Arthur A. Waterman Eye Dropper – Wet Noodle  (On Ebay)

Here is an Arthur A. Waterman (not to be confused with the L.E. Waterman company) eye dropper made of black hard rubber. This pen is in near mint condition. It is likely over a hundred year old pen and has a pat. date of 1899. Hard rubber is very black and shiny. Looks and feels brand new. The imprints are crisp and still have some of the original paint in the imprint. The 14kt. A.A. Waterman nib is a very smooth writing F. But that’s just the beginning. This is what I would call a lower level wet noodle nib. It’s on the border between super flex and wet noodle, but has just enough going for it for me to give it the noodle grade. It flexes up to 1.8mm with ease and has very good responsiveness. It’s really best flexing around 1.4mm as it is very easy to control in that range. It writes normally as a smooth and wet Fine. Great vintage eye dropper.

SIZE:  5 1/4″ Capped

NIB: A.A. Waterman #2, F to BBB (0.4mm-1.8mm),  Wet Noodle  (See “Grading Flex Nibs” for How I Grade)

FILLING: Eye Dropper

CONDITION: Near Mint

Restration Work:

• Pen (barrel, section, nib, feed, & cap) thoroughly cleaned & flushed
• Nib polished
• Nib and feed ultrasonically cleaned
• Nib and feed tuned to write smoothly and with optimal flow
• Test driven for at least a week to insure quality

Waterman 52V – SUPER FLEX (On Ebay)

A nice Waterman 52V in BCHR. The chasing on this pen is a little worn but still has pretty decent texture. The black hard rubber has faded some to a dark brownish, grayish black. Imprints are all excellent. Very crisp and easily readable. The nickel plated trim is also in excellent condition without any brassing. The 14kt. Waterman #2 is a very wet medium stub nib (0.6mm normal writing). I emphasize that it is a very wet writing nib, but it is silky smooth. The flex on this pen is great. Ease of flex is near wet noodle. For how wet the flow it, it still has very good responsiveness. Range of flex is also good going all the way up to 2.1mm. If you like stub nibs, and you like flex nibs . . . this is a dream come true. The best of both worlds in one pen.

SIZE:  4 3/8″ Capped (Not including Ring Top)

NIB: Waterman #2, Med. Stub to BBB (0.6mm-2.1mm),  SUPER FLEX (See “Grading Flex Nibs” for How I Grade)

FILLING: Lever

CONDITION: Excellent

Restration Work:

• Pen thoroughly cleaned & flushed
• Trim polished
• Nib polished and tuned to write smoothly
• Nib and feed ultra sonically cleaned and adjusted for optimal flow
• New sac installed
• Test driven for a week to insure quality

Waterman 52V Red Ripple – SUPER FLEX (On Ebay)

Very nice Waterman 52V Red Ripple with more rare clip rather than ring top. There hard rubber has a little fading, but overall the color is quite good. There are some very small spots of brassing on the clip, band, and lever, but they are very slight. Imprints on these ripples are always tough to see, and this one is pretty worn and isn’t really readable. The “52V” at the end of the barrel is still readable though. The 14kt. Waterman #2 is a very nice, smooth writing F nib. Not overly wet. This isn’t a typical super flex nib. It has quite good but not great range (0.4mm to 1.7mm), but what it lacks in range it makes up for in responsiveness. The nib is quite snappy and makes good, crisp flex pretty easy to achieve. Great pen.

SIZE:  4 3/8″ Capped

NIB: Waterman #2, F to BB (0.4mm-1.7mm),  SUPER FLEX (See “Grading Flex Nibs” for How I Grade)

FILLING: Lever

CONDITION: Excellent

Restration Work:

• Pen thoroughly cleaned & flushed
• Trim cleaned and polished
• Nib polished and tuned to write smoothly
• Nib and feed ultrasonically cleaned and adjusted for optimal flow
• New sac installed
• Test driven for a week to insure quality

Waterma 0552 1/2 – Super Flex/ Wet Noodle   (On Ebay)

Here is a Waterman 0552 1/2 (a 52 with thinner profile and a gold filled overlay). The pen is in very good condition with the exception that it is missing the clip. The gold filled overlay has some light surface wear throughout but little to no brassing. The lever does have a little brassing. Imprints on the end are worn but mostly readable. The black rubber that gets covered by the cap when posted is slightly darker than the unposted section between the overlay and cap. But the BHR is still mostly quite black. The 14kt. Waterman #2 is a great nib that is either a wet noodle or very close to a wet noodle. It writes normally as a very wet and smooth 0.4mm F and flexes very nicely up to 2.omm with minimum effort. If it had just a bit more responsiveness I would definitely label it a noodle. Nevertheless, a very nice vintage Waterman.

SIZE:  5 1/8″ Capped

NIB: Waterman #2, F to BBB (0.4mm-2.0mm)  SUPER FLEX/ WET NOODLE (See “Grading Flex Nibs” for How I Grade)

FILLING: Lever

CONDITION: Excellent

Restration Work:

• Pen thoroughly cleaned & flushed
• Nib polished and tuned to write smoothly
• Nib and feed ultrasonically cleaned and adjusted for optimal flow
• Pen body polished
• New sac installed
• Test driven for a week to insure quality

Vintage Unbranded Eyedropper– Wet Noodle 

Here is an old vintage hard rubber eyedropper. It has a pretty solid build with gold filled repousse bands and mother of pearl inlay. The pen is in decent condition. The hard rubber is still quite black with a few spots of fading. It has some light surface wear (scratching, etc.) The gold filled bands has some brassing throughout, and the faceted mother of pearl inlay has some wear on the edges. Also the back band has a slight “tear” and a ding (see pic). This pen sports a larger Warranted 14kt. The nib is quite soft with wet noodle flex. It is not quite a paint brush wet noodle, but it does have great responsiveness (and the sample is with an ink that is prone to gush), and really feels like an XF when flexing. This is definitely a WET noodle. No worries of railroading here. Plus it writes as a very smooth F normally.

SIZE:  5 1/8″ Capped

NIB: Warranted 14kt., F to BBB (0.4mm-2.0mm),  WET NOODLE  (See “Grading Flex Nibs” for How I Grade)

FILLING: Eyedropper

CONDITION: Good

Restoration Work:

• Pen thoroughly cleaned & flushed
• Body cleaned
• Trim and nib cleaned and polished
• Nib and feed ultrasonically cleaned and adjusted for optimal flow
• Test driven for a week to insure quality

Waterma 7 Red Ripple -Medium Flex (On Ebay)

Here is one of the legendary vintage Waterman pens: the large Red Ripple #7. This is a unique 7. It was made in Canada towards the end of the 7s production. Waterman used the newer style clip with the older style lever. They also gave it a “black” band but not a “black” nib. Instead it sports a standard #7 with the circle air hole. Some have wondered if Waterman was using up its last remaining parts for the 7 in this version. The color on this pen is very good. Very little fading. There is wear to the imprints as parts of them have been rubbed off. The “Ideal” in the lever has been worn mostly off as well, but there is little to no brassing on any of the trim. The huge 14kt. #7 nib is a wet, glassy smooth writer. Love writing with this pen. It does have some flex as well going up to 1.6mm. It’s slightly better than many of the “medium flex” nibs I’ve used and thus the grade. A rare and unique pen in great condition.

SIZE:  5 1/2″ Capped

NIB: Waterman #7, F-BB (0.4mm-1.6mm), MEDIUM/ GOOD FLEX (See “Grading Flex Nibs” for How I Grade)

FILLING: Lever

CONDITION: Excellent

Restoration Work:

• Pen thoroughly cleaned & flushed
• Nib polished and tuned to write smoothly
• Nib and feed ultrasonically cleaned and adjusted for optimal flow
• New sac installed
• Test driven for a week to insure quality