I have previously maligned the performance of Kaweco pens. Despite this I am still a fan of the design of the Kaweco Sport, particularly in matte black aluminum. So when a Kaweco AL Sport in black appeared on eBay for especially cheap last May, I bought it.

The pen was described as lightly used. The pictures of the eBay listing led me to believe that the body was in great condition, but I was unsure about the nib. Given how cheap the pen was selling for, I assumed that the nib would be damaged. The Sport’s nib units in are readily available and easy to replace, so I decided I would preemptively order a new nib before the pen even shipped.

Most critiques of Kaweco pens on The Internets are related to the poor quality control of their nibs. Sometimes you get one that writes great, other times not so much. I avoided this problem by ordering my replacement nib from The Nibsmith, who offers a tune and smooth service for free with the purchase of any nib. I ordered a gold plated Medium nib and a black Fine nib. The pen itself was cheap enough that even after purchasing it and these two replacement nibs, I still paid less than the normal list price of the pen.

I also bought a gold clip, because I believe pens should have clips.

As it turns out, my two preemptive replacement nib purchases were unnecessary. The pen arrived looking like new, with all original packaging. As far as I could tell it was new. One of my two replacement nibs was backordered, delaying the shipment of them both, so I wrote with the Medium nib that came with the pen for about a month. It was perfectly fine. Less scratchy than the Fine nib in my Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler – which may just be attributable to the greater width – though not quite as pleasant as the gold nibs on either of my Pilot pens.

Writing with the Medium nib reinforced that I do prefer a Fine nib. I like a finer line, and the Medium requires more frequent ink refills. I was glad to have ordered the Fine black nib. I put that one in as soon as I received it and have been writing with it ever since. The Nibsmith tuned it to be silky smooth, and it is now a favorite. The Pilot Vanishing Point remains my favorite pen, but the Kaweco AL Sport now writes equally well, and it has dethroned the Pilot Elite as my favorite compact pocket pen. The need to thread and unthread the cap does still vaguely annoy me, but I love the aesthetics of the Kaweco and the texture of the matte black aluminum.

I did order the mini converter for the Kaweco, but as expected it is comically small. I haven’t used it once. Instead I refill standard international cartridges with a needle and syringe. I do the same thing with Pilot cartridges in my two Pilot pens.

The one issue I had with the Kaweco is the add-on clip. When installed, it slipped off so easily as to be useless. The same clip works great on the resin body of my Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler. I think the aluminum body does not provide enough friction for the clip. To address this, I cut a thin strip of double-sided tape and placed it around the cap at the position where I wanted the clip. The tape is thin enough that I was able to finagle the band of the clip over it. The clip hasn’t moved since, and I can now confidently clip the pen to anything I want.

I expect that my other Nibsmith-tuned nib will eventually find its way into a Kaweco Brass Sport, if one of those ever shows up on eBay for a low price.

I’ve been attracted to the form factor of the Kaweco Sport for a while, though the low capacity of the piston converter is a bit of a turn off. Last year when they released the aluminum body piston filler my attraction increased, but those pens cost more than I want to spend. Then at the end of the year they released a resin version of the piston filler for a lower price, and I found a sale with a good discount during the holidays. I bought one.

I like the pen. I especially like to carry it in the sleeve pocket of my MA-1, because I like the idea of living in a world where people walk around with fountain pens in MA-1s. Be the change you want to see in the world. Unfortunately, I scored that Pilot Vanishing Point on eBay at the end of 2023. That has been my daily writer ever since, and purchasing the Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler made clear that the Vanishing Point has ruined me for other pens. Specifically, on two points.

First, the Vanishing Point has an 18k gold nib. The Kaweco Sport does not. Kaweco’s steel nib isn’t bad, but it isn’t gold, and when I write with it I often find myself thinking “I could be writing with the VP instead.” It isn’t scratchy, but it isn’t not scratchy.

Second, the cap of the Kaweco Sport screws on. I journal daily, but that’s the only point at which I am sitting down with the intention to write. Any other time I grab a pen during the day it is to jot down some quick note. The clicky clicker of the Vanishing Point is extremely convenient for that. Needing to take the time (and two hands) to unscrew the Kaweco’s cap is comparatively annoying.

But I do really like the form factor of the Kaweco Sport. I wished for a pocket pen with a gold nib and a non-threaded cap. And then the universe opened my eyes to the Pilot E95S. At 4.7” when capped, it is a little longer than the Kaweco’s 4.1”, but it is still pocket sized. And it has a gold nib. And the cap is not threaded. And it is expensive.

So I went searching on eBay for a used one. I looked periodically for a few weeks and nothing turned up for an acceptable price. But the E95S is a modern re-issue of a classic pen called the Elite. Once I figured out that I should search for “Pilot Elite”, a plethora of reasonably priced options appeared. This is how I came to purchase my first vintage fountain pen.

The pen is everything I wanted it to be. The Pilot Vanishing Point is still my favorite, but the Elite is a close second.

Removing and posting the cap does take longer than clicking the Vanishing Point, but is still quicker than unscrewing anything, and it is immensely satisfying. All the reviews I read of both the Elite and the E95S mentioned how nice the action of uncapping, capping and posting the pen feels. They weren’t wrong. The taper of the body and the steel structure within the cap – a sort of leaf spring – provides the feeling of a smooth, perfect press fit. It is mildly addicting.

The nib is great, as expected. The Elite was available with both 18k and 14k gold nibs. I bought a 14k in fine, and it feels just as smooth and pleasant as the 18k fine nib in the Vanishing Point. Maybe a hair thinner, which makes me want to use a slightly wetter ink. But my two favorite inks are still Noodler’s Heart of Darkness and Noodler’s Army Air Corp, and I enjoy both inks interchangeably in both pens.

The code at the base of my nib is H977. This means the pen was manufactured in Hiratsuka in September 1977.

There are a few Elites on eBay for $30-40. If the pen is that cheap, it is probably one of the steel nib versions that was made in Korea. The Japanese gold nib versions are more expensive, but I found that if you do not care about a few scratches – which, for a pocket pen, I do not – there are plenty of attractive options in the $50-75 range. I think that’s a great deal for this level of quality. I already want to buy a second.

It fits in the MA-1, too.