Someone was wondering there may be too many polls at FPN, so here goes another one...
I´m a fan of modern Waterman pens, but I don´t see them discussed very frequently at FPN. The only models that come up rather frequently are the Phileas, the Edson and the Sérénité. I suppose someone buys the other models too, since Waterman is still in business... Which ones have you got?

Unfortunately, the Poll only lets me pick one model.
I also have several Phileases, a Carene, and a Charleston.
I also have two NOS Man 100s.

Thanks Glenn. There´s a glitch here - I wanted to allow for multiple choices, but I don´t know how to do that. Does anyone know how this thing works?

The poll feature only allows one answer per person. If you want a poll that includes multiple choice, just ask the question, give your options and let the opinions roll!

Hi,

I have two Ici Et La fountain pens (Turquoise CT and Crystal CT) and an Audace fountain pen (Enchanted Garden). I just ordered them, so I have to wait. I have the Turquoise one on hand at this moment though.

Dillon

Thanks for the input, Elaine. I wanted to set it up as a poll because I would like to have a machine counting the votes. Anyway, here are my Watermans: Hemisphere, Expert II, Carene, Laureat, Ici et La. My dream one is a ebonite Liaison...

I like the Phileas well enough — it's a good transitional pen between the cheapies like the Reflex and the Vector and the more expensive pens like the Sonnet. But it's the only Waterman I got compared to the numerous Parkers, Sheaffers and Esties I have.

The higher ends of the Waterman line seem attractive enough, but not enough to make me run out and buy more Watermans. The Phileas is just like the Pelikan 200 and GO! (the only representatives of that brand that I have) — good enough to have them and use them regularly, but not enough to make me buy more of the brand's line.

It sounds irrational, but that's how I see it.

I have:
-- a red-marbled Phileas fountain pen
-- a blue-marbled Phileas ballpoint
--two Kultur FPs-one plastic (in a salmon colour) and one metallic (in hot pink)
--a red-marbled Expert II FP
--a chocolate brown Man 200 FP

All are excellent writers

modern watermans

One Phileas, very smooth
One carene, very smooth but tine tips click now and again
Two L'Etalons, very very very smooth
Two Expert IIs, smooth
Two Liaisons, smooth but can feel the friction, not scratchy but slight frictiony grit
One Edson, smooth as glass, maybe most smooth nib I own

If you like the feel of the phileas, you will love the L'Etalon!!

I miss the 'Executive', 'Exclusive' and the (Le) Man 100/200 series among the moderns ...

My first Waterman (and my first pen of value) was a red-brown speckled laquer 'Executive' c/c with a 18k EF nib, which I bought in the hot Italian summer of '86 at E.E. Ercolessi in Milano.
It was my FP for the first years at University. It has one of the best EF nibs I own, but with time, I found the section too slim and it unscrewed while writing. At the end, the ink (Waterman/Penman) ate the feed and the metal ring around it, so it is leaking. But the laquer and the nib are still great.

Now I have in regular use a Man 200 'Night & Day' in silver/black with a 18k F nib., which I got as NOS around the millenium. It is a real quality pen and smooth writer made in Art Deco style. I also have as complement a Man 200 'Night & Day' gold/black RB, which has an even more luxo presence.

Finally I have a blue laquer early 200 BP and a 'Exclusive' black pencil.

A blue Edson is on the wish-list ...

Over here an Expert II, green marble, a Laureat, red marble, a Lady Agatha purse pen, a Gentleman, an Executive, a something Goutte (forgot full name), a Kultur, 3 Allures, an Edson Saphire, and an Edson LE.

Hmmm, longer list than I anticipated .

Warm regards, Wim

Hi Wim,

If you have a little time, a review of the lady Agathe purse pen would be great.

I have been very curious about it ever since Parker Pen UK told me that it and the Lady Christie were cartridge only.

Dillon

Oddly, only one and a Preface at that (the only one recorded in the poll so far). I am not much of a new pen guy, mostly vintage. I got the Preface to match a Preface Roller Ball I received as a gift seven or eight years ago. Now I have the matching black and gold set. I must admit that I have not inked it

Hey where's the Allure?

Hi,

We are pretty much missing the Apostrophe, Allure, Graduate, Charleston, Man 100, and Audace. Waterman is very secretive about what is going on in other countries, so I suppose this is the case. Waterman US has a very limited selection of what Waterman actually makes. <_<

Dillon

I have several Waterman pens:

2-Phileas
Laureate
LIaison
Expert II
Ici et la
Charleston
LeEtalon

My latest and greatest is an Orange Ebonite Liaison with fine nib I got from Pam. Great pen!

I forgot to add my two Carene pens to the list.

I have a Hemisphere I brought maybe 2 weeks ago. I sent it to the service center for exchange to an EF nib and haven't gotten it back yet. Still waiting...

Hello! My first post on this site and I just received my first Waterman, an Exception Night&Day. So far I'm really happy with it and the way it writes.

Kent

Hi,

Waterman will take about a month or so for repairs.

Dillon

Got one Dune Green Expert II with a the nib MIA.

Had a Blue Marble Phileas, Copper Expert II, Navy Blue Expert I - all of which I got rid of as they just didn't do it for me. Nibs were ok - not real scratchy, but not really smooth. Phileas was a dry writer.

argh! It was a completely new pen that I didn't even really get a chance to use yet too! The lady on the phone said about 2 weeks after they receive it, so crossing my fingers. I can't wait to get it back and use it!

Thanks everyone for the replies! It seems Waterman is doing very well, with the help of us FPNs...
Here are the counts until now, ordered according to number of votes:

Phileas/Kultur - 14
Expert - 9
Carène - 7
Edson - 5
Liaison - 5
Ici et Lá - 4
Laureat - 3
Hemisphère - 3
Préface - 2
L´Étalon - 2
Man 200 - 2
Charleston - 2
Harley-Davidson - 1
Exception - 1
Gentleman - 1
Executive - 1
Allure - 1
Lady Agatha - 1
Audace - 1
Man 100 - 1

I´m surprised at the number of models you mentioned - I didn´t know there were that many. Other surprises:
- No Sérénité! No one mentioned the top of line, a pen that has been mentioned very frequently at FPN!
- Just one Harley Davidson! I´ve always thought Waterman made this one with an eye to the American market, but it seems it wasn´t such a success after all.
- Just two Charlestons, which I think is one of the most interesting designs in middle-of-range Waterman pens

Any comments?

regards,
Rique

In regular, on the road, use:

Expert II roller -- Oriental red lacquer (red marbled)
Expert II roller -- France Blue lacquer (blue marbled)
Expert II mechanical pencil -- Black lacquer

Home use:

Expert II EF Fountain pen -- Prussian green lacquer (green marbled)

In a box:

Phileas red marbled ball point pen and mechanical pencil set (received gift)

Ooops, I forgot about my blue/purpulish Phileas. it's a pen I don't use much.

I also have to Expert IIs, that I got new for $19.95 each , a blue and a green, both with the marble finish.

Two Phileases here - a green fine and a blue medium (that writes like a B imo) - and a green Patrician that's a bit too big and heavy for me to reach for it very often, though I do like how it writes.

Expert 2000 in slate blue that my wife got me back in, you guessed it, 2000 while on a trip to NY. It is a great writer and a pen I'll always keep in the stable as it is my only decent c/c fill pen. I have to admit that the weight has kept it from being in my pocket nonstop but perhaps I'll use it tomorrow just for old times sake!

I've got a few of Watermans: Expert II, Charleston, Phileas. Great pens.

Where is the "None" option for those of us who don't care for them!

Hi
first ever fountain pen was a Carene, still love it but has the worst ink flow of all my pens. Also have two L'Etalon's, three Rhapsody's, a slim Goutee from the 80s and a Gentleman.
Agmn

I've got a Hemisphere FP/RB set which was my first FP. It's in a real cool red marble (identical to a paint job on a Pinarello I once saw ) It was a real workhorse until the gold plating on the nib started to peal off.

One of these days I'm going to buy a hemisphere in all stainless.

Best-
Brian

Hi, everyone. On the modern side, I own a Carène (which will shortly be on its way to Richard to be stubbed), a Phileas (whose looks I don't really care for, I have to say), two Kulturs, and a Graduation flighter (I'm pretty sure that's the name of the model...), a great school pen that sells for less than $15 over here in France and writes like a pen worth four times as much. On the vintage side, I have a CF handed down to me by my mother. I love the looks of the CF, but the F is just a bit too dry for me.

Most of my Watermans are inked right now, but as much as I want to, I just can't bring myself to liking them as much as some of my other pens. I'm hoping the pen I get back from Richard changes that.

Best,
David

Hi
I have just an Allure (blue finish of gradute) and im thinking to get a Carène that looks great.

I've a solid silver Gentleman in barley and a Kultur in demo green. I've had 2 Phileas but sold both of them.

Kurt h

I'm getting a Phileas for Christmas. Lovely fat pen. All the Watermans are lovely fat pens. Except the Ici Et la and the Audace. Those are lovely thin pens that are too thin for me.

~S /:)

Hi Rique,

I've only just got to this thread, and I only assume that the others haven't come across it yet, but off the top of my head, I know that at least 4 of us own a Serenite - Denis Richard and cecidir own a black version each, and Hans Geelen and I own a cocobolo version each (this is my only Waterman, my wife sometimes uses the Kultur that she got as a souvenir).

G.

Thanks everybody for the replies! Here goes the latest counting: (I´m counting people, not pens; the 29 votes for Phileas mean 29 people own one or more Phileas pens)

Phileas / Kultur - 29 votes
Expert / Expert II - 19
Carène - 9
Edson - 8
Liaison - 7
Ici et Lá- 5
Laureat, L´Étalon, Charleston, Gentleman - 3 votes each
Sérénité, Executive, Man 200, Allure, Goutte - 2 votes each
Harley, Man 100, Audace, Exception, Patrician, Rhapsody, Graduation, Agatha - 1

The counting is not very scientific (I don´t even know which of these pens are really "modern"), but I think the picture is clear. The winner, as expected, is the Phileas - a pen that is always praised as one of the best entry-level pens available. I´m surprised at the Expert - one of may favourites, but rarely mentioned in the web (the only reviews I´ve seen until now were unenthusiastic, to say the least). And the Charleston, one of the newest offerings, seems to be a failure ...

i'd like to see a similar poll re: modern Pelikans. I'm curious to see if the distribution is largely based on cost. which would probably put the bulk of Pelikan ownership in the M200 category. though of course, if it's about the model it could still be mostly M200s. But it might be mostly M800s since this seems to be a very pel popular model. Or it could be 620s because people collect the cities series...

hmm... well, anyway, I'd like to see that. Just out of curiosity.

And the Charleston, Laureat, L'Etalon, Gentleman, Serenite, Executive, Man 200, Allure, Goutte, Harley, Man 100, Audace, Execption, Patrician, Rhapsody, Graduation, and Agatha seem to be failures ....

Hi,

IPB has to make a feature that allows a survey. We could have made multiple polls too.

Example:

How many Waterman Audace pens do you have?

1. 1 Pen
2. 2 Pens
3. 3 Pens
4. 4 Pens
5. 5+?? tell us how many.

Dillon

I like KCat's suggestion to poll on Pelikan ownership.
But those of us with multiple models from a single pen manufacturer need the option of saying,
I have:
M200 - 2
M400 - 3
M600 - 1
M800 - 1


edited: I forgot the white M200!

Well, I take that back. I got a green marble Waterman Phileas a week ago.

I am all in favor of a Waterman forum here on the FPN. Anyone else agree with me?

I have:
M200 - 1
M400 - 0
M600 - 1
M800 - 1

I may break down and buy an M420, I really like that pen, I just wish it came in a 600 or 800 size.

I agree!
I'd love to see a M600 Series Cities pen.

My first fountain pen, a Carène, and a black Sérénité. Love them both--smooth writers, with any ink I've tried.

I also have a Pelikan 400--the amber one, like in Kcat's picture. I like it, it writes beautifully, but I'm discovering that I like larger, slightly heavier pens.

Karen

I want a Serenite...

THis is my initial post -- I had to register as I wanted to participate in this topic.

My first fountain pen, a gift from my wife some years ago, was a Waterman Laureat. When I broke it I sent it back to Waterman (checking the box on the form indicating that it had sentimental value). They were unable to repair the break, but returned it along with a new Laureat. The only charge was the $10 for shipping and handling.

So...in Watermans I currently have a Man 100, Charleston (an underrated pen), a Harmonie, and three Laureats (including the broken one). The only one I keep consistently inked and used is the Man 100.

I'll have to vote in the informal Pelikan poll as well, with a P22 Culture, two M200s (one the Citroenpers version), two M400s, and two M620s. One of the 620s (a Shanghai) is one of the two pens I consistently use; the other is a Namiki Nippon Art with a medium nib. I've found that it's the pen I always reach for first. Must mean something.

Laureat - 1 -> a gift and my sole FP for years - the gold's worn of the nail of a nib. Rarely used these days.

Hemishperes - 1 -> also a gift and my second FP. Matte black w/ gold trim. Not a bad little pen, but newer pens have taken its place in the rotation.

Hmmm... Are these brass (I think?) bodied pens the reason I expect a FP to have a little heft?

Ryan.

i have a charleston, which is my only fountain pen

sam

My first 'real' fountainpen was a Charleston (black of course, I really don't like the other colors it comes in), then an Edson (blue), then a Serenite (the wooden version) and finally an Expert II in matte dark grey.

All great writers and never any problems, except with the Edson because the nib was a bit scratchy but that was easily fixed (wimg wrote an article that I followed, thanks btw!)

Watermans are IMHO just good fountainpens, a bit heavy in general, but they seem to lack something special (couldn't say what exactly though.) The Serenite and the Edson may be exceptions to this rule, but then they are rather more expensive (especially when you buy them in Europe!)

E.