Platinum Fountain Pen, Curidus, Urban Green, Medium Point, PKN-7000#43-3

There certainly aren't a lot of retractable fountain pens on the market, and at this point I think I've collected at least one each of all current models that matter. The obvious contender is the Pilot Vanishing Point, which is the one you're likely to think of when someone says "retractable fountain pen," and which is also expensive. I also have a knockoff of it, and in then the middle there's this. Platinum make a lot of noise on their web site about the Curidas being an extension of their original "Knock" retractable pen from the 1960's. That says maybe, and the Curidas and Knock are two very different pens, with different design aesthetics. The Curidas is not a rerelease or a recreation, and I'd only call it retro insofar as you'd count its looks as being reminiscent of the early 2000's and the transparent colored plastic craze instigated by the old iMacs. It definitely has that kind of vibe. I think the Platinum Curidas retractable pen does not have as many pretensions of being as high end as the Pilot Vanishing Point. It's considerably less expensive, although not exactly what I'd call CHEAP per se. At first blush the plastic body is not as nice, but the translucent design that shows all the working gubbins has grown on me. Mine is in the "urban green" color which has a definite hint of turquoise in it. But I'll say this: Out of all my retractable options, the Platinum is the one that's become my daily companion pretty much ever since I bought it. The others remain on display, novelties, rarely used. Especially my Vanishing Point, which is so expensive I don't risk it most of the time lest something horrible happen to it or worse -- The possibility that some layman swipes it, doesn't understand what it is, and throws it away in frustration. If you're looking at one of these I can only assume you know at least a little about what you're getting into. Not a lot of people wind up buying a fountain pen except on purpose, let alone a weird retractable one. The Platinum retractable pen has a very long clicker throw that exposes about 3/4 of an inch of its nib, via an arrangement with a little trap door that opens and shuts behind it to help prevent the ink from drying out when not in use. The trap door is maybe not as elegant as the one in the Vanishing Point, and part of its mechanism actually drops down outside the barrel of the pen when it flips open, necessitating a little bump on the side opposite the clip. Despite not having any texture or other greebles, what I guess you would call the grip section on this pen (its construction being really unlike a normal fountain pen) still feels pretty good in the hand. There's not much taper to it except at the very end which I think I prefer. I think this makes it easier to hang onto for longer periods of time. The clip is ever-present, and lives on the writing end of the pen. When in use it will be on top, between your thumb and forefinger. It doesn't get in the way, but you're always aware that it's there. It's also pretty large in diameter. My usual cup of tea is a narrower diameter and preferably metal bodied pen, so the Curidas is quite unlike what I'm normally used to. If you can't function without a small pen, or have really small hands, this might not be the one for you. The "medium" point as described puts down a nice bold line, which is something I like. I do enjoy a good bold nib. Little to no scratchiness is present, as you would expect from a competent fountain pen. Those who prefer a really "expressive" flexible point should prepare to be disappointed -- the Platinum's point is steel, and it's about as stiff as a board. This means that you can kinda-sorta use it on carbon or write-through forms (duplicates, at least; you probably won't make it all the way through to the bottom copy of a triplicate form) but you're not getting much in the way of varied line widths without putting truly unwise levels of pressure on it. Platinum does not specify what the nib (the rounded ball thingy on the very tip) is actually made out of anywhere that I can find, so it's likely it's just steel and not any fancy premium material. It feels fine, and time will certainly tell how well it wears. The pocket clip is a simple springy piece of chrome plated steel and if you like it can be removed, although doing so leaves its little alignment blade and two mounting ears exposed. What you can't do is put it on the other end of the pen. Like other retractable pens, the clip lives on the business end and when you pocket the pen you do so with the point facing up. All in the entire thing is just under 6 inches long and the pen body doesn't change in length in the slightest whether the point is retracted or deployed. That's closer to the length of a lot of fountain pens with the cap posted on the tail, rather longer than the capped and closed length, but it is what it is. Upon disassembly you'll see that the mechanism in the Curidas is quite... mechanical. The metal carrier for the cartridge is held in with a bolt-action peg through an L shaped channel in the nib assembly. The nib assembly itself is also retained by a similar bolt-action arrangement that's tensioned by the pen's mainspring, and is also utterly unnecessary -- the guts would be held in just fine by the tail body and clicker cap assembly even without it. This is probably just Platinum showing off. So the disassembled mechanism is a fairly comprehensive fidget toy if you're into that sort of thing. Note that the mainspring is not captive, so it can ping off and away if you're not careful. The elephant in the room here is how well this thing retains ink without a traditional cap. Both in terms of not leaking, but also in not drying out over moderate periods of not being used. Well, I haven't been able to get my Curidas to leak yet. I have been able to get it to drool some ink over its point by being naughty and not storing it point-up, but none of it has managed to escape the trap door on the front. The longest I've let it sit so far without writing anything was only about a week, but it restarted immediately without issue. That's pretty good. The whole kit and kaboodle comes in a quite heavy duty cardboard presentation box, complete with one ink cartridge (filled with blue ink in my example -- not what I was expecting), an inkwell converter, and a gizmo that I eventually learned was to aid you in removing the clip. A little instructions leaflet is included, half in Japanese, but figuring out how it all works is pretty self explanatory. Overall I have to say I do quite like the Curidas. I wasn't going into it expecting much -- With its dorky and wide transparent plastic body and novelty mechanism I wasn't expecting much out of it. But it's a great writer, such to the point that I still haven't yet been able to bring myself to put the thing away and break out any of my array of much fancier pens since getting it.

This fountain pen wrote immediately after installing the cartridge and flows beautifully. Using this pen ever since day 1 has felt like an absolute dream. The weight and construction feels substantial and durable. The bouncy feel from the nib on paper is impossible to describe. I got a medium nib which is slightly thinner than my platinum preppy medium and has a more rounded tip (no italic line variation). Can’t recommend this enough for the price especially since the pen retracts, making it very convenient! I did end up removing the clip with the handy included tool. The wider pen body makes this a comfortable pen for long writing sessions even past 4 hours!

I own a few Pilot Vanishing Point pens, and have never gotten used to the clip in the way, at least for my pen holding style. And, I'm not a fan of their very flexy, small 18K nibs. Enter the Platinum Curidas. This is not my first one, I have been pretty pleased with the previous ones. I wanted to see how the "maintenance kit" helped the pens smoothness when being retracted, as it seems that after awhile, the nib unit seems to stick a bit when retracting. Well, even though it's shown in the pictures, my pen did not come with the kit, which is simply some silicone oil, and a few Q-tips. Still, I would have liked to try the OEM Platinum solution. I went and got some silicone oil from a local store, and had some Q-tips already. I found the instructions online, so I gave it a try, and so far, it's very smooth action, I think this helps. Overall, the pen is excellent, for me at least. I find the grip/holding position not as finicky as the VP pens are. LOVE the nib, has an excellent fine line, and that "Platinum feel" with plenty of feedback in the nib. If you are looking for a glass smooth nib, look elsewhere. I would like to see more colors, and to make sure each pen comes with the maintenance kit to ensure smooth operation down the road. The Graphite Smoke is nice, how about orange or yellow, something bright? In summary, a great retractable fountain pen. Some people seem to feel that the pen feels cheap in some way, and in all honesty, it is not as solid as a Pilot VP, for sure. I would buy it again!

Love this pen, EF purchased and it's around a 0.5mm line width, no scratching just nice and smooth. The Mechanism protects the nib at a simple click, similar to Vanishing point, just in plastic. I've bought another as they're so good. Platinum black ink provided is amazing. As someone who loves fountain pens, has a few pricey models, I love this for simple clean note taking and for the pretty unique opening mechanism.

Para el día a día perfecto. Eso sí, no viene con cargador de tinta. Solo un recambio. Compré este modelo con un precio más caro pensando que venía con él y no es así.

Anche se chiusa, l'inchiostro si secca e devo lavarla per scrivere. L'impugnatura ha una parte sporgente in plastica che trovo fastidiosa durante la scrittura.

I was fascinated by fountain pens with retractable nibs but found them too expensive. On a casual browsing of Amazon this pen popped up. Was immediately smitten by the colours and the affordability. Read a few reviews and decided to purchase it. The shipping from Amazon Global Store was super quick and the pen was with me in about 6 days from order. Was immediately impressed by the build quality, finish and the color of this pen on opening the package. The box is a wastage of plastic. A Huge 19cm x 7.5cm x 4cm box for a pen?!!The box cannot function as a pen case as there is no catch to lock the lid. The box contained the pen on a bed with elastic band, a manual and only a cartridge. There was no "complementary converter" included as advertised in the listing. Though one person in Amazon resorted to initiate a return without solving the issue of missing converter and without my consent, another person was keen to solve it and gave me the cost of the converter as a gift card. Without waiting got the converter. On inking the pen, it writes very smooth. This is a girthy pen and I like thick pens. The click action is indeed a wonderful engineering. Filling ink is a bit of a pain as one has to remove the rear barrel, then release the actual pen from the front section, then again remove it from a metal sleeve before inking it. For writing that too without any nib tuning this is one of the smoothest pen I ever bought. The clip is in the right position and does not impede with holding the pen. There is a small projection under the nib for the hinge of the lid for the nib sleeve, that at least for me is not is an issue to hold the pen. For the wasted plastic of the box, missing converter int the box and inconvenience of taking pen apart to fill ink I have to cut one star

I'm still a beginner fountain pen user but I'm really impressed with this! It LOOKS beautiful and has a decent weight to it. It's a much more affordable retractible fountain pen than the Vanishing Point. I have the extra fine nib which is clear and sharp. I can get an even finer point if I turn the nib around (facing down) when I write. The retraction mechanism works really nicely and is smooth. It's so convenient! I'm using a Platinum ink cartridge which was very easy to install. I look forward to using my own inks with a converter. I'm so glad I bought this!