Waterman Allure Rollerball

I’ve been on the lookout for a “dressy” rollerball that will take Uniball Signo refills without any modification. I had originally purchased the YStudio rollerball for this purpose but, as I mentioned in my review, this pen won’t take this refill for some reason – I think its something to do with the width of the pen tip, so since that purchase I’ve been looking for something else.

I own the Lamy 2000 rollerball, but this requires a minor modification to the refill to fit (an extension) and while I love the utilitarian look of the Lamy and Ystudio, I wanted something a bit softer and more feminine this time. On a recent internet pen trawl, I noticed this pink Waterman Allure Rollerball and picked it up when it was on sale.

I purchased the pink version, although its also available in a pastel yellow, green and blue. The body feels like its made of some sort of metal powder coated with the colour finish. I’m not sure how well the coating will last through daily wear and tear, especially if you are the sort to put everything you carry in your pockets – keys, coins and all. I suspect that if you are like me and carry most things in cases, it should hold up fine.

Although it appears to be made of metal, it weighs in at only 24g, so its really comfortable for every day use. The section is plastic, which I feel cheapens the look a little bit, but this is not an expensive pen. It does feel a little bit slippery though, I struggle with it a little bit when my hands are cold and dry, but that isn’t unique to this pen.

The pen came with a standard Waterman Fine rollerball refill, which is wedged in quite tightly into the pen body. I’m a bit worried that this might crack the plastic over time, given how tightly its sitting in the pen.

I had thought that the Waterman rollerball refills were produced by Schmidt and they certainly look identical to the 5888 refills. I’ve had good experiences with the Schmidt rollerballs, so I was a little surprised that this refill skipped and felt dry after a few uses. Perhaps an older refill was shipped with the pen. Its not a big deal as obviously its replaceable and the intention was to use the pen with a cheaper gel refill anyway.

All in all, I’m really happy with this purchase. Its at quite a cheap price point and it’s a pretty decent quality pen for the price. The Allure also comes in fountain pen and ballpoint versions. For me, it really fit what I purchased it for and I’m quite happy with the pen.