We
got this pen the other day. Competition was fierce, but I managed to grab
it for review. It was a close call, it seems like everyone wanted to get
their hands on this one... Should bode well for Conway Stewart when it
comes to marketing!
The pen is the Churchill, from Conway Stewart. "Big deal", you say. "We've seen the Churchill before". Well, not like this you haven't! This is the Churchill rendered in woodgrain hard rubber. Considering the very vintage look of the Churchill to begin with, this is an example of perfect marriage of material and design. This is easily one of the most "vintage" looking of modern pens I've seen.
It's right out of the 1920s! In fact, since it's not only woodgrain hard rubber, and a lever filler, but big as well, it makes the perfect antidote to those "Waterman 58s are too expensive" blues...
The
Churchill was introduced a few years ago as Conway Stewarts flagship model.
It is what anyone would call a large pen, or even an oversize model, but
thanks to a section that slims down nicely, it's easy enough to use for
those with smaller hands. The original version was a cartridge converter
filler, but the folks at Conway Stewart soon realized that this was the
perfect model for a lever filler, and introduced that mechanism on a couple
of versions of the Churchill.
This gives you not only a large pen in a traditional material, but also a very traditional filling mechanism as well. Conway Stewart pen from the 1920s and 1930s used the lever fill mechanism, and the lever fill Churchills have a definite sense of the company's history behind them. It's not often that you find a modern pen with a vintage "feel" as well as looks. The lever fill Churchill manages this easily.
Thanks
to the hard rubber, this isn't an annoyingly heavy pen, I wouldn't go
so far as to call it a lightweight, but considering the overall size,
it's not too heavy in the hand. This is likely to be one that most folks
will use without posting the cap. It shares with teh original Parker Duofold
the characteristic of being a bit long with the cap posted. It doesn't
sit very far down on the barrel.
Aside from that, it's a very ergonomic pen design. I mentioned that the section is much slimmer than you might think from looking at the pen with the cap closed. With the cap on, it looks huge, an absolute giant of a pen. But the barrel actually tapers slightly towards the front of the pen, and as I said, the section slims down quite a bit. I know several "small pen" people who love their Churchills, and find that the size doesn't keep them from enjoying them one bit. The fact that the hard rubber is fairly light in weight is a help as well.
Speaking
of use... How about the nib? Well, it's the same basic 18K nib as used
on the regular production Churchill. It's a very nice nib, with a bit
of a give to it, if not "real" flex. We got a medium nib to
play with, and it puts down a nice line. I might have wished for a flexier
14K nib to go along with this pen's vintage look, but the supplied nib
is easily a pleasant writing experience. Our medium tip was very smooth.
The feed looks to be the same plastic feed as used on the regular production version. No sign of flow problems on this one, probably due to the fact that it's a lever filler using a rubber sac, as opposed to a plastic converter. I've noticed that almost all of the flow problems in modern pens can be traced to the use of the cartridge converter system. Traces of manufacturing oil in the converter, I think.
In
any case, this version proved to be a great writer. I'm sure that at least
some of that was due to the actual performance, and not just the wonderful
feeling of "vintage" I got from this pen! Really, though, that
feeling was the chief draw for this version of the Churchill. It's rare
to find a modern pen that allows you to feel as though you are using a
vintage pen.
The Churchill will be made in an edition of 500 pieces in this colour. No idea yet of the list price, but it should be in line with the other versions of the Churchill. In other words, not a horribly expensive pen, but not in the bargain bin, either.
I'll go out on a limb and say that if you can get this pen for $350 out of pocket it's a screaming deal. If it's less than that there's no excuse not to buy one. If it's more, it's still worth some serious consideration!