Waterman Carene, now with stub.
I sold my first Waterman Carene Deluxe. It was dependable, it wrote even if I’d left it inked and unused for weeks, it was deep blue and sterling silver, it was… well, it was the kind of guy you married, I suppose, as guys like that usually come with medium nibs. I dislike medium nibs.
Then National Bookstore slashed their prices on the Carene. Did I miss it? At that price, I certainly didn’t mind giving it another chance. Around the same time, I discovered a seller on eBay who sold Carene and Charleston nibs (with sections) separately. He had stubs available.
Now, a Carene with a stub is another thing entirely. It’s the pen equivalent of finding out that boring reliable guy collects old issues of The Invisibles.
Waterman Carene stub, in box
I placed the order before the holidays, and fretted about its non-arrival all throughout, but when the stub unit arrived in its blue Waterman box last week, it was the holidays all over again.
Waterman Carene, stub nib
I cannibalized the Waterman converter from the Oldwin (which is being used as an eyedropper, anyway), and inked the pen with Pilot asa-gao.
Waterman Carene stub, writing sample
The ink flow is steady and controlled, a touch on the dry side – which makes this pen a good choice for signing documents. Now I have a medium nib unit sulking on my desk. Does anyone want it?
(Note that very mild humor invoking stereotypes was used in the writing of this blog entry.)
January 17th, 2009 at 1:24 am
I’ve never been a big fan of the look of modern Watermans but I must admit that’s not a bad stub nib. I just realized that I was thinking how much I liked that exact same passage from “Today’s Lesson” just last night. LOL.
January 18th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I also bought a Carene stub nib (Silver Trim) and I think it was from the same ebay seller, I’ve been waiting 2 weeks and it has not come. How long did you ahve to wait for yours? Could you post a video of a writing sample with the Carene? The one above is great!
January 19th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Leonard: I waited more than three weeks, almost a month. I ordered it before the holidays and most likely it got caught in the postal black hole reserved for the holidays.
January 20th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Thanks. Mine arrived today….. yippe! This is a really cool blog!
January 20th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Leonard, congrats on getting the pen! Always nice to see a fellow fountain pen enthusiast get something new. Of course it also conjures up some jealousy.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I’m glad you got your Carene stub, Leonard.
Collective whee!
January 24th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Too bad the Ebay seller only takes Paypal. I would love to get a factory stub for my Carene Deluxe. Guess I will have to check around with dealers.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
[...] has changed a bit. It sort of looks like Leigh’s.” That’s quite a compliment as Leigh was the previous owner and one of my favorite handwriting artists. My writing might resemble [...]
January 9th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Well, now, I think I may have just found a better way to make my “G” and “J”. Thank you for that!
March 9th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Seeing your writing sample convinced me and I just bought the nib for my Carene on eBay – I now have fine, oblique fine and the stub. I have always used fine nibs but I like the character that you can get from stub or italic nib. I have a cheap Pilot 78G and wnat the character without a flood of ink and your review suggests that this pen is spot on – many thanks for the review.