PenNMore on Fleabay has a couple Blue standard Carenes on auction.

I have done thorough searchs on this sub-forum and also went to the Waterman website.

The PnM Blue Carene has the slver plated trim and but they don't say anything about the nib.
Do all Carenes have the 18 kt nib (I know some are Rhodium plated, some are gold)?

I think I read somewhere in a post that Carenes do better with a "shallow" writing angle, that
the inlaid knib has a smaller sweet spot than the 18kt on the Charleston or the SS nib on the
Expert ll. Is this so? I usually write around a 45 deg angle I think. I would be getting a M nib.

I see that the Carene nib has been describe as "a nail". Are the Expert ll and Charleston nib
equally as firm?

Thank you in advance,

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Bruce,
I have quite a bit of experience with the Expert II SS nib. I have been using one since 1995; it has a factory F nib. I have a little trouble with carbons using this pen, but my Carene, also with factory F nib, does a great job. So, it is a little stiffer.

The Charleston nib has a little more flex than the Expert II, but remember, this is relative to modern flex, which only gives minor line variation. I'd guess about 10% thicker for the Expert II and 20% for the Charleston.

I don't believe the plating on the Carene's nib makes any difference; I have not heard about any differences in nib performance based on the particular submodel of Carene.

Hope this helps,
Grem