Hello all:

I just purchased a 1903 Waterman 52 on the bay. One of the tines on the nib, however, is broken, which is why the pen was so inexpensive. I've seen on various sites that tips can be re-tipped. In your opinion, is this a good idea? Will it be stable? How much do you imagine a re-tipping and overall cleanup and repair of this pen might run? Just a ballpark figure if you have one in mind. Knowledge is always a good thing to have in cases like this.

Any other suggestions? Would you re-tip this pen or simply buy a "new" vintage nib for it? I've heard the nibs on the 52 were more flexible than not. Is this the case? I've been looking for a flexible pen.

As you can see, I'm a novice at all of this. Any help and/or advice you could provide would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Todd

Depends on how badly the tine is broken. If the tipping is just snapped off then it can easily be retipped by Greg Minuskin or Richard Binder or John Mottishaw. If the tine is snapped off half way down then the cost to rebuild it will be mroe than finding a replacement nib. A nib can be found in another beater pen, or possibly on the sales page here on FPN if you post a want to buy.

Check nibs.com and I believe that John has pricing on his site for this repair.

Cheers,
Sean

52s are quite plentiful. If you watch ebay, you'll find another 52 that has some grave defect like a cracked cap. Buy it cheaply and you will be many dollars ahead of retipping.

As for flex, the answer is yes and no. Waterman made a full compliment of nibs from hard as nails to limp noodle. Most 52 nibs are not marked as to their firm/flex qualities, but generally the flexier nibs may appear with slightly longer/thinner tines.

Good luck & happy hunting!

It makes no financial sense to repair that nib. As noted above, there are plenty of parts pens which can be bought for their nibs, and it should be kept in mind that you don't need to buy a full-sized 52 to get a #2 nib: a 52 1/2V would do just as well, and would be yet cheaper.

You can probably get a donor pen even cheaper if you watch for a beater (other than the nib, of course) 52-1/2V. It is the same Waterman #2 nib, and they tend to go cheap on ebay.

Regards, greg

Thanks for the advice and help. I really appreciate it!

Todd