Fountain Pen Manufacturer(s) Of France?

[Pepin]

Looks like there are Cartier, Chaumet, Chopard, etc...and BIC. Has there ever been a dominant fountain pen maker in France? Perhaps a manufacturer akin to Parker or Sheaffer in America, who captured a large market share with a wide range of product offerings? Please exclude all the American subsidiaries.

[OTDoc]

Isn't waterman based in France? They started in America but went under here and became a French based company.

[diplomat]

Once upon a time Stypen (www.stypen.com) was a major producer in France.

Now it's owned by Bic.

 

Edited to add: Edacoto is another famous brand that joined forces with Aurora before the WWII

Edited October 13, 2009 by diplomat

[twdpens]

Mallat

Stylomine

Gold Starry (formerly Gold Star, but early pens produced by Conway Stewart)

Bayard

Météore

Unic

 

As diplomat posted, Edacoto (a pencil manufacturer) teamed with Aurora to make pen and pencil sets.

 

HTH,

 

Martin

[diplomat]

There is a good online reference here: http://www.stylos-francais.fr/index.php

 

Unfortunately, some knowledge of French is required.

[twdpens]

There is a good online reference here: http://www.stylos-francais.fr/index.php

 

Unfortunately, some knowledge of French is required.

 

Thanks for the link. My French isn't great, so Google is my friend!

 

Martin

[JeanManuel]

Yes, Waterman is the dominant French fountain pen brand you are asking.

French people are often unaware of the american origin (sic). it offers a wide range of products, for all prices, all tastes.

 

For school, French kids are still likely to get a fountain pen.

Supermarket pens are usually Waterman Kultur & graduate. There are also some cheap Reynolds fountain pens. I used waterman, my sister used Reynolds...

 

Waterman cheap steel-nib fountain pens are good for kids because they are very durable, rather comfortable, and use the minimum amount of ink while writing fast (talking 5-10 a4 pages per hour).

If your job compels you to write like a machine, it's probably good for you. For under 20$ you will have a very optimized pen.

If you are aiming for a beautiful generous flow, as I am... well... aim for something else.

 

Waterman offers nowadays a very wide range of pens... for all prices, all tastes. I don't like their products but maybe you will. (I reproach them to be too dry and to care too little about balance.)

The blue waterman ink is very popular in France. Their black ink is kind of blueish, which I find depressing.

[jar]

Add in Waterman and Parker and ST Dupont.

[tractionavant]

Isn't Recife a French Manufacturer? Their 'Crystal" ED pens are very similar to the Wality Demonstrator ED.

I have a FP that says France on the cap with a head of a horse with a flowing mane.The same motif is on the Nib as shown.

Any one know which brand that is?

nib french.pdf

[hari317]

Reynolds, they make nice FPs too...

[hari317]

on the Nib as shown.

Any one know which brand that is?

 

18K GP, looks very Chinese to me...

Edited October 13, 2009 by hari317

[diplomat]

Supermarket pens are usually Waterman Kultur & graduate. There are also some cheap Reynolds fountain pens. I used waterman, my sister used Reynolds...

 

When I was in France last time in 2008, I found in a Supermarket "Le Geant" a nice selection of fountain pens, including several Parker Reflex. I actually purchased one in blue. There were a few Watermans but I don't remember the model. Maybe Phileas?

[saintsimon]

... ST Dupont.

 

S.T. Dupont is quite widely available as an upmarket brand. They are available at many jewelry and watch shops, luxury boutiques, in better pen shops and sometimes in flagship department stores. And, of course, online.

Edited October 13, 2009 by saintsimon

[lapis]

Well, at least the bottles' bottoms (har, har) say this:

 

WATERMAN

MADE IN FRANCE

 

and

 

PARKER

FRANCE

 

Franz

[Iann]

This last weekend I purchased a black hard rubber pen from a Sacramento antique store. I'm unfamiliar with the company printed on the pen and I'm hoping someone can shed some light on its history.

Barrel imprint: "ECO" FABRICATION FRANCAISE

Nib imprint: ECO PARIS

Thanks,

Ian

Attached Images

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[82Greg]

I have a pen from a French maker Stylochap, who apparently went under a few years back.

 

I was under the impression that Waterman, Parker and Shaeffer were all owned by the same French company?

 

Edit

I also was under the impression that Cartier didn't actually make its pens, but contracted with someone?

Edited November 15, 2013 by 82Greg

[marcelo]

I love my Waterman Carène and Parker Premier, both Made in France.

 

And, BTW & AFAIK, Parker is owned by Waterman.

Edited November 16, 2013 by marcelo

[Runnin_Ute]

Newell Rubbermaid is the current owner of the following brands:

 

Waterman

Parker

Sharpie

Rotring

Paper Mate

Uni Ball

 

and others http://newellrubbermaid.com/OurBrands/Pages/AllBrands.aspx

[amk]

Historically, French vintage brands that I see quite a lot of are Edacoto, which also made huge numbers of mechanical pencils; Gold Starry; Bayard, whose 'Excelsior' brand crops up a lot in antiques sales; in the 40s and 50s JM Paillard; Unic. My favourites are the Bayards, some of them in wonderfully colourful celluloids; I also tracked down one woodgrain hard rubber example with the 'PF' nib (Panici Freres, the original owners of Bayard).

 

More recently the market has been dominated by Waterman, with Parker also in evidence - I see quite a lot of Parker 45s and Arrows, some 51s and 75s, coming up at sales. Sheaffer never seems to have made much inroads on the French market. Cheap pens, as other FPNers have noted, include Stypen and Reynolds.

 

In the supermarket; Waterman predominates, Parker, Reynolds, and then vast numbers of cheapoes like My Little Kitty.

 

Other pen makers include Recife, Jean Pierre Lepine - colourful and sometimes outré pens, iridium nibs - and if you have more money than I do, Oldwin (my grail pen, but only if I get one for a euro at a vide-grenier).

 

By the way, I have a huge suspicion that Recife is rebranding Indian pens. My Oliver clear eyedropper looks exactly like the Recife Crystal, and the very wide cap band with horizontal incised rings looks exactly like that on my Oliver brown marbled acrylic. Hmmm.

 

I'm sure I've missed some out. This is a consumer's not an expert's perspective!

[Montblanc owner and lover]

Parker and Waterman are actualy french but came from the US...ST Dupont is french.