Waterman 52 advice please :)

[Vulpes velox]

Hello fellow FPGeeks

I am considering buying a pen which the seller has described as a "Waterman's 52", but I noticed that the clip is attached near the top of the cap (please refer to the attached images).

I know the Waterman 52v has a higher-mounted clip like the pen on sale, but all of the other Waterman 52's I have seen so far show the clip attached lower down on the cap.

Could someone please tell me if the Waterman 52 ever came with a higher-mounted clip?

Is the pen for sale actually a Waterman's 52? Or is it some sort of Waterman's frankenpen?

Your advice would be much appreciated!

Best,
John

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[christof]

Hello John
Possibly your pen got the cap of a 52V, but one can never be sure. Waterman's produced the 52 during a quite long period in several manufactures. A comparison of my 52 shows that the clip is never mounted in exactly the same position. So who knows...
btw: this is a nice pen with crisp chasing in very good condition.

[Vulpes velox]

Hello John
Possibly your pen got the cap of a 52V, but one can never be sure. Waterman's produced the 52 during a quite long period in several manufactures. A comparison of my 52 shows that the clip is never mounted in exactly the same position. So who knows...
btw: this is a nice pen with crisp chasing in very good condition.

Hi christof,
Apologies for the slow reply.
Thanks for your feedback.
I've decided to pass on the pen and wait for one with a standard 52 cap.
Thanks again for your input 🙂
Best regards,
John

[Cyril]

This is another waterman. There are waterman's Clipless and clips in many ways. 52 pens includes this feature. Is the clip or the nib the most important factor in a waterman pen ???
For me it is the nib and If I see the nib and if I feel the nib is perfect ( By the shape of it architecture and the condition, I am guessing it could be a pen with flex or more soft ) Then I go for that. Every vintage pen has a different character and end of the day it is miss or a gain.
recently I won a bid for a waterman. The pen, body and the cap looks like pristine condition but the nib was gunked with ink platina and off reddish.
So the seller had listed the pen nib as Gold plated and there were less bidders. (thanks my knowledge of knowing that all waterman's / IDEAl pens having gold nibs only. Never heard of vintage gold plated Waterman's nibs ) So I had a chance to buy it for a low price.

This pen looks like a superb pen with an IDEAL Nib clean fine to medium flex. Clean body with good " crisp chasing " as Christof described . It is still solid and go for another century after some more cleaning and refurbishing.