First, the good:
- Excellent fit & finish, everything fits right and tight. Attention to details in design, engineering, materials and production are all on display. Quality clearly shows everywhere.
- Size is comfortably large. It fits just right, balance is perfect.
- Love the styling!
- Corydoras Bronze body is not quite black, it's very dark brown. It looks even better than the black I expected!
- The nib... Wow! I chose the gold nib and am very pleased. Not only is it gorgeous, it arrived perfectly tuned, offering flawless performance. It feels moderately stiff, with just-right feedback. Normal writing requires no pressure. Adding a little pressure increases flow in a very controlled way. Adding heavy pressure is not something I do, especially to a gold nib.
- I purchased directly from Nahvalur, a very pleasant experience from start to finish.
The Neutral (simply observations):
- Piston filler works very smoothly. (While that's a plus, I label it "neutral" because filling is a basic function, and as such, it needs to work. It does.)
- My first fill almost completely emptied a 2 ml ink sample vial. I could have probably put the rest in too with a little more patience. That's plenty.
- Cap does not post, by design. This pen would be awkwardly long and unbalanced if it did. As it is, it's perfect.
- Stylish ink windows work perfectly. It's possible to accumulate dust in the portholes but it's also easy to clean with a cotton swab.
- When removing and reinstalling the cap there's some friction in the threads, probably just because it's made of ebonite. This also makes it highly unlikely that the cap could come off unintentionally. It may smooth out over time, I would not change anything.
- Ebonite has an aroma, like hot rubber. It's especially noticeable when uncapping the pen. It's not particularly pleasant, nor is it unpleasant, and it might reduce over time. Personally, I'm growing to like it because I like the pen. If you're particularly sensitive to odors, it's something to know.
Could be improved:
- The clip is appropriately stiff to hold onto pocket fabric, and has nothing sharp to snag. That's good. However, the clip doesn't feel as strong getting pulled sideways, like when capping or uncapping. Just avoid using the clip as leverage when twisting the cap.
- As noted above, the clip is very smooth and will not snag anything. The beautiful cap band might though. The engraved artwork has a very nice, tactile texture to finger skin. It's a little grabby on fine cloth, I'd just avoid pocketing it in fine silk or similar materials. I wonder if there's a way to de-burr the engraving without losing detail?
Overall, the Nautilus is a very solid pen choice and an excellent value in a very competitive market. I expect it to be a favorite daily-use pen for many years to come. Well done, Nahvalur!
