I was poking around eBay for some cheap pen and I came across several color versions of Waterman Graduate. I have to admit I haven't heard about the pen before, but I liked the design from the moment I looked at it. I'm a fan of minimalism and this is exactly what the looks of Graduate are. Pure chrome wherever you look, straight lines somehow ressembling Parker Vector. This pen is 13,5 cm long when capped, which doesn't make it a big pen, however it isn't skinny. I'd say the dimensions are quite close to Parker Frontier.
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When you uncap it, you find hard black plastic grip section, which is quite comfortable to hold. The nib is a nailish F, which writes really fine, perhaps even finer than a Parker extra fine. When I put the cartridge in it, it emitted lots of ink, much more than it should - that's why the nib is so stained. However after writing several pages I got a nice writer, putting down generously wet very fine line. I never post my pens, hate the marks it leaves on the barrel, however if posted, the pen is 15,5 cm long. I think the pen is way better balanced when not posted. I feels quite substantial in hand, but I admit it is my first all-metal pen, so the impressions could be very different for you.
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It definitely looks made with more care than cheap Parkers I mostly have, but the feed is headed a little bit sideways from the nib point. Hope this doesn't have any effect on actual writing qualities of the pen.
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After only one day of writing with this pen I have to say it was definitely a good buy, perfectly worth the 6 GBP I paid for it. And I also wish to thank Monsier Lewertowski, from whom I bought the pen. His services were perfect and unbelievably quick - ordered on Friday, sent on Monday, here with me on Wednesday. Thanks a lot!
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