Pen Review: A Serwex & A Sailor

[isildur]

Hello All,

In a happy coincidence, two fountain pens from Asia arrived on the same day. These pens are the results of totally different manufacturing (and cultural) processes and I thought it will be nice to see them side by side. I apologize for the picture quality but I hope it is still worth a few hundred (if not thousand) words.

 

The first Pen is Serwex 162 Produced in India and I bought it from fountain pen revolution. http://www.fountainp...0Lots.html#lots It is a piston filler with the piston mechanism being a little too tight for my liking but a little silicone grease kinda made it smooth.

 

Looks: Very Rustic .

 

 

Nib: It says Iridium point. I would be surprised if that were true for the price. But some discussion in these forums point that it might be true. The nib seems softer than typical steel nibs. I would say it writes about the same width as a Japanese F.

 

 

Writing Sample: The nib is surprisingly smooth. I do not know if I was lucky but it did write smoother than my Pilot 78 G (F,M) my Hero pens and comparable to my Faber-Castell Ondoro. It is real smooth. I haven't had any skipping yet but I cannot comment on the durability over time.

 

 

The other pen today is Sailor Somiko with TIGP nib (which is essentially a steel nib with gold plating). It is probably not the apex of Sailor's nibmeistery but a good pen at its right price point nonetheless.

 

Looks: Very Japanese (with black color and Golden trims) . It is slimmer than the sailor profit and light.

 

Nib: It is a TGIP nib. I got myself EF. It writes really fine but it is nonetheless little toothy. I do not know if after a break-in period it will become more smooth but to put it in perspective, the experience is similar to writing with my pilot 78 G (F) for the first time. There is some scratchiness but nothing greatly annoying and I would say I am satisfied.

 

Writing Sample:

This is not a Sailor Zoom nib and my attempts to emulate a Zoom nib should not be taken seriously.

 

I hope I was able to add something new in this post to two known pens. I apologize for the grainy pics.

 

Thank you!!

Edited October 20, 2012 by isildur