Opinions on Waterman Expert wanted

[stephen82]

I'm interested in opinions on the Waterman Expert fountain pen, specifically a Waterman Expert Urban Brown model shown on the fountainpenhospital.com Website, which it is noted as a "New" model/color...

 

I am very new to fountain pens. I purchased a couple Lamy Safari's a week or so ago and once I wrote with them I was hooked. Now I have four Safari's (two fine and two med) and four bottles of ink.

 

I have always liked pens and pencils. My collection includes a couple Waterman ball points and a Mont Blanc ball point -- and so I would like to have at least one higher-end fountain pen. Higher end for me is $125 or less. The model I noted above really appleals to me.

 

So before I tell my wife that that pen would make a nice birthday present next month, I would like to hear what others think about the Waterman Expert -- just so I can make (or have my wife make) an informed, well thought out purchase.

 

Thanks,

Steve

Edited August 4, 2006 by stephen82

[Rique]

One of my favourite pens, and one of the best buys there is, IMHO. I´ve got three, red, black and blue, with M and B nibs. Excellent fit and finish, vintage styling, very good flow, smooth nib. THe pen is rather big and medium- to heavy-weight (which I like). I have never read anything against it in this forum. I´m on the lookout for a pencil that matches one of the pens I have...

 

regards,

Rique

[StanSoph]

I am new to FP's also, the Expert was my first upper end pen also. I got the fine point and the nib has a bit of flex and is very smooth. I haven't had any issues with any of my Watermans (Charleston, Expert and Phileas). Good buys in my book.

[James P]

I'll probably get pilloried for saying this, and may even lose my Waterman dealership, but I have to speak up. I don't like the Expert. I've had three of them - a fountain pen, a ball point and pencil set. I didn't like any of them. There are several reasons for my displeasure with the Expert, which I'll get to in a second. But first I want to say something complimentary about the pen. It is very nice looking, and has good fit and finish, at least the examples I owned did.

 

So why didn't I like it? First of all, the Expert is a heavy pen - way too heavy for me. I'm an attorney and I used the Expert to take notes during a deposition - 2 hours or so. By the end, I could barely write. My hands hurt and my fingers ached. The pen had so much heft that the little fleshy part between my finger and thumb was throbbing. The section was also too wide for my small hands to hold comfortably. I'm not saying the Expert is a bad pen, though. It just didn't work for me. You may prefer a heavy pen. But think about how you're going to use it before settling on a pen simply based on the design.

 

Another thing about the pen that really turned me off was the way the fountain pen wrote. Others have said that they have had good luck with theirs, so perhaps I shouldn't be damning the whole line on the basis of one example, but the darn thing wouldn't write well for me. It skipped, it started hard or just plain wouldn't start. When it did write, the nib was hard as a nail, and I have to disagree wtih the person who thought the nib had some flex.

 

I am not disounting the possibility that my pen was merely a lemon, but given the ergonomic issues for me, I see no need to get another to test that possibility.

 

The price on the Expert does make it affordable, but if the pen doesn't write properly, I can't say it's a good buy.

 

Did I mention the Expert is very nice looking?

 

I don't want you to get the impression that I dislike Waterman. To the contrary, I love the Phileas. It's one of the best fountain pen values on the market. It writes like a pen costing much more.

 

I also really like the Waterman Charleston. Although the nib looks disporportionately small on that pen, I have never had a problem with any of the Charlestons I've owned or used (and that's been many). Even though the Charleston has an MSRP of $155, they can be had for less (feel free to email me for a good price). And if vintage styling is what you're after, you'd have a hard time beating the art deco retro look of the Charleston, which is based on Waterman's legendary Hundred Year Pen.

 

Just one man's opinion of course.

 

James P.

[stephen82]

Thanks for the replies. My Waterman ball point pen is a stainless Expert and it is quite heavy - especially for a lot of writing. From the description of the fountain pen, I wasn't sure if it was made of the same materials and would be as heavy.

 

I'm still liking the pen, but now I may look around and try to find a dealer where I can actually handle one.

 

Any views on the Waterman Hemisphere?

 

Thanks,

Steve

Edited August 4, 2006 by stephen82

[HesNot]

James P makes one very good point - and that is that the Expert is a fairly heavy pen. I have an Expert 2000 in slate blue and admit that it is not the pen I reach for when I have a whole lot of writing to do due to the heft (that duty usually falls to one of two Parker "51"s). However, I don't post my pens and I don't find the Expert unposted to be intolerable either and I do use it with regularity to make notes on documents and to jot quick notes to people in the office. Thankfully (or unfortunately depending on your perspective), although I'm also a lawyer, I'm a tax attorney so I don't have to take notes at day long depositions with any regularity!

 

The fit and finish are outstanding at that price point and FWIW I like the Expert much more than the similarly priced Parker Sonnet. My Expert has never failed to lay down a medium wet fine line, not too wet nor too dry - never hard started. I don't find my nib to be very flexible but it is very smooth and was excellent out of the box.

 

I'm not sure what the Expert is selling for new these days - I'm assuming they are still around the $100 mark. Pam Braun had them for awhile at, IIRC, $39 which was a ridiculous steal (or was it even lower?). I have nothing bad to say about the Expert but admit that in the around $100 range there are quite a few options. You could get a Pelikan M200 with a custom Richard Binder nib, a Lamy 2000 (which is a bit of a love em or hate em pen), a whole range of interesting vintage models, a Namiki Vanishing Point (another pen you should handle due to the clip) and I've been pleasantly surprised with a recent Sheaffer Prelude I picked up that is a really nice pen that has been discontinued and can be found for very reasonable prices, etc...

 

I think handling one is the best thought. You won't find many pens in the same range made better or with a better fit and finish. In my experience I don't know of a pen in that range that writes any better either. And I do really like the look and style of the Expert. Handle one and think about how you're going to use it.

[John Cullen]

I assume you mean the Expert II. I have five of them. I like the pen, but three of the five came with dry writing nibs that were a little toothy on average copy paper. The phileas tends to be a little on the wet side, whereas the expert tends to be a little on the dry side------at least in my limited experience.

 

Anyway, hunt around. There are some good deals here and there on the Expert.

[HesNot]

Speaking of good deals - Dennis from Parkville Pen has an Expert II, black, for sale right now at $30 - check the marketplace. Dennis is a great seller and at that price it would be worth having one in the collection if you like the looks!

[stephen82]

I'm not sure if the Waterman pen I have in mind is an "Expert II" -- its just listed as an "Expert" on the Website I mentioned. And $30 for a black one is a good deal, but the one that caught my eye was "Urban Brown"

 

I appreciate the feedback since I am new to this and still learning - this is a great Website to become educated in fountain pens.

 

 

Steve

[Onion]

I love my Expert II's, they are some of the nicest writing pens I own. My Experts are on the wet side and couldn't be considered dry writers by anyone. It was my main pen for years. It is a bit on the heavy side, but I don't mind that. Mine are medium nibs which lay down a fat wet line, they are not timid with laying down the ink!!! I would buy more, That is the test for me.

Edited September 11, 2006 by Onion

[solaris]

I love my two Experts II exactly because are heavy pens...

[ARRI]

Did anyone compare an expert F with a sonnet F or a LAMY vista F?

I already own an expert M, but i found it is too bold for me. I am deciding to buy a additional F or not.

[Jeff E]

I have a Sonnet and an Expert II. Both are mediums. You need to consider more than line thickness. The Expert has the typical nail-like Waterman nib (stainless steel). Sonnets can be had with steel or gold nibs. Mine has a gold nib. I'd describe its nib as slightly springy, maybe more like mushy. Both have been very reliable writers for me.

[ARRI]

ncie to meet you, Jeff E

Actually, I have a sonnet F and an expertII M on my hand. I find that the expert M is too board for me, so i am deciding to get another expert with F nib. I am worry if a expert F is bolder than a sonnet F.

[Jeff E]

I think you will need to try an Expert II with a fine nib. Here is my admittedly subjective experience with Waterman pens:

 

Phileas F: Writes fine

Phileas M: Writes broad

Expert II M: Writes medium

Carene M: Writes heavy medium

L' Etalon M: Writes broad

Liaison M: Writes medium

 

My Sonnet M writes like a medium.

[ARRI]

Finally, i buy a dune green expertII F today.

The M & F write in great difference.

 

The expert F writes slightly narrower than the sonnet F, but writes much broader than the LAMY vista F

 

*In fact, I think the vista writes more like a EF

 

From narrow to board

expert M > sonnet F > expert F > vista F

[ThangMMM]

i think expert is an exellent choice for under 100$ fountain pen. I bought a expert II, dune blue model two months ago, and i'm very pleased with it. i have a parker sonnet too, and i prefer the expert to sonnet, better design, better nibs,

 

 

 

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d110/ThangMMM/WatermanExperta003-1.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d110/ThangMMM/WatermanExpert017.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d110/ThangMMM/WatermanExpert016.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d110/ThangMMM/WatermanExpert009.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d110/ThangMMM/WatermanExpert013.jpg

 

 

 

[110Mike]

My own experience of 10 year`s nearly continious daily use with my Waterman expert (not sure whether it is I or II) has been the following:

 

Writes excellently with good flow on just about any paper.

 

The cap comes loose after some time. (Doesn`t grip the barrel firmly)

 

The barrel is weak. I am on my third barrel and awaiting a quote for a fourth as the third one is now cracked too.

 

My fine point is more like a medium.

 

I will recommend them to any careful user.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

[ARRI]

110Mike

It is apparently that your pen is a expertI, which has a resin barrel. The expertII comes with a copper barrel which will not break. Why not buy a expertII? I think your expertI should retire.

 

I will try to write a few lines with my pens and take some photos for comparasion.

[Stylo]

I have two medium nib Expert IIs, in the dicontinued marbled colors of green and blue, that I bought during a clearance sale, for ... $19.95 each!

 

The green is a good dependable writer, but the blue one was a lot drier, but I was able to turn it into a decent writer with very minimal smoothing and cleaning between the tines.

 

They are very well made. They are probably heavier than average, but I never post, so they don't feel too heavy for me. I find the grip thickness about average, even though I grip quite high on the tapered section. They feel good in my hand, but may or may not in others' hands.

 

One thing you always need to keep in mind is that a given pen model with a given nib fom just about any manufacturer will have a large amount of variation in how well each smaple writes. Some will write great, others will skip, and yet others will feel scratchy. That is why you will read so many divergent opinions about a pen's writing performance.