Has Waterman stopped making bottled ink‽

[Estycollector]

10 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I picked up a bottle of that last fall at OPS at the Indy-Pen-Dance table, since they were out of Mysterious Blue.  It's a bright turquoise blue and I'm not overly enamored of it.  Not really what I'd call "serene".  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Yes, it would not appeal to me either. Should have branded it "Stone Washed Denim Blue". 

[mr T.]

On 5/10/2025 at 8:17 PM, Mercian said:

There is NO mention of ANY ink in bottles, ONLY ink in cartridges!

Where I live, bottled Waterman inks (but not the cartridges) seems to be on sale at places like bol.com and Amazon at the moment. It is a possibility that they are sell existing stocks while stocks last. Most online and b&m penshops still sell bottled Waterman inks however.

[AkitaMom]

Jet Pens carries the following Waterman inks (bottle): Serenity Blue, Mysterious Blue, Tender Purple, and Intense Black @ $13.932.

[FleetAdmiralBlackBeard]

So the long and short of it all is that  no one, including customer service in Poland, knows what is actually in production. 
 

I really hate that they discontinued Absolute Brown.  Such a elegant brown in the right pen. 
 

 

[inkstainedruth]

I quite agree.  I'm hoarding my one partial bottle of Absolute Brown.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[FleetAdmiralBlackBeard]

46 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

I quite agree.  I'm hoarding my one partial bottle of Absolute Brown.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

An outrage, really,  that they can’t be bothered to make this or replace it . 

[inkstainedruth]

IIRC they got bought out by Newell Rubbermaid -- the same corporation that now owns Parker.  And I don't really understand why Newell Rubbermaid BOUGHT them, given that I think of Rubbermaid as making storage tubs....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth 

[Glenn-SC]

12 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

And I don't really understand why Newell Rubbermaid BOUGHT them, given that I think of Rubbermaid as making storage tubs.... 

Just because the partial company name “Rubbermade”, only evokes one product line to you, that does not limit the large and varied company product line. Newell Brands’ brands and products include storage containers; home organization and reusable container products; water bottles; outdoor products; writing instruments (Berol, Expo Markers, Paper Mate, Dymo, Mr. Sketch, Parker Pens, Sharpie, Reynolds, Prismacolor, Rotring, X-acto, Waterman) glue (Elmer's, Krazy Glue); children's products; cookware and small appliances; and fragrance products.

 

Parker and Waterman fit within their corporate structure.  

[justsomerandombloke]

16 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I quite agree.  I'm hoarding my one partial bottle of Absolute Brown.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Hahahaha. Same here!

[FleetAdmiralBlackBeard]

14 hours ago, Glenn-SC said:

Just because the partial company name “Rubbermade”, only evokes one product line to you, that does not limit the large and varied company product line. Newell Brands’ brands and products include storage containers; home organization and reusable container products; water bottles; outdoor products; writing instruments (Berol, Expo Markers, Paper Mate, Dymo, Mr. Sketch, Parker Pens, Sharpie, Reynolds, Prismacolor, Rotring, X-acto, Waterman) glue (Elmer's, Krazy Glue); children's products; cookware and small appliances; and fragrance products.

 

Parker and Waterman fit within their corporate structure.  

I hate conglomerates so much. It’s like LVMH or Richemont owning virtually every European luxury brand, but in Waterman’s case it’s even worse because it’s owned by a company that focuses on only utilitarian goods. Richemont owns Montblanc **and** Van Cleef and Arpels **and** Cartier. Of course Montblanc is not some random afterthought left to perish like Waterman is for Rubbermaid . 
 

Decisions are not made for the individual brand or its customers anymore, but for whatever is good for the conglomerate. 
 

Anyway, I still want my Absolute Brown back. 

[AkitaMom]

One more 'Legend' for the memory banks, sigh.  

[Bo Bo Olson]

I've been late to find out how many beautiful pens, both Parker and Waterman...same factory, made.

Living in Germany, most of my used and cheaper pens are German.

I only bought, outside the Pel 200's, some three or four new pens. All of them on sale.

 

Had I started chasing buying only new pens after I came back to fountain pens after 40 years in the Ball Point Desert, some 15-16 years ago, I'd stayed with just the one I had, in I did think $30-50 for entry level old US name company pens, a lot of money and the better middle class new pens of $80-100some sort of things rich fools did.

I did grow up, with the end of One Man, One Pen era.

 

I had back in the then, thought I'd never own more than 10-12 pens and that many inks. Noobies have a lot of odd thoughts. 

 

[Glenn-SC]

It all depends on how independent the subsidiaries are and how invested those subsidiaries are in the success of their products lines.  

[jthole]

It would be a shame if they would discontinue the blues and blacks, or would limit them to Serenity Blue only.

[mke]

On 5/12/2025 at 5:32 AM, Estycollector said:

I bought another bottle of Serenity Blue

 

I fortunately bought a large stock of it - shortly before La Couronne du Comte shut down its business.

The stock was so large that they contacted me to confirm that I didn't make a mistake with the numbers.

Serenity Blue is my absolute favorite blue.

 

I also bought Audacious Red a few bottles and a bottle of brown, green and purple.

The brown still seems to be available at several shops in Japan.

 

 

[mke]

On 8/24/2025 at 7:58 AM, inkstainedruth said:

Newell Rubbermaid

 

They also bought Rotring and forgot to secure the Rotring history documents. They apparently found out after everything was discarded. True or not, I don't know.

[jthole]

15 minutes ago, mke said:

 

I fortunately bought a large stock of it - shortly before La Couronne du Comte shut down its business.

The stock was so large that they contacted me to confirm that I didn't make a mistake with the numbers.

Serenity Blue is my absolute favorite blue.

 

 

I am still not through my Florida Blue bottles even ... I am probably set for life.

 

Edit: and yes, I love Florida / Serenity Blue.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I liked their turquoise very much... Caribbean Sea. I liked Caribbean Sea more than Lamy Turquoise, once the turquoise all turquoises were compared too. Way back when. Don't know about today.

Having 4001 Royal Blue, I didn't see a need for the Florida Blue.

I never learned the new names of the Waterman Inks, and forgot the old names too.

 

Even with Waterman and Parker inks being made in France, they were not in my German shops; outside of Quink inks; black and blue only.

[jthole]

1 hour ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Having 4001 Royal Blue, I didn't see a need for the Florida Blue.

I never learned the new names of the Waterman Inks, and forgot the old names too.

 

 

I have both Pelikan 4001 Königsblau and Waterman Florida Blue, and I find them different enough to use both.

 

But it would not surprise me if modern Quink Washable Blue and Waterman Serenity Blue are the same inks.

 

Edit: obviously not the same pens, but to give you an idea ...

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

1 minute ago, jthole said:

I have both Pelikan 4001 Königsblau and Waterman Florida Blue, and I find them different enough to use both.

As 4-5 ink noobie, I didn't and I was real cheap back then. What!!! A whole 19€ for a used pen!!! 

The great semi-flex stubbed well-balanced torpedo/cigar shaped Geha 790 use to be had for that 19€. Back in the day I spent €15, 19, 19, 24-6 or so and the last one at a whopping 30 €. 

Back when it was floating at €19 a very nice passed Spanish lady with the grandest handwriting asked me to stop pushing those Geha's, in I was straining her budget.

But I wanted everyone to have my joy.