First Impressions 5/5
I bought this pen from Eric Zamir on the Market Place
I had always been interested in the Reforms and this was a fantastic price to see what they are like.
I would classify the pen as an inexpensive Student pen. A lot of these pens were made in Germany and this is a fine example of one.
It is a shame the US Manufacturers never got this part of their inventory as well done as the Germans did.

Appearance 4/5
The pen has a green body with a black piston fill end cap and a black cap with gold trim...
All in all father attractive in a minimalistic way

Design 5/5
The pen measures 5.1" capped and 5.86" posted.
Diameter is .390" at the body and .340" at the section... not much of a taper at all. A Pelikan 200 measures .460" at the body and .360" at the section.
This pen is noticeably thinner, but not so much to be uncomfortable.

Nib 5/5
The nib is two tone gold plated steel and fine. It writes a true fine line about 6/10 wetness with the Waterman Black ink.
What is surprising is that even though this is a steel nibbed student pen and I expected it to be a real nail, there is a bit of flex if you push on it a bit...
Not much, but enough to be a little interesting, if you do your part...
The nib also unscrews from the section like a Pelikan. Unfortunately, it will not take a Pelikan nib.

Filling System 5/5
What can you say, it is a German piston filler... no one does that better.
The piston was a bit stiff, but once I flushed out the system it smoothed out and filled well...

Cost and Value 5/5
I paid $25.00 including shipping for two of these pens. Eric lives in Italy and the pens arrived in just a couple of day...
I would say the pens are more than worth the money I paid for them...

Conclusion 29/30
Unfortunately, this pen is no longer made.
If Eric has any more of these pens, I would definitely recommend grabbing 2 of them...
They are going to make a good every day knock around pen that holds a bunch of ink...
These would be a good deal for any student who needs to take a load of notes during the day.

Yes, Reforms are indeed nice pens, amazing quality/price ratio. It's very hard to find true piston fillers at this price level. I have two Reforms myself and I bought them because I wanted to try this filling system before buying a more expensive Pelikan-branded instrument.

Very informative review. I like piston-filler pens and this one sounds like a very good value.

On the black Waterman ink, it looks a bit bluish from the scan, is that really the case? I'm interested in black inks with a hint of blue.

Hoi,

if you're interested in this fountain pen, someone sells them currently on Ebay. Reform 1745 FP

I've just bought mine yesterday: 2 new fps at 8,50 Euro - with shipping!


Let's try a summary in English:

• 2 REFORM 1745 piston filler with irdium pointed nib
• pens are unused and in top condition (from a stock of inventory)
• approx. 13 cm (5.2 inch ?)
• age unnown, maybe 10-20 years
• you should flush the nib first, because it could be sealed with a form of wax, then use the piston

I hope that helps.


- Harold

Hi - Thanks for the kind words. My second shipment is going out tomorrow - sorry for the delay.
If enough people are interested, I think I can get another load (they come in boxes of 24).
Happy New Year!!!!Eric

BTW, my shipping cost to the US is around €5 (around $7.50), and the price quoted above was for shipping inside Germany by regular mail. I also pay for the padded envelope. So, if you are in Germany, grab that one! Otherwise, this is about the best I can do!
E.

Hi,

Been offered 4 of these by the ebay seller in Harold's post for 25 Euros, this is two more than I want. I am currently bidding on a couple on ebay and if I don't get them might be tempted.

Any UK buyers interested in one or two at what they cost me plus postage to you?

PM if you are and if I go ahead I will let you know.

Andy

Hi!

Nice review, I agree on all points.

I bought one on E-bay a few months ago for less than 10 euros s&h included.
For those who want to own one (or 2) also: Just search on E-bay on: "Reform 1745" and you wil get a list of lots of these pens still available offered by different, most German sellers. Average price is still about 10 Euro incl. s&h. Some sellers offer lots of 2 pieces.
Recommended!

Enjoy!

Lexaf

I got some of these from Eric and gave them to my PhD students. The impressions were generally favourable but the recipients are back to their previous writing implements.

I tried...

Just received my Reform 1745 from Lexaf

I was surprised it was so slim, the barell is 9.5mm & the grip 8.5 mm ~ this compares near exactly with the Lamy Linea

The real surprise is the weight ~ this pen is only 9 gram posted & 7 gram unposted.

Mine came with a fine nib ~ I've never had such a fine nib & I am stunned how small I can now write ~ I find the Lamy Fine is almost the same as the Lamy Medium Nib so I am a little shocked at the contrast. The slight variation in flex is interesting (I now must try the Medium & Bold nibs if I can get them)

Only had this for about an hour or so but the Balance & weight is making a big impression. I think its a superb little pen.

OK so I've had this pen for a few days now & find that the fine nib is very paper & ink dependent
On smooth white paper the fine nib is superb & is fast becoming a favourite but only if I use black ink. (Quink) The fine nib is equivalent to writing with a 0.25 rapidograph
With blue Quink I don't get sufficient contrast
If I use my rougher checked paper in my notebook the nib is not so effective.

So my conclusion thus far is ~ this pen is reserved for white smooth paper & or maybe I should get better notebooks.

NB I have since ordered 2 medium nib pens so will let you know my findings when they arrive, & I would love to try a bold or italic nib versions (Big Hint)

I also ordered a couple of these from a German seller on eBay about a month ago. They only came this week due to delay in having to post cash (yes I know) and the (admittedly v cheap) postage method taking a while.

I have only inked one with Diamine Umber so far (to match the green barrel). Its a remarkably smooth fine writer, if a little on the dry side. The pen itself is quite slimline, which I don't mind at all. In looks, its very similar (just thinner in proportion) to an old green Pelikan 140 I have. For 10 Euros for the pair, I don't think I culd have found a nicer pen for the price. The comments about the stiffness of the piston hold - I forgot to flush and just filled firectly with ink, but I will exercise/flush it on the next refill.

A month ???? Like you I sent cash - I happened to have 10 euros left from last years holiday so I worked this direct with him ....
A Month ???????? ................. I earmarked next Friday - guess I will re-learn patience again
A Bleedin Month ??????????????????? I am on the point of taking the postman hostage as it is

I also ordered and recieved from Lexaf -in 2 days!-. Perfect package and I could not believe how fast it came!. Yes, the pistons may be stiff, even stuck, but in the worst of cases silicon grease will solve all problems. These are incredible pens for the price!. I encourage all of you that wanted a piston filler but were held back by your pocket, to order one or two on the spot. Amazing little piston fillers with a sweet nib, these are. I'll try to post an addendum to OldGrizz in the coming days, but he has said already most of what is worth mentioning. Go order now.

I guess it took 3 weeks from the time it was posted to arriving. Easter did fall in between, but it was still a long time. Worth waiting for, though.

Thanks for the tip .. Actually I had a message from him yesterday saying that the pens were posted - not something I expected at this price level so full marks to him.

Hi All,

Thank you for your positive comments!

I still have some left 4sale!

Please look here: Now with optional extra smooth nib!

Enjoy & Best Regards,

LEXAF

Highly Recommended


I tried smoothing out my Reform 1745 Fine on the weekend & to my total surprise I now have one of the nicest pens to use so please disregard any of my previous adverse comments on the Reform Fine & take Lexaf up on his offer ~ money would be well spent.

***************

Also for anyone wanting Reform 1745 pens with Medium Nibs contact Herbert Steidl he sells these on German ebay & I just received his permission to give out his e mail address
Like I said above I've ordered 2 from him & think I'm getting a good service at an excellent price. Correspondence may take a bit longer as his son answers in English for him. As far as I know he doesn't take Paypal. (I sent cash Euro in paper money)

Anyway here is his contact e mail if anyone is interested ~ steidlherby (at) web.de .... you know what to do with the @ & the spacing

Good Luck

Well thank you again for the nice comments and the recommendation!
I just have a very few of these nice little pens left ( 4 only ) but maybe I can find just one more batch. But I'm afraid my source will be running dry soon also.

I'll let you all know if I managed to replenish my stock!

Lexaf

Assume you have 3 left .. PM sent

Thanks HaveFun, you were just in time!

Have fun with your pens and enjoy learning the skill to smooth the nibs by reqrinding them yourself! It can save you a lot of endeavor and trouble (and money) especially with expensive pens. It's not uncommon that you must exchange a valuable (golden) nib a few times before you obtain one that really 'fits'. Once you can modify the nibs to your own liking you do not depend on the sometimes exorbitantly high prices some of the big brands charge for their high end pens and nibs (apart from their other excellent qualities of course).

Sold another 2 Reforms in the meantime, so there's just one left at the moment!

But ,dear penfriens, do not despair! I'm expecting another batch (I hope 24) this coming week!
But these will probably the last ones.

Cheers,

Lexaf

Update on the above :-

A point to note that Herbert sell these pens in pairs - so it works out at around 5 euro / 5 dollars / £4.00 each pen including delivery to the UK
I Just received my pair today & have put one aside for safe keeping - I did intend to give one away, but these pens are just so good any person I give it to would have to appreciate its qualities. Besides its useful to have a back up spare in case the nib or pen gets damaged (or lost) so I may well just keep it.

I've cleaned the nib in warm soapy water to get the wax off the nib & filled it up with Quink black. Straight off the block this pen writes smoothly with a nice feel & weight to the lettering. Last Saturday a Pelikan M200 arrived & the medium nib on that is a bit catchy & will need a bit of work to smooth it out .
Although the Pelikan was 10 x more expensive I have decided The M200 is not for me, so I will give this away as a present.

I actually prefer to use The Reform 1745 as it just feels so right in my hand, & I love the lettering from the nib. I will be ordering at least another 4 Reforms as presents for my family.

Hi all,

I added some info on the 4 sale topic where I offer these pens; Look here: FS: Reform 1745

LEXAF

Just got mine (thanks Lexaf) and it is a nice little pen. I opted for the "raw" pen without nib smoothing, and after just a tiny bit of tine alignment, it's very smooth.

One unexpectedly convenient feature is the screw-in nib unit. This makes it easy to access the ink chamber and piston for cleaning etc.

By the way, it was interesting to find out these also used to be made in blue/gold; there was one on Ebay recently. Though the green/black/gold is nice and "vintage" looking.

As a matter of interest does anyone know what these Reform 1745 pens sold for when new? & how did their price compare to a similar Pelikan of that era ??
I'm assuming these pens are at least 30 year old so that would be late 70's to mid 80's

prior to my recent interest in fountain pens I think the last time I used a fountain pen properly would be late 60's so I am well out of touch on these matters

Hi,

Maybe a bit late for an answer but I was so busy selling these things I did not have time left to even read the ongoing treads about the Reforms!
There is not very much known about Reforms. What I know is that they were more or less specialized in the production of budget pens, or student pens or whatever you may call them.

Apart from that they produced nibs for third parties a.o. the 'famous' 'Iridium Point Germany' nibs. The production facilities of these nibs were later sold to the Far East resulting in the fact that almost 90 % of the cheap Chinese and often brandless pens on the market these days have nibs that carry that engraving. Due to the notorious lack of end control; and the use of (not always but often) inferiour alloys, the so called IPG's have a dubious reputation these days, but the original Reform nibs are (for a steel nib) of excellent quality!

Reform was more or less a child of the (un)happy Heidelberg family of Heidelberg's fountain pen manufacturers around the Kaweco firm that from the 20's till at least the 60's played an important role in the German Fountain pen industry. The founder of Reform, a man named Mutschler was an ex employee of Kaweco.

But no, I have found nothing about prices, catalogs or price lists, one should be able to go back to old shop administration archives to find out.

I have a few German pens in my collection that still carry their original price tags:
A Merlin (cartridge filler, steel GP nib) ca. 1970 (one of the last models made!): HFL 6,95
A Gimborn brand (=pelikan 120 OEM) piston filler, 14K nib) ca. 1965: HFL 16,50
A Diplomat 150 (Cartridge filler, steel nib) ca. 1970: HFL 7,50
A Lamy-Artus Exact FP-BP set, cartridge piston filler, steel GP nib, ca. 1960: HFL 9,95 (!) Amazingly nice pen, predecessor of the famous Lamy 27)

I estimate the production period of the Reform 1745 round 1960. This is quite early, but they still carry a hard rubber (ebonite)
feeder and in the early 60's plastic feeders already became common.

So this all can be an idication that the Reforms sold for probably less than 10 Dutch Guilders or 10 DMark, (HFL : DM had a rating of almost 1 : 1). I suppose the pens were meant to be sold at the German home market, no export, certainly not outside Europe...
The rating of the HFL (Dutch Guilder) to the US$ was at that time about HFL 3,50 : US$ 1,00 (!)
Quite a difference with the rating of the Euro being € 1,00 : US$ 0,65 these days!
(the virtual bank rating of the original Guilder and Dmark is still about HFL 2,20 : 1 Euro)

If you want to learn more about the Heidelberg fountain pen and nib industry look here:
"REFORM", ultimate history information and here: A short story of Kaweco

Enjoy,

Lexaf

Edited: the Artus Lamy is a piston filler, not cartridge.

Thanks Lex

That & those links were fascinating & useful

Just got one from JJBlanche here and flushed it and loaded it up with MB Racing Green. What a great combination! It has just become one of my daily use for work pens. Now I don't have to worry about crushing my Pelikan!

OK Lexaf, I received my pen today!
WOW... I'm in pen heaven

I had Lexaf work his magic on the nib. Then I forgot to clean the pen out. I just put private reserve plum it her and away we went! SMOOTH... SOOOOO SMOOTH... what a great little writer.... I'm completely happy with this pen, more so, considering the price. Best bang for the buck I've every received.

So Lexaf, do you clean them when you work on the nibs? Or do I need to empty the ink well and give it a thorough cleaning.. although I can't imagine it writing much better.

Thanks bud! You have many satisfied customers, now add one more to your list.

Gawain

Hi Gawain,
Thank you so much for your enthousiastic feedback. Glad to read you like the pen so much. Sometimes I'm surprised myself about the smoothness you can get from these pens after a good tuning.
When I grind the nib I clean them almost continuously (the nibs, not the complete pen), because I wet them in order to get a good result on the grinding medium. Only in the last stage I (machine) polish dry, for the smoothest polishing result possible. After that I clean the nib assembly in luke warm water with some ammonia added. Then I dry the pen, dip it in ink, do a writing test and clean it again. I do not fill the new pens ( except when I have to tune the filling system, wich is seldomly needed).
'Deflowering' a 'virgin' pen is the right of the first true user, I think...
So, thanks again for your nice words and enjoy!

Lexaf

i got my reform today...like someone else said, i was also surpised with how slim the pen is...i'm use to writting with pens like the Pelikan m1000 so for me this pen is very slim and light.

also this the first pen i have with a fine nib...every other pen is either an M or B...

i filled it with Noodlers Red Rattler ink...an ink i stopped using since it took so long to dry with my other pens.

the result...SPECTACULAR!

the nib is extremely smooth...especially for this price range, the flow is perfect and because of the fine nib, the ink on paper dries a lot quicker...i have fallen in love with the colour again!

as for the size of the pen, i was a little pesemistic about it, but since i've been writting with it, i find it to be extremely well balanced and comfortable to write, even with the large hands that i have.

all in all...its probably the best value for money pen i have bought

Sammy

Hi Sammy,

Such a nice reaction to receive, coming back from my holiday trip to Ireland. Thanks man, for your nice comment and the laudative words about the smooth nib!
Gives me the courage to continue the work!
Have Fun with it! Enjoy!

By the way (and off topic) Have been for a month in Ireland, did not find ANY fountain pens. Does any one know about the existance of Irish made fountain pens?

Cheers,
Lexaf

as far as I know there is no Irish manufacturer of fountain pens - although the world reknowned Waterford crystal do sell them

http://www.waterford.com/shop/product.asp?...at=R&terms=

However I dont believe they manufacture them even tho they are branded waterford.

Hi Declanh,
Yes I was at the Waterford Crystal Factory in August and I saw the pens in their showroom. But it seemed merchandising stuff to me. A bit too expensive for the value too, obviously Chinese made. Thanks for the reaction.

I bought a three nib calligraphy set in a bookstore in Killarney. I have no idea where they were made, not in Ireland.... The brand on the box is 'Boldmere'
The pens are simple black plastic, but the tree different Italic nibs that came with it are interesting. After I have tried them out I'll do a little review.
Lexaf