Waterman, Paris introduces the 2015 special edition Ombres et Lumieres to follow up their 2014 Blue Obsession line extensions of their most popular pen models. This time around, the Carene, Perspective, Expert III and Hemisphere get a noir makeover inspired by the chic Parisian fashion trends that focus on the interaction of light and shadow.
The glossy black lacquer seems to dissolve into the matte white, silkscreened with dots that scatter down the end of the pen. It can remind one of the glittering lights of Paris against the dark or the bright lights reflecting on the rippling waters of the river Siene.
The Ombres et Lumieres is an elegant and tasteful finish that fits well with Waterman's European fashion sensibilities.
The Carene Ombres et Lumieres is the lone fountain pen in the group that sports an 18k solid gold nib in either medium or fine and is rhodium plated to match the palladium silver finished trims.
All other fountain pens in the collection use a stainless steel nib. Nibs will be available in fine or medium point sizes and fill using ink cartridges or converter.
Matching ballpen and rollerball pens are also available in every Ombres et Lumieres model. Each pen is gift boxed and wrapped with an exclusive themed sleeve.
The arrival timeline for the Ombres et Lumieres is early April. We will be adding them to the current Waterman lines on our website and will accept pre-orders soon.
---Edit : May 29th, 2015 - Ombres et Lumieres is now available and we have stock on sale at Goldspot Pens.
Thanks to everyone who entered our March ACME Social Giveaway for an ACME Designer rollerball pen. We gathered over 70 entries via our Rafflecopter giveaway interface. Up for grabs was this ACME Karim Rashid "Angles" rollerball pen.
We're getting in touch with the lucky winner via e-mail to obtain all the pertinent details to deliver this prize. Next, we'll be announcing a giveaway on our Instagram account, so be sure to follow us on there and stay tuned for the next big pen giveaway.
Writing with a fountain pen has become a resurrected art. With mobile technology enveloping our modern culture in almost every facet, many of our writing needs have been replaced by the keyboard or the touch screen. In recent years, many of you (especially followers of our blog), have heeded a call to return back to a more personal form of expression using pen and paper. Much like the phoenix arising from the ashes, the almighty pen has made a comeback and continues to grow in popularity.
The Bexley Phoenix collection is a new release of 2015 for the Ohio based manufacturer of fountain pens. The Phoenix is aimed to recapitulate the essence of the fountain pen's return to relevance. Each feature of this edition answers the questions of why the fountain pen has experienced a resurgence.
The Pen Details
Proudly made in the USA, the Bexley Phoenix is crafted from acrylic resin and features an internal piston-filling ink system with a clear or translucent barrel to view the ink that it holds. Part-demonstrator, part-acrylic resin pen, the Phoenix marries the two concepts of having an eye-catching acrylic used in the cap with the transparency of a demonstrator barrel. Part of what has made pens a modern luxury accessory is the wide array of beautiful acrylic resin materials that they are made from. There's a color design for every personality here - Solid black for the classical purist, Cappuccino for the latte-lover, Red for those who have a fiery passion for writing, and Blue Velvet for those who fine serenity and calm in handwriting.
The demonstrator barrel with ink window is a feature that has become such a staple in pen designs across all brands. Writers love watching the ink be sucked up into the pen and seeing the ink slosh around in the barrel as they write. Also, it's easy to see when a new fill up is needed.
And you won't need to worry about filling this pen very often. The internal piston mechanism has a capacity of almost a full 1 mL of ink.
Bexley Phoenix Demensions
Length Capped : 5.35"
Length Open without Cap : 5.125"
Length Posted : 6.45"
Diameter at Section : 0.43"
Weight : 0.92 oz.
The Writing Experience
Uncapping and filling the Bexley Phoenix is much like your standard Pelikan piston-filler model. However, it is noticeable that the finishing on the cap threads and the piston mechanism are not very smooth. In fact, they take a more encouraged twist to operate. Possibly, over time and use, the "stiffness" of unscrewing the blind cap will become looser and smoother. Right out of the box, it isn't so.
The pen filled right up on the first turn without any hesitation. I used J Herbin Cafe des Iles, since it has a lovely coffee bean on the bottle label and it goes well thematically with the Bexley Phoenix Cappuccino finish.
The medium, stainless steel nib on this pen wrote wet and juicy with a feather-light touch. I was surprised by how smooth this stainless steel nib performed without any adjustment. Writing on a Rhodia Ice 80gsm notepad, the pen effortlessly gave a rich, wet line.
Writing for an extended period of time was easier with the cap in-hand than posted on the back-end. The cap does post on the back, but not very securely. The writer would have to firmly fit the cap on the back-end in order to get it to post well enough. The black, front end section is a pleasure to comfortably hold while writing. From an aesthetic point of view, I would have wanted it to match the acrylic resin color of the cap.
A Few Choice Words
Writing Quality : The stainless steel nib performs exceptionally well as a wet writer right out of the box. One of the smoothest steel nibs that I've experienced. The pen's size and weight is decent enough for a man or woman. (grade A)
Aesthetic Quality : The resin caps are quite appealing and the novelty of an ink window is always fun and useful. The clear window could be polished more and the "frosted" white part that hides the piston mechanism is not very flattering. Really would have been more impressive if more of the pen was made out of the cap material. (grade B-)
Utility : Piston-Fill system has a large thirst for writing fluid. Writers who prefer the cap posted may not be happy with the loose posting of this pen's cap. Tight cap & blind cap operation. (grade B)
Price : Drawing another comparison to Pelikan, the Bexley Phoenix $219 MSRP price point is similar to a Pelikan Tradition Series M200 with a steel nib. The money is better spent with the Pelikan. (grade C+)
Final Grade : B
While the Bexley Phoenix does provide a fountain pen that stores a large amount of ink and writes exceptionally well with a steel nib, the fit and finishing of this pen leaves something to be desired at this price level.
Firstly, I wanted to mention how awesome all of you are who sent in a piece of written correspondence to us during this giveaway. We were delightfully surprised about how creative and personal each letter or postcard was. We were also floored by the hundreds of entries we received from around the world. From our neighbors up North in Canada to the Philippines, the UK, Spain, Norway and down under in Australia, it is truly astounding what the internet can accomplish in terms of a global following.
Here's a sampling of the letters we received that we posted to our new @goldspotpens Instagram account earlier today.
A photo posted by Goldspot Pens (@goldspotpens) on
With today being the deadline for entries, we eagerly awaited the mailman this morning in anticipate of a few stragglers. The last entries came in and the great drawing began. Instead of picking from a hat, which could have led to a bias in shape, size or texture of the entry, we counted out every piece of mail, shuffled the pile, and ran a random number generator that picked the winning entry.
Congrats Marie E. of Madison, WI! We'll reach out to you with the good news and to confirm your address to receive your pen-tastic goodies.
Thanks to everyone for entering and participating in International Correspondence Writing Month.
If anyone would like to send us mail during the rest of the year, we'd love to be your pen pal! Please feel free to send us letters (and offerings of chocolate or jerky) to :
We're so over the winter. After coming back from another snow day, we're looking to create positive thoughts to bring Spring closer. This week's social giveaway, we've got a fresh, colorful pen up for grabs.
Karim Rashid has made his mark on several ACME pen designs. His "Angles" Pen is reminiscent of Tetris pieces with a bubblegum pink color scheme. Even if pink isn't your cup of tea, you can always gift it to a lover of pink, we all know someone.
We're changing up the Social giveaway a bit and are using Rafflecopter to keep track of all the entries. You earn "points" on multiple entries. Check it out below. This is new to us, so if you're having problems with entering, please let us know in the comments below.
No purchase is required to participate in the ACME Studios Giveaway. Giveaway winners have 30 days to contact us to claim their prize. If Goldspot Pens is not contacted within 30 days, prize will be offered up in subsequent giveaway.
Anyone who loves a good fine writing instrument as much as we do knows that a pen is not just a pen. A great pen becomes your personal confidant, assistant, shoulder to sob on or co-conspirator for world domination! The definition of a "great pen" largely depends on the needs of the individual, and ACME Studios knows better than anyone else about how to cater to the individual. Their unique designs, interchangeable tips, and array of refill types allows customization of their writing instruments, or "Pimping" thy Pen.
Step 1. Select a Designer Pen
With dozens of designer rollerballs, including the limited ACME Americana collection and the Beatles Sets, ACME has a pen that uniquely identifies with every writer. From bright, colorful and complex to elegant and simplified, there's a style of ACME pen for anyone. The rollerball pen itself has a metal base with a design that is either etched or printed on the body & cap of the pen. The weight is an ample 1.3 oz with lengths of 5.38" capped, 5.88" cap posted and a 0.5" diameter at its thickest. Now that we've picked a base, now we can move on to the next, and possibly most important, choice.
Step 2. Choose your Writing Mode
Although we're starting with an ACME rollerball pen, there are options! The most popular conversion is using the Fountain Pen kit to replace the front section of the rollerball with that of one of a fountain pen with a stainless steel nib. This converts the rollerball pen into a cartridge or converter filling fountain pen (converter included).
Instead of going "old-school" with the fountain pen nib, we can opt to get all "21st Century" with a traditional writing instrument and opt for the digital stylus, which can be used for capacitive touchscreen devices like iPhones, iPods, Android Smartphones, Samsung Galaxy, Tablets and the like. If the original rollerball is the desired mode of writing, there are three different textured sections that can replace the original black and chrome section. If more grip is desired, the rubber section is a solid upgrade choice.
Step 3. Stock Up on Refills
Thought we were done? What about ink? Now that the pen looks great and is ready to write, we need to figure out how the ink will flow. The fountain pen, of course, has the most choices in color and ink quality, being that it uses a converter and can fill using the multitudes of bottled ink brands that are out there in the market.
The ACME rollerball can use one of three types of refills - the standard ceramic rollerball that comes with the pen is a liquid ink rollerball cartridge which flows nicely and gets a dark mark with little effort. ACME offers a rainbow rollerball ink color set that offers a variety of colors to write with. Also, a felt-tip version, which is reminiscent of an ultra-fine sharpie marker, can also be purchased separately. Lastly, for those who prefer the longevity and consistency of ballpoint ink, there is a P900 Ballpoint type that fits the rollerball body.
Bonus. Accessorize & Personalize
Most ACME designer rollerball styles are also offered in a matching business card case design as well. Also, we here at Goldspot pens also offer in-house engraving services to personalize your pimped out pen. True, some ACME pens do not lend themselves to full name engraving due to the busy patterns already on the pen, but initials are suitable for most pens. That way, you can deter others who are jealous of your customized writing instrument from swiping.
