Thanks to the Christmas generosity of my mother and father-in-law, I was finally able to buy a new Conway Stewart 100, fine nib, in the Classic Claret finish. After a few emails back and forth, I ordered it last week through Pam Braun of Oscar Braun Pens. She arranged for the US distributor, Luxury Pens, to send the pen directly to me and, much to my surprise, it arrived on Friday, Dec. 30. (This is yet another typical experience I've had with Pam Braun--fast, efficient and friendly service).

My current daily use pens are a Pelikan M400, Sailor 1911M, Namiki Impressions and a Waterman Hemisphere--all with fine nibs. My experience has been that European nibs tend to write with a broader line than Japanese nibs, resulting in my choice of pens to use based on the task at hand. For annotating documents, I use a Japanese fine--for general notetaking, I tend to use the Pelikan or the Waterman.

Based on this, I asked Pam for her impressions on how the CS nibs write and was told that the pens lay down a distinct, wet line. Accordingly, I ordered the CS 100 with a fine nib.

How excited I was when I got the pen so quickly--and the packaging--it was like opening one box, finding another, opening that, and finding yet another. The most opulent packaging I have ever seen for a pen!

When I received the CS 100, with a twist knob filler, I anxiously filled it with my favorite ink to date, Aurora dark blue. True enough, the pen does write with a very wet line--line width is comparable to the Pelikan and Waterman--in my opinion, tending to write more like a medium nib than a fine--which is just fine with me.

The pen writes beautifully, with an even flow in all directions. Fortunately, this was other than the experience of another recent CS 100 purchaser who told me that his pen skipped repeatedly on the downstroke. No evidence of that at all with the pen I purchased. It writes smoothly, with a surface tension that is between the Pelikan (smoother) and my Sailor (a bit more drag). All in all, a very pleasant pen to write with.

The pen is a bit larger than my others--about 5-7/18ths inch long (138 mm), and about 6-5/8ths inch long (168 mm) with the cap posted on the end of the pen.

Fit and finish are beautiful, absolutely no complaints from me. The 18k nib and three bands on the cap appear faultless. The pen is a deep wine color, with flecks that shimmer as the pen is turned. Very, very pretty.

The pen is a twist fill--which leads to my caveat. The metal knob is located underneath an end cap. The instructions are to twist it clockwise to fill, "anti-clockwise" to empty.

My concern is that the knob is incredibly hard to turn. It's so hard to turn that I didn't know for sure whether the knob was in the full clockwise or counter-clockwise position when I filled it. I am not actually sure that I filled it--I hesitate attempting to turn the knob to what might be the end, because I do not want to damage it. Perhaps the knob will loosen with use, although I wonder.

Because of the knob, I am considering returning the pen and exchanging it for a cartridge/converter (which would take a couple of weeks to arrive from the UK).

Does anyone else have any experience with twist fills like this?

Overall, except for the filling mechanism, I think the pen is marvelous and I look forward to using it for years.

Hopefully my attempts to attach pictures will work.

Best wishes for the New Year -- Brooke

That's odd. For Christmas, I bought my dad a CS Doctor's pen, which is based on the 100 from what I understand. His internal piston fill knob turns smoothly without great effort.

The Conway Stewart piston filler is actually a captive-converter design. I like it, because it's easier to repair than a built-in piston. I don't find the knob hard to turn, but different people's hands are obviously going to react differently to it.

I'll bet the pen is great, though -- I'm always impressed with the gorgeous fit and finish of Conway Stewart's pens.

Well, I am encountering some challenges in actually attaching pictures. I did, however, figure out how to make a pic of the Conway Stewart pen into my avatar.

i have no problems turning the convertor knob - on the contrary, i was thinking that my knob felt kinda loose. otoh, my omas piston fill requires herculean strength to twist it...thanks for the review.

Sorry to hear about the filler knob troubles. Hope you get it worked out and you enjoy your new pen. Looking forward to those pics. Thanks for the review!

Filler aside, the pen looks beautiful!! I really love those marbled colors and that CS is a nice one!!!

Handlebar

An update -- I love the pen, but the problems with the twist fill are causing me to send it back. Pam Braun is being very accommodating on this and is arranging for me to get an exchange.

Well at least it's getting fixed. You would think for the money the CS's cost they would be checked ex factory to ensure perfect working order prior to shipment.
I'm sure Pam will look after you nicely.

Final chapter of this saga -- I received the replacement pen yesterday from Pam Braun, with the cartridge/converter mechanism. Everything seems fine and I look forward to using this pen regularly for a long time!

That's too bad about the filling mechanism, Brooke, but perhaps your pen was an "anomaly" (as they say on "Star Trek" ). In any case, it looks gorgeous... Is yours the "Classic Claret" or "Lava" pattern?

Thanks very much for the review (I'm catching up on posts I missed)...and enjoy your beautiful pen!

~Maja

I am astounded at the service offered by Pam re the CS pens. Ordered, delivered, returned and replaced all within 3 weeks, with one of the weeks taken up in deciding to make the return. Exemplary!

Hope you love the pen Brooke.

Regards,

Gerry

PS: Perhaps I'm in awe because here in Canada, the customs/PO delays make it quite usual to wait 2-3 weeks to see delivery of most articles from the US in the first instance.