New Arrivals: Platinum Curidas Matte Retractable Nib Fountain Pens

June 13, 2023

While Platinum’s Curidas fountain pen has been around for several years now, Platinum hadn’t really done much with the line beyond the original set of demonstrator colors - until now. Yesterday saw the arrival of three new matte finishes in the Curidas (Matte Blue, Matte Black, and Matte Red), all of which are sold packaged as part of a set complete with a converter, ink cartridge, and bottle of Platinum Aurora Blue Mix-Free Ink. You have everything you need to get started writing!

The Matte Curidas fountain pen sets are currently available in the shop, in fine and medium stainless steel nib options. Please visit our shop to check out these and other recently arrived pen, paper, and ink offerings!

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including Platinum.

Updating Prior Reviews: Platinum Curidas Feed Issues and the Diamine Music Set

May 28, 2020

In light of recent news surrounding what sounds like a design flaw with the Platinum Curidas, it’s appropriate for me to take a minute and update my recent review. For those who have not heard, there have been numerous reports of the feeds on the Curidas cracking, and apparently the problem is pervasive enough that Platinum has stopped shipping the pen to retailers while they figure things out. Brad provides a good update on Episode #411: Curious Case of the Curidas Cracking.

What about my Curidas pens? After learning of the issue with the feeds, I closely inspected both of my pens and was pleased to discover the feeds intact, with no signs of cracking. That was Monday morning. Yesterday morning (Wednesday), I checked again, and noticed that the feed on my red pen was split down the middle.

The cracked feed on my red Curidas (right), compared against the normal feed on my green Curidas.

So far, this has not caused any performance issues with the pen. It doesn’t leak, burp ink, hard-start, or show any symptoms that you might typically find in a fountain pen with a damaged feed. Will that change? Who knows. I plan to keep using this pen until it starts causing problems, and hope that Platinum comes up with a fix. I can only assume that some part of the mechanism is too tight, generating pressure on the feed and causing it to crack over time. While design issues are inevitable in a pen this complex, it surprises me that something this basic didn’t show up in Platinum’s prototypes, especially given how prevalent the cracking issue seems to be. It’s a shame, because otherwise I’m really starting to enjoy the Curidas as a daily writer. I’ve kept my two pens inked up since writing my review, and for my grip and writing style, it’s an extremely comfortable pen to use.

Meanwhile, on a Happier Note…

Diamine-Music-Set-Tchaikovsky-Chopin-Schubert

In March I reviewed inks from the Diamine Music Set, which contains 10 inks all “themed” around a different composer. At the time of my initial review, I had used two of the ten: Strauss and Vivaldi. I’ve since inked pens with three more, all of which are excellent. Tchaikovsky (a rich royal blue) and Chopin (a dark grey with blue undertones) easily could serve as daily drivers. Schubert (a darker teal green) has had less time in the pen, but I’m enjoying this color that I wouldn’t typically pick for myself. You can read my full review of the Music Set and see a full set of swabs here.

Initial Thoughts: The Platinum Curidas

April 30, 2020

With an emergency court proceeding blowing up this week (which means lots of writing!) my two new Platinum Curidas fountain pens received the proverbial baptism by fire. I’m happy to offer you my initial impressions. The general takeaway: The Curidas is a solid retractable fountain pen that feels well-built and is fun to use, but at the end of the day it’s definitely over-engineered and targeted to the pen geek, and certain design choices will almost certainly keep Platinum’s latest release from becoming something that most people are going to want to use every day. I’ll break down my reactions into three categories.

First, The Positives:

Writing Comfort. Based on how I hold the pen, I easily find the Curidas more comfortable than it’s main (or only) competitor, the Pilot Vanishing Point. Whereas the clip on the V.P. runs all the way down to the nib and basically forces you to wrap your fingers around it, Platinum opted to leave additional space for those with a more traditional grip to hold the pen naturally without adjusting for the “bumps” created by a clip or the plastic nub on the bottom of the pen, which also serves as a roll-stop. This is hard to explain, so take a look at the pictures below. If you use a similar grip, you’ll probably be fine. If your grip is different, YMMV.
Build Quality. Platinum makes excellent pens, and the Curidas is no exception. To keep the price below $100, Platinum went with mostly plastic construction, but the pen feels sturdy - not at all inexpensive or flimsy. While I have my own thoughts on the design of the knock (discussed further below), the mechanism deploys and retracts the nib smoothly, and it’s admirable that Platinum managed to keep the price down on a pen with so many moving pieces, all of which must have been custom designed.
Colors and Transparent Materials. I love Platinum’s 3776 demonstrator pens. The colors they use always seem to pop, and the plastic never looks cheap. The Curidas is no exception. I opted for the “Gran Red” and “Urban Green” pens, both of which look great. I normally prefer red pens, but the Urban Green is particularly stunning in person.

The Negatives:

Convoluted and Difficult Assembly. In order to refill the Curidas, you have to completely disassemble the pen, which is no small undertaking. As show in the photo gallery below, this entails removing the back half of the barrel (not a big deal); removing the spring-loaded nib assembly (a little more complicated, since Platinum uses a tongue-and-groove system to secure it); and removing yet another metal piece covering the converter and/or cartridge. It’s a remarkable feat of design and engineering, and it allows you to use the standard Platinum converter, but it creates a lot more complications than the average fountain pen user is going to want to deal with.
Awkward Sizing. With the knock depressed and the nib deployed for writing, the Curidas fits my hand perfectly. The pen is properly weighted and well-balanced for longer writing sessions. The issue I have is with the size of the pen with the nib retracted. I have average-sized hands, and I really have to stretch to use the knock. Plus, it just makes the pen look awkward. Couldn’t they have reduced the length by a centimeter or so?

With the knock extended, the Curidas is an extremely long, and even awkward pen, both in terms of looks and feel. I don’t find the mechanism all that comfortable to use. It’s a stretch to get my thumb over the end.

The So-So:

The Nib. The medium stainless steel nib on the green pen is exceptional, and the fine nib was not. So, overall, a mixed bag. Let’s start with the good; the medium wrote a relatively wide, wet line, that others have accurately described as stubbish. For a stock steel medium nib - typically a very boring option - my green Curidas offers a spectacular writing experience, as long as you get a good one. Now for the bad: the fine nib on my red pen was extremely dry and scratchy out of the box. Curiously, I had the same experience with my Platinum 3776 Ultra-Extra Fine (UEF) nib. Platinum generally has an excellent reputation when it comes to nibs, especially fine and extra-fines, and I’m surprised I’ve had this happen to me on a pen with as much pre-launch hype as the Curidas.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Obviously, I haven’t had the Curidas in my rotation for very long, but I did put Platinum’s latest release through the paces during a particularly strenuous week of work that involved a lot of writing. Retractable nib fountain pens are generally going to have a very specialized target audience - true pen geeks - and as long as Platinum realizes that casual users may be turned off by the pen’s complexity, I can appreciate Platinum’s efforts to grow the category. That said, the knock design bothers me a lot, both functionally and aesthetically, and I plan to withhold final judgment until I get a better sense of how much I’ll actually use this pen on a day-to-day basis, and whether I hear additional reports of spotty nib quality.

I acquired the Platinum Curidas fountain pens featured in this review from site sponsor Pen Chalet, which still has several colors in stock priced at $80. Platinum does not allow discounting on this pen. Other Platinum retailers (such as site sponsors Vanness Pens, Goldspot, and Appelboom), also carry the Curidas, but availability will likely be uneven given delays in distribution and shipping in light of current events.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I am a participant in the Pen Chalet affiliate program, which allows me to earn store credit that I can use to acquire items for review on the blog, like the pens featured here.