The Well-Appointed Desk

I was curious about the Opus 88 Koloro fountain pen ($93) which combine ebonite body components with transparent resin as well as being eyedropper fillers. This combination of elements seemed very unusual in a streamlined design I found aesthetically appealing so I was willing to give it a try.

The pens ship in a fairly simple package with a cardboard shipping sleeve and a magnetic closure box containing the pen and a rubber eyedropper.

I ended up filling the pen using my regular syringe rather than the eyedropper included as I felt I could better control it and get around the plunger mechanism. I made sure to watch the video posted by Pen Chalet about how filling mechanism works and how to loosen the piston before using the pen to aid in ink flow. I’ve never used an eyedropper that required this so I’m glad I watched the video.

The nib looks to be a standard German nib unit with the Opus 88 branding added.

The cap can be posted and it looks pretty streamlined but it makes the pen pretty back heavy. Uncapped, the Koloro is 5″ long. Capped it measures 5.5″ and posted it measures a whopping 6.25″.

I worked with the pen over several days and it was definitely hard starting after sitting and required priming the feed by twisting the piston out a turn and then turning it back in and then out again a couple times to get ink flowing again. At least, that was my experience. While this was not the exact advice from Ron, it was the quickest way I found to get the ink going again.

Once the ink was flowing, the pen writes beautifully. The weight in the hand is nice and the grip and threads transition nicely so its easy to write with it for longer periods. I prefer using it unposted.

The combination of ebonite and translucent sections is really mesmerizing. I do wish that the ebonite has included an ebonite feed which I think would have helped with the ink flow.

I do like the beaded detailing around the clip as well.

The two clear sections on the pen align with where the nib section is and where the ink is so you can see the nib and your ink capacity which is both aesthetically appealing and functional. I tried to put somewhat coordinating ink in the pen using Monteverde California Teal (review coming soon). I wondered if a more lubricated ink might have also helped with overall ink flow.

For size comparison, from left to right: Kaweco Sport, Pelikan M605, Sailor 1911 Regular, Lamy AL-Star, Opus 88 Koloro, Pilot Custom 912, Karas Pen Co. Decograph and TWSBI 580.

The same pens listed above, posted.

The Koloro weighs 25gms capped and 15gms uncapped, filled with ink. The weights listed above are all for pens capped or posted so the Koloro is pretty consistent with many of the pens of similar size.

Overall, I find the combination of materials interesting and was intrigued by the filling mechanism but I am finding some issues with the tendency to need to prime it. I’m not sure how effective the Koloro would be as an everyday writer for meetings and being used on and off through out the course of a day. That is a test I did not get to put it through yet. But just in my weekend writing tests between one day and the next and needing a good while to prime it means this may be better suited to use for letter writing, journal writing or other longer writing sessions where you can sit and prime the pen prior to use.

There’s something about it, in its aesthetics that appeals to me, so I want to find a way to make it work for me. Does that ever happen to you? Beyond rational though, you like a pen despite its flaws?

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DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Pen Chalet for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately but I think I was inspired to buy another cheap Chinese fountain pen from a photo on Economical Penster’s Instagram. All those demonstrators lined up made me weak. So I hopped over to Ebay and I bought a clear demonstrator Wing Sung 618 (approx $10.70) which is a weird attempt to copy the beloved Parker 51. I also bought a version in a pastel pink but it’s staying in the packaging because it turned out to be even more difficult to use as I’ll explain later.

Both pens came in the same packaging. Does it look familiar? It is a direct knock-off of the Lamy packaging for the Safari pens. They even clip the caps to the insert card inside just like Lamy. The diecut windows are the same as Lamy too. Weird to put a Parker 51 in a Lamy Safari box. Makes my head spin. I will deposit the box in the nearest recycling bin and we can move on.

Since there were probably few true Parker 51 demonstrators, its doubtful anyone would ever mistake this pen for a true vintage classic but the hooded nib is not something often found on modern pens and for less than $15, it was a gamble I was willing to take. I have a Wing Sung 698 that I love because I’m pretty sure the nib is a Pilot steel nib and its buttery smooth so I was willing to gamble on another Wing Sung pen on the chances that another pen would also have a super smooth nib.

The 618 also has a plunger/piston filling mechanism that is a bit janky and this is where the demonstrator model comes in handy over the solid colored plastic version. Being able to see how far I’d pulled the plunger and how much ink I’d filled was really helpful. The solid plastic was really hard to tell if I’d gotten any ink in the pen and it was possible to completely pull the plunger out of the back of the pen hence allowing the ink to leak (or flood) out the back end. The demonstrator allowed considerably more control since I could see how far I’d pulled the piston out without any unfortunate accidents. For -$15, I can’t complain too much.

The ink capacity is pretty substantial too though it took me awhile to make sure I got the mechanism properly reseated. The Wing Sung 698 is much easier to reseat and even has a bit of a locking mechanism that I think is an improvement over the actual TWSBI 580 it was aping.

The nib is fine and as smooth as I was hoping. Being able to see the ink color is also kind of cool.

As for knocking off Parker… well, I don’t quite understand the Chinese mentality behind taking design elements from other brands and using them as your own. You can either live with this or you can’t. The nib on this pen is so smooth that I am overlooking the blatant copyright infringement. I would MUCH prefer that they did something else with the clip.  The cap band is not true to a Parker 51 so they are not trying to emulate or convince anyone that this is a real NOS Parker so I don’t see why they bother with the clip? Do your own clip. If you want something that feels reminiscent of the time period, that’s fine but make it your own. I digress. I knew what I was getting into when I bought it. And the clip works just fine. I just feel a little dirty when I use it.

As for the hooded nib, other brands made hooded nibs though clearly the 618 is trying to replicate the Parker 51 and its other hooded pen designs as well. Since other pen manufacturers made hooded nibs in the 60s, I’m more inclined to overlook it had it been the only retro design element. But again, I digress. The actual nib is smooth and a little springy and a delight to write with just like the Wing Sung 698 (TWSBI 580 replica with Pilot nib).

So, all-in-all, despite being a blatant knock-off  of a Parker 51, the Wing Sung 618 did have the decency to choose a pen with perfect cigar lines to mimic. The cap band is a little beefy for the rest of the pen and the piston is janky but the nib more than makes up for its faults at it’s sub-$20 price. I’m on the fence as to whether I’d recommend the 618 or the 698 first if someone was looking for an inexpensive Chinese pen. For the filling mechanism, I’d go with the 698 but for looks, I like the 618 better.