Waterman Model Numbers

Waterman model numbers

For nearly all of the hard rubber era – that is, up until c. 1930 – American-made Waterman pens were marked on the end of the barrel with a numeric code that clearly identified the model. The basic system is easily learned, and runs as follows:

The size of the nib (and hence, the pen) is the number in the units place.
The type of pen is indicated by the figure in the tens place, as below:

	straight-cap eyedropper	= 0 (or no digit)
	slip-fit (cone-cap) eyedropper	= 1
	taper-cap eyedropper	= 2
	safety	= 4
	lever-filler	= 5
	lever-filler with slip cap	= 6
	screw-cap eyedropper	= 7

Overlays and trim bands are indicated in the hundreds and thousands places (normally omitted on pens for the UK and Europe):

	silver barrel overlay	= 2 in the hundreds place
	solid gold barrel overlay	= 3 in the hundreds place
	full overlay, silver	= 4 in the hundreds place
	full overlay, solid gold	= 5 in the hundreds place
	two solid gold barrel bands	= 6 in the hundreds place
	one solid gold barrel band	= 7 in the hundreds place
	one solid gold cap band	= 8 in the hundreds place
	solid gold cap top band	= 9 in the hundreds place
	gold filled	= 0 in the thousands place

In addition, there are some important suffixes, which may also be found in combination:

	slender model	= 1/2
	short (pocket) model	= V
	overlay covering barrel end	= LEC

Pens predating c. 1918 use a slightly different numbering system, the key differences as follows:

	safety	= 1 in tens place, S suffix
	lever-filler	= 1 in tens place, PSF suffix (P indicates screw-cap)
	sleeve-filler	= 1 in tens place, SF suffix
	coin-filler	= 1 in tens place, PSF suffix
	screw-cap eyedropper	= 1 in tens place, POC suffix
	desk pen	= 4 in tens place
	pump-filler	= 1 in tens place or in both tens and hundreds place, P suffix
	mother-of-pearl barrel	= 6 in hundreds place

There were some irregularities in this system (e.g., the #20, an eyedropper with a #10 nib), but things really started to get confusing with the introduction c. 1927 of the #7 and the #5, followed a couple of years later by the unnumbered Patrician and Lady Patricia. For a while a modicum of consistency survived: the #32 and #92 had a #2 nib; the #94, a #4. Then the #32 became simply the #3, with the last overlay pens being numbered #403 even though equipped with a #2 nib.

Note that an entirely different numbering system was adopted in the 1940s for British-made Watermans, and that while US-made pens with overlays intended for export usually had a barrel-end imprint with no digits in the hundreds or thousands place, such designations did appear in catalog listings. In a 1912-dated French catalog in our possession, solid 18K gold overlays are indicated by a 7 in the hundreds place; silver, by an 8; and gold filled (doublé or) by a 9.

HOME