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Waterman Charleston

gaurav21s

By gaurav21s
in Fountain Pen Reviews

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gaurav21s NOS (New Old Stock)

gaurav21s

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Hi Guys,

 

I am fairly new to the netowrk and this is my very first review of a pen, hence my aplogies in advance for any goof-ups in the review.

 

I have recently bought a Waterman Charleston Ivory GT and Waterman Apostrophe....

Last words first "Apostrophe nib (steel with Gold plating) is far smoother to the charleston 18k gold nib" reason- beyond comprehension.....

 

confession: I bought the charleston 90% because of the look and not the nib.... therefore I feel i have no right to bash the nib quality..

 

Look: 4/5:

 

the ivory with GT looks great and diffrent than any FP around....I had considered the Black also for a while but chose against it as keeping it beside the ivory the Black looked like cheap plastic...The ivory finish looks very "IVORY"....I must say....the pen looks like a "blast from the past" (which i prefer)...as mentioned by many previous reviews...the nib is actually small but I feel it goes OK with over all small dimensions of the pen...... The GT is nicely done and looks spectacular in a brightly lit showroom spot lights.....I have only one comment on the GT (a very minor observation) that the top of the clip where the "W" is emobossed is rough and looks a bit cheap....but it is minor minus....

I also prefer the threaded caps ONLY for fountain pens and this pen fits the bill

 

Nib: 3/5:

Gold 18k M

As mentioned earlier the nib is not the best of them all..t feels like a "run of mill" style rather than a carefully and personnaly designed unit....the smoothness is not great either (the 1/4 priced Apostophe wrote much smoother).....The size is a bit small but I can live with it.....The biggest complainet I had with the nib is that it skipped at the start and then sometimes (depending on its mood swing) while writing...I had put Pelikan 4001 cartridge BLUE in the biggening....I got the nib changed by the dealer and after trying 2 more nibs i found which worked well (in the shop atleast)....when I started using it in the office the mood swings started again.....I took it back to the shop and tried "BELIEVE ME" almost 6-8 diffrent charleston nibs and 30% either skipped or skratched...However finally i found one...(good enough) to take back and have promiced my self to live with it.......

One thing I noticed peculiar about the charleston nibs (when i tried the half dozen) that other than they not being consistent in the feel.....they very also not consistent in the ink flow....some were wetter than the other...

This last one which is now resting in my pocket is a good wet nib I aso changed the cartridge to Waterman (am assuming that might have contributed aswell) ...and I am OK with it......

 

Like I mentioned earlier...I had gone for the looks....I just wanted to own the charleston....

 

Filling: 3/5

 

I personally prefer Piston (brass only) but i donot want to complain much on the convertor or cartridge...

 

Over all I want to give the Waterman Charleston 4/5 for being a good looking pen with average functionality.....and one should own only the Ivory 9my recomendation only) for the shere joy of "owning one" and make heads turn as Ivory charleston is one of the not replicable FP styles around

 

 

I also own a Pelikan M1000 Black GT....Howewer I have not used it even once.....since it came...I will post the review when i use it...

 

I plan to get a Sailor 1911 large size soon and would want to experience the pinnacle of nib quality with that....

 

PS....The Waterman Apostrophe is amazing....writer (PIc Attached)

Please comment on the review...is it the right style of writing a review????

post-12034-1212920553_thumb.jpg

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hari317 Museum Piece

hari317

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Hi gaurav,

 

Nice work, thanks for writing a nice and honest review. That dealer was really cooperative... Do you live in India?

 

Regards,

Hari

 

 

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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Ondina Antique

Ondina

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I'm surprised, the truth. My Charleston nib is my favorite nib. Performs flawlessly on any paper and lays a fantastic line. Is an OB from the factory and I can't be more happy with it. But I guess those things happen. Is your pen made in Europe? I've read somewhere that there is an Asian Waterman factory.

Seems like the other is a winner. Well, thank for the review, I think the Charleston would have been a classic if not for the not so great plastic material they used in it.

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gaurav21s NOS (New Old Stock)

gaurav21s

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Hi gaurav,

 

Nice work, thanks for writing a nice and honest review. That dealer was really cooperative... Do you live in India?

 

Regards,

Hari

 

Hi Hari,

 

Thanks for the encouragement....No I live in UAE

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gaurav21s NOS (New Old Stock)

gaurav21s

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I'm surprised, the truth. My Charleston nib is my favorite nib. Performs flawlessly on any paper and lays a fantastic line. Is an OB from the factory and I can't be more happy with it. But I guess those things happen. Is your pen made in Europe? I've read somewhere that there is an Asian Waterman factory.

Seems like the other is a winner. Well, thank for the review, I think the Charleston would have been a classic if not for the not so great plastic material they used in it.

 

I am glad and optimistic to know about your charleston....I hope mine works as fine as yours...the initial nibs i used Iam presuming-----had paper and ink problems...may be..

 

I believe mine is made in france...the nib and barel says so.....HOw to find the making origin????

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fierdog Rare

fierdog

Posted
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I'm surprised, the truth. My Charleston nib is my favorite nib. Performs flawlessly on any paper and lays a fantastic line. Is an OB from the factory and I can't be more happy with it. But I guess those things happen. Is your pen made in Europe? I've read somewhere that there is an Asian Waterman factory.

Seems like the other is a winner. Well, thank for the review, I think the Charleston would have been a classic if not for the not so great plastic material they used in it.

 

Me too. My Charleston works great, looks nice, but i'm not a big fan of the plastic. Cheap feeling and it chips easily. :glare:

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rlukcs Rare

rlukcs

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I have a Charleston in black. Actually, I like the plastic it is made of. It has a really nice shine and if you look at it with backlight, it shines a bit through in a very interesting reddish colour.

I also had no problems with the nib. Mine is a (real) fine, and a buttery smooth one in deed. However, I have only tested one, which I own (I got it as a present). Actually I never had nib problems with any new Waterman pens (used ones, yes, but in those cases the previous owner dropped the pen). Maybe some people have already tried those pens in the shop, or they had some really bad paper. Or, simply I was lucky with mine.

Anyway, the Charleston is one of my favourite pens.

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andyk Collectors Item

andyk

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Hi,

 

Nice review, I also have a Charleston in Black with Silver trim and I think it writes very well, always smooth and no skipping, the nib itself looks bit small compared to the size of teh pen, but you soon get used to that.

 

Could just be you got a bad nib, it happens sometimes.

 

Andy

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Martius Vintage

Martius

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I love white/ivory pens. I wish more were made in that color. Great review!

 

Best,

Summer

"Can I see Arcturus from where I stand?" -RPW

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