Cleo Skribent Classic Metal Piston Fountain Pen

Yes, that is the actual model name of this pen. Not a Paragon, or a Toledo, or a King of Pens. Or even a 2.0 Turbo SE Touring AWD. And *spoiler alert* that name is wholly appropriate for this pen. It's not made from dazzling celluloid, it isn't decorated in precious metals by artisans, and it doesn't sport a big 21k gold nib. This pen is designed to write. To write well, and for a long time.

For CAD 140 (approx USD 110) there is a helluva lot of pen sitting in my hand.

Appearance
Some of you have seen my photos in another thread and described the Cleo (as I will hereafter refer to her) as timeless and classic. I cannot disagree. The pen is made of burgundy resin and tapers both at the section and at the end of the barrel. Just behind the section threads is an ink window slightly shorter than on a Pelikan M200. There is no shoulder or 'step-down' from the barrel to the section. At the far end of the barrel is a chrome trim ring which demarcates the beginning of the blind cap. The mould lines are not visible anywhere on the barrel.

The business end of the pen is a fairly unremarkable steel nib, similar in size to a Cross Century II or a Sailor 1911M. A couple of decorative lines contour the nib and in the middle is stamped the Cleo Skribent logo.

The nib is protected by a metal cap in a satin chrome finish, with the exception of the finial, clip, and cap band which are highly polished to contrast with the satin finish. The cap band says "CLEO made in Germany".

I do not post my pens, and the extra length of this barrel (135mm nib to end of blind cap) is very welcome. There is no chance it will catch under my thumb webbing. All in all, this pen conjures images of an Aurora 88 (either vintage or modern) in my mind.

Function
What can I say?

• piston filler
• weighs 20g
• ink window
• no shoulder from barrel to section

This is almost my dream pen. The tooling is superb - the piston runs smoothly, and all threaded parts of the pen are perfectly aligned.

The shop owner did warn me about the blind cap to access the piston mechanism, saying "some people find it to be an annoying extra step in the filling process." If you're worried about extra steps, why are you buying a fountain pen?! Haha!

Nib
Stainless steel, inoffensive, and comes in F, M and B. Mine is F and writes exactly how I anticipated, perhaps a little thinner (or drier?) than my F M800. The line width is consistent, there is no skipping, no hard-starts, no drying out, no dripping, no burping. There is some pleasant feedback, could I describe it as writing with a smooth pencil? The inverted nib writes an XXF line, but for less than a dozen words before it has exhausted the ink available to it.

The nib is firm. Is it a nail? Probably. A brass nail, if that makes sense. I am able to press to increase the line width if I want to write a word in bold, but this is not a pen to show off your Spencerian hand. It's a pen to write consistently, without problem, and without effort. It appears to be ambivalent as to the angle at which it is held.

Conclusion
My new favourite pen. It looks good (at home or in the office), it holds a ton of ink, I can check the ink level at a glance, the tooling is precise and the pen feels well made. The nib writes consistently and without an issue. If this pen carries on the same way it started, it will become my trusty workhorse. And for the price, I won't feel sick if something happens to it (heaven forbid!)

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Great review of a very nice looking pen.

Is the nib a screw in unit? Enquiring minds and all that... ;)

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Originally Posted by mizgeorge

Great review of a very nice looking pen.

Is the nib a screw in unit? Enquiring minds and all that... ;)

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Absolutely no idea, sorry! And I am not going to try lest I break the pen. The fins on the feed are longitudinal, which is unusual. I stand to be corrected but it puts in me in mind of the old ski-slope feeds.

Thank you for an excellent review.

I first saw a Cleo Skribent at the Dallas Pen Show a few years ago. I remember being tempted to get one of their ebonite models because it was very well made, and well... ebonite (I'm a sucker for). It was only the $400 price tag that halted me from buying one at the spot.

Reading your review, I am impressed (and glad) that they are coming up with this model, which is nicely priced to compete with the lower Pelikan models.

I'm not even sure how I stumbled across the Franklin-Christoph Model 45 at the pen show, but it's one of those pens that you can't help but pause and admire. It feels like holding a piece of history in your hand, and is made for writing with ink on paper. you could look here this particular model has a unique blue stonewashed finish which will be popular among collectors who want something different than all black or silver finishes.