Waterman was established around 1884 in New York City by Lewis Edson Waterman, it is one of the few first-generation fountain pen companies that survives to this day, under the guise of Waterman S.A. (originally Waterman's French subsidiary). In 1883 the founder of Waterman company invented the "Three Fissure Feed" system which prevented excessive discharge of ink, which saw Waterman’s first pen-related patent, granted in 1884. The Waterman Company received the gold medal of excellence at the "Exposition Universelle" in Paris in 1900 for developing the "spoon Feed" system which prevented overflow of ink. In 1904 the pen clip was invented. Early Waterman pens were made of hard rubber and were equipped with 14K gold nibs. From early on, precious metal trim and overlays were offered. Many are still in use today, and their nibs are prized for their smoothness and flexibility.  In 1913 Waterman company introduced the lever fill system. Though largely ignored by present-day collectors, the Waterman C/F of 1953 introduced the modern plastic ink cartridge. In 1967 a factory Saint-Herblain in France was opened. In 1983 the Waterman company celebrates its landmark 100th anniversary. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Waterman creates The Pen that is to become the reference in luxury writing. In the 90s came the products we know today. In 1992 Waterman came up with the Expert line, in 1994 the Hemisphere - a design that combines technological ingenuity and ultimate elegance. The years between 2004-2009 saw the creation of product lines such as Exception, Elegance and Perspective. Over time Waterman have as they say endeavoured to redefined elegance as the perfect balance of beauty and innovation in their writing instruments. Waterman have been at the forefront of design, innovation and elegant pens for almost 150 years and continue to be a major presence in the fountain / pen mass market.

The Waterman Kultur and Phileas models were both introduced to the market in 1994. The Phileas remained in production until the late 2000’s whereas the Kultur is still produced in France. They are quite often confused as they are very similar in external appearance. However there are some fundamental differences between the two. The primary differences are that the Phileas has a brass liner for weight, the Phileas nib is two-tone, and the Phileas has the fan cap band on the barrel end. The Kultur lacks these features but is otherwise identical. The Kultur often (but not always) comes with a transparent section. There are a large number of colours available in the kultur range, with primary solid colours initially available: green, blue, red, black etc with transparent and neon colours introduced at a later date. The Waterman Phileas model is named after Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg in his novel ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. The cartridge/converter Art Deco designed Phileas was originally produced in marbled blue, green, red and grey. The Phileas was universally praised for its writing qualities far above its price range. 

On offer is a Waterman Kultur “snow” special edition Lara Croft Tomb Raider fountain pen. The fountain pen has an image of the Lara Croft character printed on the body and cap. There are different variations of this special edition pen with orange, green / blue, snow editions to name a few. This pen is the snow edition. The cap has a black derby and chrome clip.  The nib is the same nib style as the Phileas however, is a plain stainless steel in lieu of the two tone phileas nib. These nibs, like most Waterman nibs are very smooth writers. The fountain pen has a waterman converter fitted. The pen is in Nr mint condition with no appreciable dents, dings, scratches or personalisation. There are no visible micro signs of use. The box is sturdy but has some signs of storage wear. The box has a duel date 1996 to 1999. Not sure what this time frame relates to as the three tomb raider films where released in; 2001, 2003 and 2018 respectively. However, the first video game was designed by Core Design between 1994/96 and released in 1996 by Eidos Interactive. I think this pen design was released by Waterman France in 1999 and perhaps relates somehow to the Tomb Raider II film and game release which contains snow scenes in the arctic. confused 🤪. In any respect it is a lovely looking pen and a great collectors or Lara Croft fans’ pen.