the secret handshake and decoder ring to fill.

 

http://www.fototime.com/059D7734A218CB6/xlarge.jpg

[Calabria]

That's the button.

I wasn't given the password and decoder ring!

Nice looking pen though right?? That's what gets me - I'd like a pen like that which actually works on all my secret missions!

[Matlock]

I have a Sterling Silver Rolls Royce Phantom Duro which I had converted to c/c by Conway Stewart shortly before the demise (phew, just in time).

[Calabria]

That's a great idea. Would any US pen repair place be able to do that?

[SteveE]

That's a great idea. Would any US pen repair place be able to do that?

I wish. . . if someone can do this, I have a lever-filler Churchill that could be converted to c/c, too.

[Matlock]

It involved a new nib section so probably not an option now, unless someone has a stash of nib sections? I don't know why CS persisted with button and lever fill as most people have reported problems. Still it's all water under the bridge now.

[Calabria]

If nothing else, this thread has saved me from further investing in the pen. The nib is Bock anyway, so it was just about the body and furniture anyway.

Thanks for all the responses!