Cleo Skribent Classic Metal Piston Fountain Pen - Burgundy

[BayesianPrior]

Yes, that is the actual model name of this pen. Not a Paragon, or a Toledo, or a King of Pens. Or even a 2.0 Turbo SE Touring AWD. And *spoiler alert* that name is wholly appropriate for this pen. It's not made from dazzling celluloid, it isn't decorated in precious metals by artisans, and it doesn't sport a big 21k gold nib. This pen is designed to write. To write well, and for a long time.

For CAD 140 (approx USD 110) there is a helluva lot of pen sitting in my hand.

Appearance
Some of you have seen my photos in another thread and described the Cleo (as I will hereafter refer to her) as timeless and classic. I cannot disagree. The pen is made of burgundy resin and tapers both at the section and at the end of the barrel. Just behind the section threads is an ink window slightly shorter than on a Pelikan M200. There is no shoulder or 'step-down' from the barrel to the section. At the far end of the barrel is a chrome trim ring which demarcates the beginning of the blind cap. The mould lines are not visible anywhere on the barrel.

The business end of the pen is a fairly unremarkable steel nib, similar in size to a Cross Century II or a Sailor 1911M. A couple of decorative lines contour the nib and in the middle is stamped the Cleo Skribent logo.

The nib is protected by a metal cap in a satin chrome finish, with the exception of the finial, clip, and cap band which are highly polished to contrast with the satin finish. The cap band says "CLEO made in Germany".

I do not post my pens, and the extra length of this barrel (135mm nib to end of blind cap) is very welcome. There is no chance it will catch under my thumb webbing. All in all, this pen conjures images of an Aurora 88 (either vintage or modern) in my mind.

Function
What can I say?

• piston filler
• weighs 20g
• ink window
• no shoulder from barrel to section

This is almost my dream pen. The tooling is superb - the piston runs smoothly, and all threaded parts of the pen are perfectly aligned.

The shop owner did warn me about the blind cap to access the piston mechanism, saying "some people find it to be an annoying extra step in the filling process." If you're worried about extra steps, why are you buying a fountain pen?! Haha!

Nib
Stainless steel, inoffensive, and comes in F, M and B. Mine is F and writes exactly how I anticipated, perhaps a little thinner (or drier?) than my F M800. The line width is consistent, there is no skipping, no hard-starts, no drying out, no dripping, no burping. There is some pleasant feedback, could I describe it as writing with a smooth pencil? The inverted nib writes an XXF line, but for less than a dozen words before it has exhausted the ink available to it.

The nib is firm. Is it a nail? Probably. A brass nail, if that makes sense. I am able to press to increase the line width if I want to write a word in bold, but this is not a pen to show off your Spencerian hand. It's a pen to write consistently, without problem, and without effort. It appears to be ambivalent as to the angle at which it is held.

Conclusion
My new favourite pen. It looks good (at home or in the office), it holds a ton of ink, I can check the ink level at a glance, the tooling is precise and the pen feels well made. The nib writes consistently and without an issue. If this pen carries on the same way it started, it will become my trusty workhorse. And for the price, I won't feel sick if something happens to it (heaven forbid!)

[Paul-in-SF]

I agree with pretty much everything you said about this pen (I have the plain black Palladium model with a 14K EF nib). It seems to be an under-appreciated wonder, although you will see it mentioned from time to time on this forum. I think part of the reason Americans don't know much about them is that they aren't carried by regular US pen dealers, although you can find them on Amazon, and also on eBay (for outrageously high prices) and even Etsy. I got mine at Cult Pens in the UK. 

 

Be careful when shopping, though. Cleo Skribent makes a lot of pens, but this model is, I believe, the only one that has a piston filler. You will see listings, on eBay at least, for a pen they are calling a Classic but that is a different model, with neither piston filler nor ink window. Or better yet, just go to Cult Pens (no affiliation) and get a wider nib selection at what seems to be the best price around. 

[jchch1950]

The Cleo Skribent pens are not well known in general but I agree with your opinion about the quality of them.Cleo Skribent pens are worth  to look around for them. Thanks for the review.

 

 

 

 

[BayesianPrior]

15 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I agree with pretty much everything you said about this pen (I have the plain black Palladium model with a 14K EF nib). It seems to be an under-appreciated wonder, although you will see it mentioned from time to time on this forum. I think part of the reason Americans don't know much about them is that they aren't carried by regular US pen dealers, although you can find them on Amazon, and also on eBay (for outrageously high prices) and even Etsy. I got mine at Cult Pens in the UK. 

 

Be careful when shopping, though. Cleo Skribent makes a lot of pens, but this model is, I believe, the only one that has a piston filler. You will see listings, on eBay at least, for a pen they are calling a Classic but that is a different model, with neither piston filler nor ink window. Or better yet, just go to Cult Pens (no affiliation) and get a wider nib selection at what seems to be the best price around. 

 

I'm not an expert on their line, but you're right that most of their pens are c/c fillers.  They did make an ebonite pen using the Optima body as a higher end piston filler until 2017, and they appear to be coveted by the community.

 

My Optima (resin and c/c filler) is arriving from Cult Pens on Friday so I will be posting a review over the weekend (perhaps the only review on the whole wide internet, from what I can see!)

[Bill P]

I have had several Cleo Skribent Fountain pens....

 

They make an excellent FountainPen....they are under appreciated in the Fountain pen world, but they are an excellent producer of Fountain Pens.

 

Bill P.

 

 

[Mr.Rene]

What about prices ? Regards.

[BayesianPrior]

9 minutes ago, Mr.Rene said:

What about prices ? Regards.

 

20 hours ago, countrysquire said:

For CAD 140 (approx USD 110) there is a helluva lot of pen sitting in my hand.

 

Prices go up from there.  Cult Pens is a vendor with decent pricing, so you can check specific models there.

 

[langere]

I agree that this pen is underappreciated.  Just using it right now.  I am amazed at how long the ink in the piston is lasting.  I have not formally measured against some of my other piston fillers, but I did not expect this from such a relatively slim pen.

 

Erick

[hari317]

How well does this pen compare to a M200? Thanks. 

[Paul-in-SF]

5 minutes ago, hari317 said:

How well does this pen compare to a M200? Thanks. 

Informally, the Cleo Scribent is a fair amount longer, but very slightly slimmer than the M200. If you're asking about ink capacity, I have not measured them. As for quality of construction, I would say they are very comparable. I think the Cleo has a slight edge generally, if only because of the ink window. 

[BayesianPrior]

1 hour ago, hari317 said:

How well does this pen compare to a M200? Thanks. 

 

 

[hari317]

6 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Informally, the Cleo Scribent is a fair amount longer, but very slightly slimmer than the M200. If you're asking about ink capacity, I have not measured them. As for quality of construction, I would say they are very comparable. I think the Cleo has a slight edge generally, if only because of the ink window. 

 

5 hours ago, countrysquire said:

 

 

Thank you

 

In the past I had seriously considered the all plastic version of this with the solid gold nib, but could not pull the trigger. Let's see. 

[Calabria]

I wonder about the nib. Their website insists that they finish the nib in house, but they don’t explicitly say that they make it. It looks like the standard Kaweco / Bock size. 
 

Any information or input on that?

[BayesianPrior]

I have no idea who makes their nibs.  I was asked on another forum whether the nib unit unscrews or is friction fit, but I don't have the confidence to find out.

[maclink]

I got one of these today in my preferred black with silver trim.  I am pleased to see that they have continued to offer a size and form factor that I thought had gone extinct although the Lamy 2000 clearly derives from this shape.

 

Mine has a gold nib F and it writes very well.  How it writes reminds me of the Pelikan M20x nibs in terms of the tuning, line width and level of springiness.  I had bought this pen to be among my EDC pens for work and it will work great.

 

Here are some pics of mine with from left to right Montblanc No.22, Rotring Renaissance, Cleo Skribent and Lamy 2000.  My Cleo has an ink window but it's obscured by the MB Permanent Black ink that it's currently inked up with.

 

[sansenri]

next to the M200 the nib looks same size or smaller, is it a #5?  the Skribent are made in Germany, right?

[langere]

Yes, Skibent is made in Germany.

 

Erick

[BayesianPrior]

6 minutes ago, sansenri said:

next to the M200 the nib looks same size or smaller, is it a #5?  the Skribent are made in Germany, right?

 

They are made in Germany, absolutely.

 

The nibs are finished in-house, but I don't know who manufactures them.

 

Someone has suggested the nib looks similar to a Kaweco Al-Sport nib.  I can confirm the nib is smaller than the M200.

[maclink]

@sansenriThe shoulder width and contour from the shoulders to the tines, are about the same.  However, the Skribent nib is 'shorter' or it could just be that more of the nib is in the nib/feed housing.

 

Yes, the Cleo is pure German production.

[maclink]

Here is a photo comparison of the Cleo and M205 nibs.  I see one nib is shorter but likely because less of the nib is exposed.  The shoulder widths and shoulder to tine tips distances are about the same though there is a visible difference in contour.