Waterman Pens

[JGB]

I got a nice waterman pen in a partial trade on a nice custom knife. It was a great pen for about a week until I dropped it

I have since found out that even though the nib can be removed by hand with no special tools, waterman does not sell nibs.
I went to the stationary and art store in town and they told me I was SOL.



I'm a bit ticked that a 70$ pen with reusable everything else would have tips that are not replaceable, the closest I've found is that I could spend about 40$ and get a whole new nib assembly including grip, which I don't particularly need.

Is there any other companies nibs that will fit?
Or any alternatives to forking out 40$ or chucking the pen in the bin?

 

[glennz]

Take a look on the 'bay for a seller name of Lewertowski; he probably has the nib and section for cheaper than you can get from Sanford/Parker/Waterman. My transactions with him have been easy and pleasant. PM me if you have problems locating his Ebay store.

 

[DeaconKC]

http://www.richardspens.com/
One of the best pen restorers around, he will tune the nib too.

 

[glennz]

Richard is fantastic; just keep in mind it is roughly a 6 month turn around with his backlog of work.

 

[TimmyBoston]

http://www.richardspens.com/
One of the best pen restorers around, he will tune the nib too.

+1 He'd be the first man I'd call.

 

[superbleu]

Sorry to hear about your pen. Although Mr Binder does fantastic work, I don't think your return on investment in parts, labor and 6 months time are worth it to get this pen fixed.

Now that Waterman is owned by Sanford, the Customer service/warrenty service is terrible.

Check out Ryan Rossinick's blogs for some very good pen suggestions.
Here is a list of great pens all around 100 dollars
http://roossinck.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/all-about-the-benjamins100-ish/
and here is another list of pens around 30 dollars
http://roossinck.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/great-budget-writers30/

If you see something you like check with these vendors, they have some of the best prices around.
Todd at isellpens.com
and Pam Braun at Oscarbraunpens.com (my favorite pen vendor)

 

[Cheech]

Or, you could always post on FPN to see if someone has a nib they'd let go cheap.

There's a lot of good people out there, you just have to ask. I got a Pelikan for a friend, but the cap was shot. I posted at FPN and soon enough, someone offered one up for a couple bucks. Good people.

 

[mmack66]

What model of Waterman pen is it?

 

[chickpea]

http://www.richardspens.com/
One of the best pen restorers around, he will tune the nib too.

+1

Richard Binder can probably fix that, and even make it better than before.

He is widely regarded as one of the world's best in terms of nib tuning.

 

[JGB]

What model of Waterman pen is it?

I belive it is called the hemisphere.
It's a beautiful blue colour, with the cases, and it takes cartridges as well as ink with a very nice system that you twist to suck ink up then load as though it was a cartridge.


If I can't get it fixed I'll buy another antique one like I got for my dad, it's silver, beatifully made, cost about 30$ more, and is truly an incredible pen. Oh yeah and I can get nibs for it.


I'm starting to learn that new anything doesn't seem to be a good idea.


However I won't send it in for restoration, it's not worth that.
but what the hell is the point of having replaceable tips if there are no tips to replace them with?


I don't even need a waterman nib, just a nib that would fit the waterman hemisphere.

 

[glennz]

Well, Lewertowski does have Hemisphere nib sections available in his ebay store, roughly $20 USD plus shipping. Worth it if you like the looks of the pen as well as its feel.

And it is not a matter of it being new that the nibs aren't available ... the Watermans are just like that. Better Parker FPs take replacement nibs, and Rubbermaid owns them as well (Sanford/Parker/Waterman ... all Rubbermaid, when Gillette sold them off). Pelikans also do replacement nibs; Richard Binder even stocks and sells tuned Pelikan nibs in steel and gold, including some of his custom grinds.

But I have purchased a replacement section for my Laureat, as it was cheaper than repair and tuning. However, my Liaison is off to Richard, as $160 for a nib section a lot more than the repair and tune.