Visconti Opera Master Clear (Demo) = Meta-Review

March 12, 2016

I recently grabbed a Visconti Opera Master Clear Demo and I am now completely in love with this pen.

I have been eyeing this pen for a long time. One was available from a seller based in Australia, but I never pulled the trigger because of all the foreseen pain involved with dealing with customs and international shipping... Then, last week I was in Tokyo and I went to Eurobox, a one man second hand pen store located in Ginza, to pick up a pen that I had purchased upfront before my trip. While I was waiting for my turn - two gentleman were already being served by the shop owner - I stumbled upon this pen. It was stored in a tray in a cabinet among many other pens... I decided to sleep over it - since I do not like impulse purchases - but eventually I fell and I made an appointment to complete the transaction before leaving.

The pen turned out to be not even inked... and came with its original box and paraphernalia. I can understand the previous owner, it is such a beautiful piece of craftsmanship that you might be reluctant to load it. But this was a pen to be used and upon my return home I filled it with Syo Ro ink that kind of matches the color of the swirls. I could not be more happy, the pen writes like a dream and it is a pleasure to hold and event just to be contemplated.

There are a number of reviews of the pen on this forum and elsewhere:

Revire from Yuki Onitstura (2010) - links to photos broken

Review from PenEngineer (2012)

Review from RyanM (2015)

Video review from Sbrebrown (2014) - he claims it is his grail pen

For a high end (and expensive) pen, it is a lot of attention. I am not going to repeat what you can find elsewhere, just adding some personal observations. Reviews are mostly positive and the main complaint is the difficulty to clean the double reservoir system. I plant to stick to one ink. When I filled, it sucked enough ink to fill only half compartment. This is fairly common. There are tricks to get a full load, however, event at half capacity, it is such a staggering amount of ink (several milliliters) that I do not fill the need to stretch it to the limit.

My pen came with a "vintage" 18k F nibs. I am not a fan of fine nibs, but I am happy of this one. It is a hard nib, no flex here of course, and it is great for me. What I like is that it consistently lays down a wet line that allows shading to appear with the right ink.

I have read about quality control issues around, luckily my pen does not appear to have any defect and the ink is securely contained in the reservoirs.

When I first held it it was a shock. It is a heavy pen, while I am accustomed to light weight. However it took less than one day to become accustomed. It is a huge pen, so posting is not really necessary.

A common complaint with Visconti is the loose clip that does not guarantee any adherence. Well, the clip on this pen contradicts this assumption: the clip is springy and provide good adherence to my jacket internal pocket.

I agree with other reviewers that a small glitch is the engraving on the cap band: it is engraved Opera and not Opera Master. Opera and Opera Master are actually slightly but not negligibly dissimilar. But that's really nitpicking.

Time to time Visconti releases new Opera Master limited editions that follow this design. There is one currently around called Crimson Tide that is basically the same pen (but with red swirls). The blending of yellow, green and blue swirls in my version makes this writing instrument particularly attractive to my eye. It is a demonstrator nonetheless and it clearly shows the ink squashing around.

Value-wise, I would probably be reluctant to pay full retail, but if you can find a good deal with a new old stock like I did and are in the market for an high end stunner, this is seriously a beautiful and yet functional pen.

March 13, 2016

Very nice pen; I wanted a Opera Master in Crimson Tide a while back but the retail price was beyond me... My personal rule is that I will not buy a pen that I don't feel comfortable enough bringing to school, and this pen is way too cool and nice looking for that.

March 13, 2016

Great pen and fantastic review. How do you find the cleaning of the pen? Is there evidence of staining with the inks you have used? It would be curious to see six months down the track if there is any staining.

March 13, 2016

I will post updates a few months down the track, it is probably useful for other prospective users. I am using my first filling, so I have no idea. At the moment no sign of staining with an Iro ink.

March 28, 2016

I recently grabbed a Visconti Opera Master Clear Demo and I am now completely in love with this pen.

I have been eyeing this pen for a long time. One was available from a seller based in Australia, but I never pulled the trigger because of all the foreseen pain involved with dealing with customs and international shipping... Then, last week I was in Tokyo and I went to Eurobox, a one man second hand pen store located in Ginza, to pick up a pen that I had purchased upfront before my trip. While I was waiting for my turn - two gentleman were already being served by the shop owner - I stumbled upon this pen. It was stored in a tray in a cabinet among many other pens... I decided to sleep over it - since I do not like impulse purchases - but eventually I fell and I made an appointment to complete the transaction before leaving.

The pen turned out to be not even inked... and came with its original box and paraphernalia. I can understand the previous owner, it is such a beautiful piece of craftsmanship that you might be reluctant to load it. But this was a pen to be used and upon my return home I filled it with Syo Ro ink that kind of matches the color of the swirls. I could not be more happy, the pen writes like a dream and it is a pleasure to hold and event just to be contemplated.

There are a number of reviews of the pen on this forum and elsewhere:

Revire from Yuki Onitstura (2010) - links to photos broken
Review from PenEngineer (2012)
Review from RyanM (2015)
Video review from Sbrebrown (2014) - he claims it is his grail pen

For a high end (and expensive) pen, it is a lot of attention. I am not going to repeat what you can find elsewhere, just adding some personal observations. Reviews are mostly positive and the main complaint is the difficulty to clean the double reservoir system. I plant to stick to one ink. When I filled, it sucked enough ink to fill only half compartment. This is fairly common. There are tricks to get a full load, however, event at half capacity, it is such a staggering amount of ink (several milliliters) that I do not fill the need to stretch it to the limit.

My pen came with a "vintage" 18k F nibs. I am not a fan of fine nibs, but I am happy of this one. It is a hard nib, no flex here of course, and it is great for me. What I like is that it consistently lays down a wet line that allows shading to appear with the right ink.

I have read about quality control issues around, luckily my pen does not appear to have any defect and the ink is securely contained in the reservoirs.

When I first held it it was a shock. It is a heavy pen, while I am accustomed to light weight. However it took less than one day to become accustomed. It is a huge pen, so posting is not really necessary.

A common complaint with Visconti is the loose clip that does not guarantee any adherence. Well, the clip on this pen contradicts this assumption: the clip is springy and provide good adherence to my jacket internal pocket.

I agree with other reviewers that a small glitch is the engraving on the cap band: it is engraved Opera and not Opera Master. Opera and Opera Master are actually slightly but not negligibly dissimilar. But that's really nitpicking.

Time to time Visconti releases new Opera Master limited editions that follow this design. There is one currently around called Crimson Tide that is basically the same pen (but with red swirls). The blending of yellow, green and blue swirls in my version makes this writing instrument particularly attractive to my eye. It is a demonstrator nonetheless and it clearly shows the ink squashing around.

Value-wise, I would probably be reluctant to pay full retail, but if you can find a good deal with a new old stock like I did and are in the market for an high end stunner, this is seriously a beautiful and yet functional pen.

Love your review. Convinced me that I need one also. I just picked one up on the bay. Beautiful pen. Can't wait to receive it.

Edited March 28, 2016 by 888007888

March 31, 2016

Received my Visconti OM Demo yesterday. I really love the depth of the color swirls in this pen. The clear barrel is very thick and is evident when I gaze into the blue green patterns. It is huge. Not so huge that I cannot use it. Fairly heavy. Feels wonderful and very solid in the hands. Well built for sure.

Writes like a dream. No pressure at all needed, just the weight of the pen draws the ink when it touches the paper. Tried a few colors of ink, first Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, then MB Royal Blue, then MB Lavender Purple, before settling on Aurora Blue. The nib is a custom grind from nibmeister Mike Masuyama. He transformed the 23k Pd BB to a smooth Cursive Italic. This being my only CI nib, it will take some getting used to. The line is similar to an Architect grind to me. He did a great job. The original BB gushed ink. After he performed his magic surgery, this one glides nicely.

Now since I carry my pens in sleeves such as the Ashton Leather sleeves sold by Goulet, my next quest is to find one that can hold this bad boy. Closet thing I can use is a sleeve I purchased from Paradise Pen a few years back. That sleeve is so used that it has become really soft. It is also thinner than the Ashton so the softness lets thicker pens slide in easily to protect the finish from scratches. I usually use that sleeve for my thicker pens such as the GvFC Intuition Platino wood. The Opera Master protrudes a bit, but only by a hair.

All in all, I'm excited about this pen. There is one slight thing that bothers me. It has to do with the barrel and top shape of the Visconti design. Squaring the circle is great. It is smooth and prevents the pen and top from rolling off my desk, but the fittings don't line up perfectly when the pen is capped. It's only very slight. I take very good care of my pens and dislike any smudges or scratches, so this imperfection makes my eyes itch a bit. Though because the pen is translucent in nature, it's isnt that noticeable. I've read similar stories about this happening on their Wall Street models.

Lastly, this opera master and the Homo sapiens are my only pens with the power filler. I prefer C/C and piston pens for ease of use and cleaning. The power filler causes the ink to splatter when filling from an ink bottle. I'm afraid of spilling ink when using these filling systems. Does anyone have a solution on how to confidentiality fill these pens WITHOUT the worry of spilled ink?

Edited March 31, 2016 by 888007888

April 1, 2016

Congratulations for getting hold of this beauty! By the way, I saw the auction on ebay where I believe you got the pen... wow, that guy was liquidating a very nice collection. Double congratulation for being the winner.

In order to prevent spills, one way is to use only half full bottles of ink... if it is not completely full, the spilling should be contained! The same should apply if you use an inkwell.

I continue to enjoy mine. Could not finish the first fill yet!

April 2, 2016

Thanks katanankes. Yes. That was the eBay auction. I feel fortunate that I was able to find the V OP Demo online shortly after viewing this original review. The seller was extremely responsive. I also wanted his Montblanc 149 with an OBBB nib, but had to make a choice, so picked the Visconti. I think I made a good decision. Now I need to practice my writing. Saw some Instagram videos of a guy named Seiji Cataldo doing calligraphy this morning. Pretty amazing how he perfected his writing by practicing for only two years.

Edited April 2, 2016 by 888007888

November 8, 2016

Great review, I love all of Viscontis Opera Master series pens (the limited editions like the crimson tide) but I agree they are a little too heavy to use as a daily writer. I would definitely not pay full retail price for this pen when you can get them for $695 at your local fountain pen store (if your lucky like me and have a place that showcases all sorts of Visconti pens , any other New Yorkers out there?). Anyways, I've always wanted a Visconti that could be used as a daily writer alongside my Pilot 823 and I found the match! I've had this Visconti Kakadu LE #100/100 for a while me so I'll be doing a review of it soon, Apparently no one has done one yet though I'm not surprised considering there were only 100 made back in 2005 (Released in the Australian market). Why did I go with the Kakadu? It is slightly smaller than the Opera Master, still has the amazing (controversial) double reservoir power filler (so great ink capacity after least 2ml with a regular fill), is much lighter thanks to the piston knob and section being made of the extremely beautiful celluloid (or acryloid as Visconti like to call it), and lastly it has the old "vintage" 18K nibs that visconti used to make. So it's not a really wet gusher, rather it is quite wonderful, a medium that is 7/10 in wetness, around the ballpark that I prefer. Enough of me rambling, how about some pics! 😃😃I apologize for the iPhone quality pictures, but with flash you can see that the pen is actually a very beautiful blue that you only really notice in person. The pattern of the brown swirls are just so lovely as you turn the pen, you can see variations in the depth of the celluloid. Simply beautiful! Now if only visconti would fix their Q/C issues regarding nibs and even some pens with the similar "squaring the circle" design not aligning properly, etc. Thankfully mine was made when there were no Q/C issues so my pen lines up perfectly, I honestly can't find anything wrong with the build quality.

Edited November 8, 2016 by ItwasLuck