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Waterford Eclipse - A Review


jslallar

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INTRODUCTION:

A year ago, browsing throught he classifieds I saw a beutiful looking, Irish made, pen for a reasonabel price and bought it. It cam packed with two others in a nice grey outer box inside whihc was a widish, grey box of velvety material with white insides, and company name and logo. The pen was wrapped in cellophone, and was heavy. taking it out it showed a bright chrom twist on cap with a very nice design and a diamond top. The barrel and section were black and the nib was two toned steel with gold plating, German made, with company logo etched on it.

 

APPEARANCE AND DESIGN: 9/10

Looks elegant and presentable. Ha a heavy feel to it. Cap twists off which is to my liking. The cap is chrome covered metal, very nicely made with a three lined pattern criss crossing each other. the cap top also made of metal with a diamond design. 'WATERFORD' is etched on to the cpa band. Except for a chrome tassie at the cap end (blind cap) the cap is black lacquer as is the section, which is made of plastic. The section is short (1.9cm) and includes the last half a cm of screws for the cap. It has a ridge at the end to not let the hand slip down. Overall a very nice look and an original design. The only drawback seems to be the short section due to which the fingers tend to rub against the metal screws for the cap and that can be uncomfortable to some. I have taken away a point for that.

 

CONSTRUCTION AND QUALITY: 9/10

The pen looks evry well made with attentiuon to the details obvious. The cap twists on and off smoothly and hold true when closed. The pacquer gives a soft feel to the otherwise hard metal, the weight of which can be felt. The lacquer is smooth and blemishless and the cap etchings and name look to be a laser or diamond tipped tools have done them, very precisely. The nib and feed are housed in a collar which can be twisted off the pen, much like the modern Pelikans.

 

WEIGHT AND DIMENSIONS: 8.10

The pen is 13.7cm long capped, 12.7cm uncapped and 15.7cm posted. The barrel tapers down from the section to the end tassie, starting at 1.4cm to 1.0cm. The cap flares out to give symmetry to the design, from the section to the top, starting at 1.4cm to 1.6cm. So capped the pen is a nearly 14c,m long taper, black and silvery chrome in finish. Weighs nearly 35gms. The cap posts well and stays there.

The pen has a solid feel to it and looks as if it can easily take a fall or two. The feel of the pen is the same as good quality metal pens from Cross (Townsend) and Waterman (Hemisphere and Expert II), and is much heavier than Sonnet.

 

NIB AND PERFORMANCE: 7.5/10

The nib is steel, two toned, simple, and big, jutting out 23 mm from the barrel end. other than that it remind me of the WEaterman Expert II nib a lot in design. The shoulders are 8.5 mm so it gives a long look to the nib. It is a M nib and write like most German steel nibs do - medium line, good flow, stiff and smooth. The only thing I noticed is that the pen tends to dry up even when capped after a day and is hard to start the next morning, but once it does it gives me no trouble again that day at least.

 

FILLING SYSTEM AND MAINTENANCE: 8/10

It is a C / C pen, using International cartridges and / or converter. I do not like to use cartridges much so ZI put in a standard converter and the pen has given me no trouble. No issues with seating or leaking of the converter. Maiontenance is very easy as the pen can easily be taken apart, and the nib twisted off, so cleaning is not a problem at all.

 

COST AND VALUE: 8.5/10

I bought this pen used but near mint from a FPNer here for $39. New it sells for $120 and even on sales not less than $85. That would put this pen in the same price bracket as the Waterman Expert II, which is also comparable in size (though a bit smaller), bigger than most other competitors in the range like Sonnet, Prelude, Century II and Hemisphere, and a bit smaller than Townsend. Construction wise it can be comapred to any of these pens but the design ahas the advantage of screw on cap and screw on nib / feed. The negatives would be a short section, and relative obscurity and lack of nib options.

 

CONCLUSION: 50/60 OR 8.33/10

A nicely built, heavy lacquer over metal pen with International C / C filling system which will give no tropuble for replacement cartridges anywhere, and a beautifully workedover cap. The pen is certainly presentable and looks expensive and has a personality and I would say even an aura about it. Thnegatives would be hard starting in the morning and the short section. For those who like C / C pens and use any of the above model I'll easily say that they have another choice.

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Enjoy your pens

Have a nice day

Junaid

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Very nice review....

 

Think you got a pretty good deal on that one....

 

Enjoy!

FP Addict & Pretty Nice Guy

 

 

 

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