VISITING with an Old Friend – Waterman Expert Fountain Pen

Posted on by
Waterman Expert Fountain Pen
Waterman Expert Fountain Pen (c.1988)

There she is – my very first fountain pen.

The dentist I worked for at the time took our only other employee and me shopping for Christmas prezzies. He pushed thick envelopes filled with crisp bills into our hands and said the only condition was that we had to get something 100% for ourselves, “something you wouldn’t normally buy.” Lisa and I each knew exactly what we wanted and set off in opposite directions. She ran off to the Coach handbags and I, on the other hand, wandered over to men’s accessories in search of a fountain pen.

Months before, the doctor had received a check for some personal transaction. I immediately honed in on the handwriting. “How did he do that? Look at that – can you see it??” I had no idea what to call it, but I knew I needed to figure it out.  “It’s probably a fountain pen.”

A who? A what? I was clueless. A fountain pen! That’s what I wanted needed.

Choosing my first fountain pen was a breeeeze. I knew nothing.

“Would you like a medium nib?” Sure!
“Does that feel balanced in your hand?”  Uh huh.
“Do you like the grip? Is it to heavy?” I love it! I’ll take it!
“Do you need some cartridges to go with it?” Yes!

I got the pen home, tossed the box, the paperwork, and whatever that weird twisty thing was over my shoulder and into the trash. I have a fountain pen! How do I make it go?

A whole bunch of years, and inks, and pens later, and I find myself returning to my old friend: the Waterman Expert.

I snapped a few quick pictures, hastily scribbled some notes, and finally it was time to ink her up for the first time in at least eight years. I chose one of my current favorite inks – Noodler’s Lexington Gray and (seriously) when I put pen to paper, it gave me goosies (as J Lo would say).

Balanced. Comfortable grip. Not too heavy, not too light. An oh-so-satisfying click when the cap was posted. This was going to be great. I was practically giddy.

Then I started to worry that I’d remembered this old pen with a little too much fondness. That perhaps now that I’ve experienced other wonderful writing instruments that this one wouldn’t quite measure up. I had nothing to worry about.

Waterman Expert Fountain Pen
A bit of shading.
A generous medium nib, so smooth over the Rhodia paper. Wonderful shading (that thing I’d seen, but didn’t have the words to describe all of those years ago). No skipping or false starts (maybe one).  Just. Beautiful.

Enough of my gushing – let me show you what I’m talking about. (If I’ve done all of this right, you should be able to click on the pictures to see them larger and see more detail. If that doesn’t work, you will have learned that I’m not perfect, yo.)

Waterman Expert on Rhodia Pad
Rich burgundy color.
Waterman Expert Two-Toned Nib - some pitting
Some pitting on the two-toned gold nib. See the separation between the tines? That is some goodness right there, folks.

You notice that I didn’t call it an Expert in my writing? That’s because I had to do some sleuthing to figure it out.
This has been fun – remembering and writing about how I first fell in love with fountain pens. Do you remember your first love? I’d love to hear all about it.

1,392 thoughts on “VISITING with an Old Friend – Waterman Expert Fountain Pen”

  24. Кто ищет, где заказать накрутку ПФ, вот статья с конкретным сервисом и ценами от 15 000 рублей. Расписано, зачем это нужно, какие риски и как проходит процесс заказа. Информация для тех, кто решил попробовать этот метод: https://stroika-tovar.ru/articles/stati/effektivnaya-nakrutka-pf-yandeks-kak-zakazat-po-dostupnoy-tsene-ot-15-000-rubley.html

    Reply ↓

  35. Коллеги, нашел пошаговое руководство по продвижению в Новосибирске. Автор разбирает аудит, сбор семантики, оптимизацию контента и работу со ссылками. Отдельный плюс — раздел про отзывы и репутацию в местных сервисах. Вот ссылка: https://centr-turbin.ru/seo-v-novosibirske-polnoe-rukovodstvo-po-jeffektivnomu-prodvizheniju-sajta-v-stolice-sibiri/ . Полезно и для новичков, и для практиков.

    Reply ↓

  44. Любишь азарт? https://pfrrt.ru предлагает разнообразные игровые автоматы, настольные игры и интересные бонусные программы. Платформа создана для комфортной игры и предлагает широкий выбор развлечений.

    Reply ↓

  49. Thanks for your write-up. I also feel that laptop computers have become more and more popular lately, and now are often the only kind of computer found in a household. The reason is that at the same time actually becoming more and more inexpensive, their computing power is growing to the point where they are as strong as personal computers coming from just a few years back.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *