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I got my hands on these top two Waterman Inks recently. I am wondering what is special about them. One of the colors is Bleu Nuit, or Blue Night, which Georges has reviewed, saying that it is not available in the USA. So am I right in assuming that these two bottles were intended for the European market?

Thanks

Hmm, I don't know, but I find it confusing that it still states "Made in France" in English.

Is the "Bleu Nuit" different from Blue-Black?
The "Noire" should just be black.

I picked up two of these in boxes at the Chicago show. I asked Mike Fultz about them and he thought they were from the 30's LOL. obviously not. just retro styling. btw, they would not necessarily be for export even if marked MADE IN FRANCE in English--many manufacturers put country of origin information in English on labelling on all products, given the legal requirements (e.g. U.S. Tariff Act of 1930) should any such products enter the international stream of commerce.

I'm aware that the noire is black, but the "normal" Waterman blue-black is labeled "Bleu Noir," whereas this is labeled "Bleu Nuit."

By the name I would assume the ink to be (another) blue-black. I tried it out and it looks like a mix of blue, green, and grey. I don't have the "regular" Blue-Black, but based on the descriptions of it here on FPN, it seems to me that the colors aren't quite the same. The Blue Night looks more greyish, and not as turqoise.

I am really stumped.

Thanks for the info Stephen. I thought that there was a chance that they were vintage, but I'd never seen a vintage bottle so I couldn't be sure. Now I can rule it out.

Waterman bleu nuit looks an awful lot like the old Waterman blue-black to me, do you think Waterman might be still making the old blue-black, or some similar variation, under the name bleu nuit for Europe?

I really like the bleu nuit, it reminds me of the old parker penman sapphire.

Really? It looks like a greyish blue-green to me, nothing like penman sapphire. This stuff is about as saturated as Florida Blue. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.

Well, I just found out that the ink in Georges' review of Waterman "Bleu Nuit," is Florida Blue. He told me that in French it says "bleu nuit," but in English "Florida Blue." This just makes me even more confused, because my bottle of Bleu Nuit has no color name in English, and it looks nothing like my Florida Blue. Plus, my "regular" bottle of Florida Blue is labeled simply "bleu," in French, not "Bleu Nuit."

Anyone have any idea of what is going on?

fpfanatic5, perhaps just different names for different markets? I don't know and am not any authority whatsoever.

But those retro style bottles looks so much cooler! I never much cared for the wave pattern on Waterman ink.

Now to take a weird sidestep... shouldn't it be "Nuit Bleu"? I'm not too good at French, but I live in Ontario, Canada so I've had about... eight years of French instruction, not that I was ever any good at it. Anyways, don't adjectives come after the thing they're describing unless it's size, age, or goodness? Plus there's that thing called Nuit Blanche. Hm.. perhaps it's because it's not a night that is blue but rather it's blue and it's night [like blue-black]..? If anyone's great at French [native or otherwise] could clear this up, it would be a load off.

Back to more relevance, how easy is it to get your hands on those [only in Europe and at shows?] and how much are they?

If they were, then their distribution throughout Europe would appear to be limited, as I've never seen those yellow Waterman labels in the UK.

Neil

Hello Skooky,

To answer your question "Nuit Bleue" would mean a night that is blue, whereas "Bleu Nuit" rather mean blue like the night. Note that in "Nuit Bleue" the color is accord with "nuit" which is feminine therefore, it qualifies "nuit" whereas in "Bleu Nuit" it is invariant since "nuit" is actually qualifying the color "bleu"

P.S. Don't worry if it is confusing. French grammar might not be the most complicated but it is far from the simplest

I have spent time in Europe, but I do not recall seeing any Waterman inks labled like the ones you picture. It must be something recent.

stephenchin wrote:

" ... btw, they would not necessarily be for export even if marked MADE IN FRANCE in English--many manufacturers put country of origin information in English on labelling on all products, given the legal requirements (e.g. U.S. Tariff Act of 1930) should any such products enter the international stream of commerce."

During the Communist era, I was doing some sight seeing in (then) East Berlin. I stopped for a beer and bought a bag of paprika chips The bag was clearly labled both "Made in Rumania," and, in abbreviated form, "Regulations of the Pennsylvania State Department of Agriculture." (Pennsylvania has the highest food packing standards in the world, believe it or not.)

Found this, so maybe it is a bottle for the French market. The box looks fairly worn, though, so maybe it is vintage and foreign

Well, since the title on the page says "selling ink bottles 1885 to 1995", that is maybe not so surprising?

This site is asking £20 for a £5 bottle of ink. Since the bottle is the same, all you are paying for is an old-design label. (Unless they have the REAL blue-black of olden days.) Quite a rip-off.

"Foreign" been used quite a bit in this thread. With Waterman "foreign" to my mind means anything sold outside France.

I got a response from someone else in another thread, saying that he saw the yellow label in the 70's and 80's in Spain.

You are right about the ink being a rip-off, and it is not even blue-black, it is South Seas Blue, which would most likely be the same formulation. I think that it is targeted at collectors, not users, however.

Sorry about my use of the word "foreign," I was thinking from my point of view (American).