The Waterman pen company is a major manufacturer of fountain pens. Established 1884 as "The Ideal Pen Company", it is one of the few fountain pen companies that survives to this day, under the guise of Waterman S.A. (originally Waterman's French subsidiary).

History

Although Lewis Edson Waterman is commonly credited with the invention of the fountain pen, the earliest records of reservoir pens date back to the 10th century, with the earliest surviving examples dating back to the 18th century. However, Waterman's improvements on basic fountain pen design led to its effective mass production and subsequent prominence.

As the story goes, Waterman was once an insurance salesman of moderate success. Having lent one of his pens to a client to sign an important contract, he was disappointed when the pen, reflecting the poor workmanship of the time, blotched the contract. His client, taking it as a poor omen, scrapped the deal. Thereafter determined to make a leak-proof, non-contract killing pen, Waterman went to work. The result was a pool of important improvements on the fountain pen feed that revolutionized the industry and placed him miles ahead of his competitors. The "Ideal Pen Company", founded by Waterman, quickly came to dominate the market. Experiencing little competition (except notably from "Wirt", another pen company) Waterman L.E., as it was later rebranded, became a leading manufacturer of fountain pens.

Waterman L.E. continued to dominate the market until the 1920s, when its slow rate of innovation finally caught up with it. It continued to struggle through and beyond World War II, before finally shutting down in 1954.

All was not lost, though. Waterman's French subsidiary, Waterman Jif (later Waterman S.A.) continued to prosper, even through Waterman L.E.'s hard times. Successfully weathering the ballpoint pen, disastrous for the majority of fountain pen manufacturers, it was finally acquired by Sanford, a division of Newell Rubbermaid, in 2001.

Pens

Vintage Waterman pens significantly differ from their modern counterparts. First and foremost, their relatively primitive design and age often make them inferior to their equally-priced contemporary cousins. As the vast majority of Waterman pens are pre-1920, the more upper-class among them are often valuable antiques today. However, the sheer volume of its production (it ruled the market for almost 40 years) and the many varieties which were turned out at its height mean that Waterman pens are comparatively easy to find today. Its modern counterparts, including the Phileas and the Edson, are still in production and are sturdy, reliable and smooth-writing pens.

A few pens of Waterman L.E. are: the Patrician, the Ideal, the Regular and the Safety Pen. Note that many early Waterman pens are distinguished by number or letter denominations alone.

A few pens of Waterman S.A. are: the Edson, the Phileas, the Hemisphere, the Expert, the Harmonie, the Charleston, the Ici et La, the Audace, the Serenite, the Liason and the Carene.