Question: When is a vintage pen not a vintage pen? Answer: When it’s a Conway Stewart Churchill ‘Red Ripple’!

I’ve always liked the look of the Churchill since it was introduced a couple of years ago as Conway Stewart’s ‘flagship’ pen, competing head on with the big boys such as the Pelikan M1000 from Germany. The fact that it was hand made by the last of the great British prestige pen makers was an important factor for me, and that the design harked back to the bygone age of vintage pens, but using some very attractive modern resins and in some cases the legendary casein – add to this the cachet of the commemorative association with our great war leader, Sir Winston S. Churchill, made it an almost irresistible purchase.

Nonetheless, price put me off for some time – the Churchill range is not cheap, and though it does offer good value for money, other expenses had a grip on my wallet. However, earlier this year, a new version of the Churchill was released, this time in the legendary red ‘woodgrain’ hard rubber or ‘ebonite/vulcanite’ of the 1920’s. A ‘Red Ripple Churchill’? What an amazing idea! Seeing one or two people on Pentrace wax lyrical about this pen, and following the Stylophiles review of March 2003, I decided I just had to have one – it was simply a matter of time.

A couple of weeks ago, this particular dream came true, and I found myself in the position to order a lever-filling Churchill Red Ripple, which I chose to do direct from the new Conway Stewart website, which offers a 10% discount to those who sign up to their online collectors club, which is free. However, there was a problem with the online payment system at the time, so I found myself ordering one by telephone – I still got my discount though (grin).

The pen took a week to arrive, and thanks to the courtesy of Don Yendle, Managing Director of Conway Stewart, it was then delivered promptly, and carefully numbered by him personally with its limited edition number: 209 of 500. A minor disappointment was that it was delivered with a medium nib rather than the Italic Fine which I had ordered; however, thanks again to the courtesy of Don Yendle, an IF nib was immediately dispatched to me, and I received and fitted it the next day. Don also kindly sent 4 bottles of Conway Stewart ink in compensation for the minor inconvenience – thanks Don!

Churchill Red Ripple atop its ‘casket’

I had already enjoyed the pleasurable sensation of opening the large mailing box and discovering a further box carefully wrapped in tissue paper sealed with a Union Jack sticker with BRITISH MADE proudly emblazoned across it. This was a bit of a shock as you don’t often see that these days!

Under the wrap was a fine green cloth covered box, gold-embossed with the Conway Stewart logo ‘Since 1905’, and within that was yet another box – an even more spectacular green ‘leatherette’ padded-topped casket, again gold-embossed and this time hinged and clasped with brass fittings. Within that casket, carefully opened by yours truly, was a small (actually not so small!) object of desire – the Red Ripple Churchill. Alongside, on a padded bed of what appeared to be silk, lay the well-known book of Churchill quotes, a substantial Don Antonio Churchill cigar in its tube, and a bottle of blue Conway Stewart ink. One has to say, you can’t fault Conway Stewart on their presentation.

Box of delights

Physical Characteristics – in comparison with the Pelikan M1000
The highly-polished and very tactile hard rubber material from which the Churchill is fashioned is very pleasant to handle, and warms to the touch – it almost feels alive, unlike hard acrylic or other resins. Initially, I was just in awe of the simple beauty of this traditional mode of construction. I picked the pen up and just turned it over and over, removing the (huge!) cap to see how the pattern ebbed and flowed around the barrel of the pen, in this case nicely lined up with the filling lever and nib. Even the top of the cap has a swirl just like a black and red spinning spiral galaxy. The black in red woodgrain effect, uniquely patterned in every pen and therefore particularly suited to a limited edition, is remarkable, and though not uncommon in the better quality pens of the early 20th century, is not something I would ever have expected to see in a modern pen, though I hear more manufacturers are experimenting with this material now. As has been said elsewhere, it perfectly suits that most vintage of modern pens – the Conway Stewart Churchill – sending it back through time to those years between the wars when the future seemed bright and everything was exciting and new.

Conway Stewart Churchill Red Ripple

Being also the owner of a Pelikan M1000, a fine writing instrument of similar stature and likewise a legend in its own lifetime, gave me a useful point of comparison when examining the Churchill in detail.

Churchill and Pelikan M1000 - unposted

A closer look at the Churchill’s fixtures and fittings revealed that everything was perfectly in place. As a result of receiving the incorrect Medium nib, I had now however to perform one simple operation: gripping nib and feed carefully with index finger and thumb, I removed both with a single pull, and aligning the subsequently received Italic Fine nib with the separate feed by eye, I pushed both back into the section with no difficulty, and alignment seemed fine. In fact, the nib and section had already been lined up with the filling lever during assembly, a nice point that balances the look of the pen. Plainly, the Pelikan system of unified nib and feed units is more versatile, but how often are you likely to want change your nib in practice?

Churchill and Pelikan M1000 on a vintage bakelite pen tray (early 1940's)

It’s another nice detail point on the Churchill that the trim rings are solid gold rather than plated, and also that those on the section are placed just below the threads rather than on the end of the section, thus avoiding any potential corrosion or wear which might be caused over time by dipping in ink and wiping, a bone of some contention in some quarters with other pens, modern Pelikans included.

The Churchill Italic Fine nib – italic ground on top, fine tip below

The single tone 18k solid gold nib of the Churchill is a little smaller than that of the M1000, and less ornate, without all the two-tone scrolly decoration of the nonetheless excellent Pelikan nibs. Less flashy, but more in keeping with the vintage ethos of the Churchill. I was now, however, in for a big – and rather pleasant - surprise. On closer examination, I discovered that the Italic Fine nib was not, as I had assumed, simply a fine italic; it was in fact a dual-purpose nib with a standard fine tip (leaning towards medium) with a fine cursive italic tip ground on top, offering both straightforward writing and excellent line variation at will! I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else, including on Conway Stewart’s website, where you can buy the nibs separately up to Italic 2B, so it was a bit of a shock. Nonetheless, I have since discovered this to be a very versatile and pleasurable writing combination, once one has gotten used to the odd sensation of writing with the nib upside-down! All the more, so I am informed, vintage in character, which fits in once again with the Churchill ethos.

The Churchill’s section is in fact a little longer than that of the M1000, which raises the Churchill’s threads higher by about 1 centimetre and makes it more comfortable to hold, with my average-sized fingers neatly avoiding the threads as a result. With a barrel about a centimetre longer than the M1000, the lighter material of the Red Ripple Churchill nonetheless balances very well unposted, and tapers down to the section, making it much easier and more comfortable to handle than one would expect from the size.

Again in comparison to the M1000, the Churchill, at least in Red Ripple, is noticeably better balanced when unposted; the M1000, with its heavier acrylic and brass fittings for the (superb) piston-filling mechanism, is significantly balanced towards the end of the barrel. The lighter Churchill, with the less advanced but equally lighter and better-balanced lever-fill mechanism, does not suffer from this and is noticeably more comfortable to hold. When posted, lengths are similar, but both pens tend to assume the aspect of a baseball bat and are rather unwieldy when posted. I prefer to use both unposted unless I wish to frighten a Mont Blanc 149 user (grin).

Churchill and M1000, caps posted

Here, of course, the similarities end, with the completely different filling mechanisms defining use.

The Churchill in Use
OK, let’s face it – the ultimate European classic pen filling system is the Pelikan piston – but the rest of the world mostly went for lever-fillers, with a few honourable exceptions. Surprisingly, the German piston-fillers survived the wholesale demise of the mass fountain pen market, while cartridge/converter systems wiped the floor with what was left of the lever-filler market. Today, though, the lever-filler is undergoing something of a revival, and is perhaps best represented in modern pens by the Conway Stewart range.

Putting the Churchill lever filler up against the M1000 piston filler is an interesting contest, and I guess I’d have to say the piston has the edge in precision and potential reliability, if not nostalgia value. On the other hand, the lever system is mechanically simpler and easier to fix. I’ve not yet been able to measure the precise quantity of ink taken up by both pens, but my Churchill has been seen to deliver 22 drops of ink and the M1000, 28 drops. Make of it what you will – the debate about drop size goes on! I’ve seen it suggested that the Churchill sac is smaller than the inside of the tube – this would make sense as there needs to be room for the press-bar, lever box and expansion.

The Churchill filling lever

I’ve also heard of problems with Churchill ink sacs mentioned on Pentrace. Suffice to say there are no such problems with this one. Don Yendle tells me that there were major problems with some rubber sacs melting – Pentracers will recall the problems earlier this year with a batch of melting sacs from Wood Bin of Canada, due to a missing ingredient in the process. This faulty batch caused sac problems with Conway Stewart pens at the time. That problem no longer applies to current production, of course, but Conway Stewart continues to replace any problem sacs in their pens as they surface, as part of their ongoing commitment to customer service.

One or two reports of Churchill lever problems have also surfaced on Pentrace, but Don Yendle does not believe that there is any serious general problem in this regard. Nonetheless, Conway Stewart are not complacent about faults and stand firmly behind their 1 year warranty. Anyway, problems with other pens aside, there were none with this particular Churchill, filling nicely with Conway Stewart ink and needing no more than two lever operations.

Writing with the Churchill Red Ripple is something of a revelation. Because of its light weight, it balances, as I have mentioned, exceptionally well, and because of the gradual taper down to the end of the section, fits easily in the hand, like a smaller pen. After filling, it wrote well first time, though it did not start with the first stroke. On the second stroke, however, the ink began to flow – copiously! Since that first hesitant stroke it has started first time, every time, and not skipped a beat – good news indeed by modern standards. The unexpected but very welcome ‘dual’ nib – dubbed an Italic Fine by Conway Stewart – has proven to really be the icing on the cake, with the immediately available options of a standard ‘fine’ tip and a cursive italic tip changeable by simply rotating the pen in the hand. Two nibs in one, two styles instantly accessible – what could be more convenient? And yes, both sides of the nib are great writers, the fine being very smooth, the cursive italic being more toothsome, with just the right edge to give feedback to those flourishing strokes. Is there any flex to this 18ct nib? Yes, a hint, similar to that in the springy M1000 nibs, but no true semi-flex as in vintage Pelikan nibs. Nonetheless, a very pleasant writing experience by modern standards in particular.

My two favourite correspondence tools – Churchill and iMac! Both are supremely functional and yet also a pleasure to use

I’ve now written a large pile of postcards and a few snail letters with this pen, as well as some practice scrawling, without so far exhausting that first fill. Time will tell on the writing capacity and long-term reliability of this particular Red Ripple Churchill, but it has already given me a great deal of pleasure and will be, I believe, a true ‘lifetime’ pen.

In the final analysis, which would I keep if forced to use only one pen – the Pelikan or the Conway Stewart? I have to say that, despite its German efficiency and many excellent qualities, the M1000 would be shown the door – the Conway Stewart is noticeably more comfortable and fun to use, it has a truly ‘vintage’ ethos, and then there is that “Made in Britain’ sticker... But happily, I’m in the fortunate position of being able to keep both pens, which now have a permanent place together on my desk at home, a Mottishawed broad cursive italic fitted to the Pelikan, perfectly complementing the versatile ‘Italic Fine’ of the Conway Stewart. What more could I ask?

Stuart Williams

For further information on the Churchill and Conway Stewart in general, check out the official UK website: http://www.conwaystewart.co.uk

Pens may be purchased directly from the website, or from many excellent dealers worldwide, including some Pentrace sponsors. Prices vary, so shop around!