Last Sunday, I made a little trip to Buchan's Stationery after checking out their supply of Benu pens in their web store and spotting this gorgeous pen for sale there:
(please click on images to enlarge)
Every Benu pen is one-of-a-kind due to the type of resins used to create their writing instruments. I was looking for one with a nice balance of black and white and chose this one out of the two they had left for sale.
I already owned a 'Briolette' fountain pen in "Luminous Amber" that glows in the dark (reviewed by me here) but this one doesn't glow in the dark....
...although it sure sparkles in the light :) Benu actually make their own resins; in fact, you can see the whole pen-making process here on their website.
But wait.... It's not a fountain pen--it's a rollerball! Yep, they didn't have any fountain pens in this particular pattern, but I loved the way it looked, so I bought it. It came with a Schmidt Topball 850 refill, but when I got home, I tried a Pentel Energel rollerball refill in it and it fit perfectly with no adjustments necessary.
It has an incredibly comfortable triangular grip - great design and aesthetics....
Now, here's another cool thing - I tried the nib-section unit from my 'Briolette' 'Luminous Amber' fountain pen (seen above) on my new 'Briolette' rollerball...
...and it fits onto the rollerball barrel perfectly! (and the pen caps properly, too). If you want to use the rollerball as a fountain pen with a long ink cartridge in it, I'd suggest sliding out the small spring in the rollerball barrel first (the spring slides out very easily). I've tried the pen with the spring in place with a long cartridge and the section screws on fine, but I didn't want to put any added stress on the threads, so I took out the spring. If you are using a short ink cartridge, the spring isn't an issue.
Since my new Benu 'Chameleon' fountain pen (reviewed two days ago) uses the same nib-section unit as the Benu 'Briolette', I tried it on my rollerball, and --not surprisingly-- it fits as well (see photo above). I do think the gold-coloured nib looks better on it, as it matches the gold sparkles on the pen :)
My little Benu family (top to bottom): Benu 'Euphoria' "Bora Bora" fountain pen, Benu 'Briolette' "Black and White" rollerball, Benu 'Briolette' "Luminous Amber" fountain pen and Benu 'Chameleon' "Bossy" fountain pen.
The 'Briolettes' don't post due to their faceted design; the 'Euphoria' and 'Chameleon' do post and are very comfortable to use posted --despite their length-- due to their light weight.
Uncapped, the 'Chameleon' is actually the same size as the two 'Briolettes' above it. The 'Euphoria' is a much larger pen, so it has a different nib-section unit and nib size (#6) than the other two Benu models above. All three models are wonderful pens--very smooth, reliable writers that look great, too.
Many thanks to Buchan's for my newest Benu pen!
(photos and review by Maja)
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