If this pen were a few
years older, it would be a Hundred Year Pen. However, it was made
at some point after the 1942 demand of the US Federal Trade Commission
that the various pen makers pull back on their increasingly outrageous
warrantee claims. Could Waterman prove the pen would last 100
years? No? Then don't claim it will. One assumes that
this decision was in the works for some time, because it's hard to
imagine US regulators being too fired up about this sort of thing in a
post-Pearl Harbor setting.
As it happens, this is a prime example of why they shouldn't have
made that century claim in the first place. I am allowing it to
keep its dignity, but at the end of the barrel, hidden by the cap in
the above picture, is a deformity. Originally a very pretty clear
celluloid gum-drop decoration, the tail-piece has crumbled and
shattered, leaving a jagged stub. Very unappealing. This is
something I'm not up to fixing, and I'm slowly heaping up pennies until
I can afford the services of someone who's learned the trick of
repairing that kind of thing-- it is possible.
The sad thing about that is that the working parts of the pen, the bits
that aren't eye-candy, is in brilliant shape. The clutch in the
slip-cap (a new trick for Waterman, a response to the Parker "51")
grips nicely, the point is smooth and unbent, and lever-box is intact.
Apart from being a cosmetic cripple, it's a brilliant pen.
Specifications:
Medium gold point without hallmark, although it does say EMBLEM
PEN on it. Lever filler. 12.4cm long capped (to the
truncation), 15.0cm posted.
Condition: There's that celluloid gem problem. Otherwise, it's pretty much the way it left the factory.
Repairs:
Well... it needs a new sac, but the plastic has an evil reputation, so
I'm being a big wuss and leaving it for whoever I send it to for the
cosmetic repair to open the section.
Location: My collection.
For sale?: No. Certainly not until the deformity is seen to, anyway.
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