Kultur Phileas, Kultur, Phileas?

[gbryal]

A while back I bought a pen labeled as a Kultur Phileas (sort of iridescent copper-colored injection molded plastic). Since then, I have seen much more expensive pens labeled as Phileas. I have also seen pens just advertised as Kultur.

What's the story? Are they distinct pen lines? Or was there a lot of price variation in the lines? Was Kultur a subline of pearlized Phileas shaped pens?

[jar]

Two different pens but same body shape; there is the Phileas and the Kultur. The Phileas has a gold colored "Cigar Band: near the base of the body and gold plated furniture. The Kultur was a plain injection molded plastic body, often (always? ) transparent with chrome furniture and no "Cigar Band" decoration. The Kultur was a lower priced entry level student pen but functionally still really really nice.

[Chrissy]

The Kultur also came with a monotone chrome nib whereas the Phileas came with a 2 tone chrome and GP nib

[gbryal]

Here's the one I have:

kultur.jpg

Waterman Kultur Reflectis Fountain Pen, Iridescent Orange, Fine Nib is what it said on the receipt. Though searching for "phileas kultur" on Amazon brings up products that have both words in the name for some reason, leading to my confusion.

[Jon Szanto]

There was NEVER a product that used both names. This is just something that lame sellers on eBay promote. The Phileas preceded the Kultur, and was a slightly more substantial and upscale product. Essentially the same form factor with differences in materials. The Phileas are the 'better' of the two pens, but YMMV.

[mrcharlie]

There are also some promotional pens using the same body and design. Waterman made Harley-Davidson branded "Free Wheel" pens in three different body/cap patterns and the stainless nib has H-D markings on it; I think they are all Medium nibs, plus they made ballpoint versions.

There are Lara Croft Tomb Raider pens in a handful of different colors, but I don't have the details on them.

The Phileas differs from the Kultur in having a brass barrel insert as well as the two-tone nib and the "cigar band" on barrel. The barrel insert on the Phileas means it will not accept most third party converters or cartridges (unless you remove the insert), while the Kultur/promotional co-branded pens will. This is because the Waterman branded carts and converters are thinner than standard on the back end and the barrel insert, which I believe is purely to make the Phileas "feel" more "substantial", is sized with an inner diameter that barely fits around the Waterman carts and converters.

The next time my $10 Waterman brand converter breaks or fails I will try to convince myself to have the balls to knock out the insert. I like lighter weight pens in general anyway.

[pajaro]

The pen you have is a Kultur. I have an identical pen. The Phileas and the Kultur both write nicely.

The Lara Croft Tombraider pens are Kulturs with commemorative pictures of the Lara Croft character. These pens come in four base colors, white, blue/green, red and yellow with Lara Croft images. There are twist action ballpoints and rollerballs in each color. The Lara Croft pens are worth a bit more than the normal Kultur pens.

The Phileas pens are earlier and a bit nicer in trim than the Kultur pens. Phileas pens sell for about twice as much as the current Kultur pens.