Kaweco Student 60’s swing review

The KAWECO Student 60’s Swing is a fountain pen that I purchased, online, in August 2020. I paid 62 Euro for it. The pen is sold in a very attractive vintage metal tin. Included is a short KAWECO ink cartridge, a KAWECO sticker and a piece of paper with the warranty, history and instructions. This all looks beautiful and exudes quality.

The pen looks very classic. The green cap and ivory colored barrel in combination with the gold trim contribute to this. The Student is available in the following colors:

• Transparent demonstrator
• Black
• 20’s Jazz with brown cap
• 30’s Blues with red cap
• 50’s Rock with blue cap
• 60’s Swing with green cap
• 70’s Soul with orange cap

What I find a bit strange is the way they link a music period to a color? It’s nice that way, of course, but who at KAWECO made those links. I’m probably delving into this too much. I also wonder why this pen is called the ‘Student’ pen? I fear that there are few students who can afford a pen of 62 Euro, knowing that you run the risk of losing your pen at any moment. Anyway, having said that….

In order to continue in a positive way, I have to admit that I am attracted to this pen. The overall finish seems good and the polished finish of the body looks nice.

It is not a big pen. Uncapped it’s only 11,9 cm long, capped 13,1 cm. Posted the pens is 16 cm. The barrel is 1.3 cm at its thickest point. At the point where your fingers hold the section, the section is 0,9 cm.

Time to go over the parts of the pen. The green-colored cap with gold accents looks very nice and retro. At the top is the KAWECO logo. The curved clip is quite classic and has engraved the company name. The clip is stiff rather than smooth, but usable. The gold-colored band once again includes the brand name. So no doubt that this is a KAWECO pen. And also on the top of the cap is printed in gold ‘Kaweco Student GERMANY’. The cap is a screw cap that screws onto the plastic threads of the barrel. The screwing of the cap onto the barrel does not give me such a satisfied feeling. It feels a bit cheap. But when the pen is capped, the cap stays tight en secured.

For many fountain pens the posting of the cap is a difficult story, also for the Student. You can use the fountain pen in a posted way and it is secure. But the barrel goes not deep enough into the cap and causes the pen to become somewhat unbalanced. The weight of the section is almost the same as the weight of the cap and that is why balance gets disturbed.

The barrel and cap are made entirely of ‘high grade’ resin. The ivory-colored barrel thickens in the middle, but has no specific accents. When the pen is closed, all attention seems to go to the cap. What I don’t like is that the top of the barrel has a kind of hole that probably has its origin when manufacturing the barrel.

When the cap of the pen is removed, the gold-colored chrome section and nib stand out. Without a cap, most of the weight of the pen will be on the nib. This creates a pleasant feeling while writing. The section is a metal section. Due to the chrome finish, it is sensitive to fingerprints, if this would disturb you. I didn’t feel like the section was slippery. The section is slightly narrower in the middle.

The gold-colored fine #4 steel nib looks very nice and matches the section. It has a breather hole. The nib is decorated with some curls and Kaweco logo. If you don’t like the nib, you can unscrew it and replace it with another one, als long as the insert is the 060 with thread. These inserts with nib can be bought at Kaweco. If you are careful, you can pull the nib out of the insert. This is very useful for cleaning purposes. That way you can also change the nib with, for example, a nib from the Kaweco Classic. Also you can manage to insert a golden nib (14k) into your Student. How cool is this!

Just a small note: be careful when you pull the nib out of the insert. By applying some power you can damage the nib. After I did this, I noticed the nib tines were wider resulting in thicker lines and wet writing. Lucky I could fix it back in its original state. It’s more safe to unscrew the insert and replace with another insert that has a different nib.

The most important thing about a pen is the writing performance. Just like this is the case with my other Kaweco, this Student is also a good performer. This may seem logical because the nibs are the same. To be a fine nib, it feels very smooth, not scratchy. The steel nib is not rigid, allowing variation in line thickness, but not in the sense that calligraphy is possible. The nib is connected with a black plastic Kaweco feed.

The Kaweco uses standard international cartridges or converters. Compared to the Kaweco Sport series, you can use longer converters with the Student.

Conclusion

Without a doubt the Kaweco Student is a good quality fountain pen available in many colors and nib sizes. If the nib is not what you want, you can change the size. It’s a modern fountain pen with a classic look. The writing performance is outstanding and it does not let you down. Perhaps it is just a bit to expensive for a ‘Student’.

Some details:

• Total empty weight: 23,60 gr.
• Capless empty weight: 14,50 gr.
• Capless length: 11,90 cm.
• Posted length: 16 cm.
• Body width: 1,3 cm

Out of a total score of 30, I would give this pen a 27. This pen loses points because it is not a limited edition, there is a ‘hole’ at the top-end of the barrel, it is not a gold nib and it writes just a bit on the wet side.