WatermanExpert Fountain Pen, Gloss Black with 23k Gold Trim, Fine Nib, Luxury Fountain Pen in Gift Box, Fountain Pen for Writing

I've owned Waterman pens for years and found them to be reliable, elegant and offer a great writing experience.This purchase was a gift and as such I want to address some negative comments:The blue presentation box is protected in a white cardboard sleeve that has the bar codes and manufacturing information. It is in fact held in place by a piece of tape stuck to the presentation box to prevent it from sliding out. I only wanted to give the pen in its blue box so with a sharp knife I cut the tape to release it. Once outside the cardboard sleeve, with slow careful teasing up of the remaining tape, along the cut edge, I was able to completely remove the tape. Not only NOT tearing the blue box surface, but nor did the tape leave a "shadow" of glue. Grabbing the tape and just pulling up without care will probably risk damaging the surface of the presentation box.Regarding the lack of an ink cartridge, please notice a small fabric loop on the padded base the pen is sitting on. Pull up on that and the base will lift up, exposing the ink cartridge and info sheet. Perhaps sometimes one goes out without a cartridge but I suspect some folks didn't take the time to look for it.I hope this helps people who are considering giving one of these beautiful pens as a gift.

The Waterman Expert fountain pen arrived today on schedule and included a wonderful blue ink. The fine nib writes well and is what I hoped for. The pen weighs about 30g which gives a good solid feel and is about 50% when posted vs the Lamy Safari Vista that I was using previously before backing over it with my car last week, sadly.I must note also that I very much like the clip tension on this Waterman Expert. It is not crazy tight so slides onto my clothing without me worrying it is going to mess up my shirt pocket, which is nice.This pen feels like good quality and I appreciate that the cap snaps onto the pen both when capping it and when posting it to write. Extremely satisfying and makes me know that I don't need to worry about it coming off and inking anything accidentally.

I'm not a fountain pen expert, but I loved them in school 50 years ago. I researched and decided on the Waterman Expert 3. I am beyond impressed with this product. Aside from the classic good looks, the pen writes as if on silk right out of the box. I could not be more pleased with this product.

This purchase was made out of curiosity rather than need. I have been very happily using a Parker Urban fountain pen (medium tip) with success and satisfaction thus had no particular need for a new or different pen. However, as much as I like the Urban and how it writes, its heft and relatively thick ink line caused one to wonder what using a fine point would be like thus this pen.The first noticeable differences between the Waterman Expert and the Parker Urban are the light weight of the former and its body's rather plasticky finish, in contrast to the Urban's wonderful lacquer finish and real heft.Frankly, the light weight and high polish plastic finish was a bit offputting and I immediately didn't like the pen. It is one of the reasons for choosing not to buy an ink reservoir and to go with cartridges, at first. Nevertheless, the writing experience of this Waterman is excellent. The pen writes first time, the line is fine but the nib allows one to write fluidly while the light weight of the pen body does allow one to write neatly for longer than I find I am able to do with a heavier pen. Actually, I like the writing experience with this Waterman so much that the ink in the Urban has dried up.While I haven't taken the step to using an ink bladder and bottled ink for the Waterman, it is something that may be worth exploring. Also, I should note that using the ink cartridge on this pen has been without problems while with the Urban I wasn't able to get the supplied cartridges to flow well and the pen never wrote first time with a cart. installed.The only reason I don't rate this 5 stars is that the plasticky body is still kind of an issue for me, even though I really like writing with this pen, and also because I am not keen on the style lines of the pen's body; they are somewhat contradictorily simultaneously sharp and lumpy. Nevertheless, I recommend this pen.