Pen Model: Kaweco

Kaweco is one of the oldest names in German fountain pen manufacturing, with roots in the late 1880s. They achieved success with ebonite pens by 1903 and published a full catalog in 1911. With Waterman’s, they first brought out safety pens. Growth was spectacular until the economic crash in the mid-1920s, with Soennecken and Montblanc gaining ascendancy and other firms appearing. Kaweco could not keep up and with the Depression entered their first bankruptcy. In the pre-war 1930s, the models we know today, the Colleg, Sport, Special, Elite, and Helios appeared, all as celluloid piston-fillers. They survived the postwar years, but slipped again with the advent of cheap plastics and ballpoint pens, and experiened a second bankrupcty again in 1981. In 1995, the Gutberlet family took over its assets and re-emerged as a stationery and office supply firm. Most recently, since 2010, Kaweco has produced the first series of new models, excellent re-enactments of the earlier Sports and Dias, but with modern styling.