The Diplomat Excellence fountain pen is a long existing pen that has adjusted well over time. It used to be sold under the name Classic Collection. I own two of these fountain pens, and that has a good reason, Diplomat makes high quality products. The Excellence gets very close to an ideal fountain pen. It’s a great pen to hold, it’s not too heavy and not too light. This fountain can be used both with or without the cap on the back. It almost never dries out, which is really special, sometimes I don’t use it for over a month, and when I pick it up it writes like it just got filled with ink.
Packaging and first impression
The Diplomat Excellence A Skyline CT comes in a neat box. If you remove the outer box there is a smaller box that has a cool aluminium lid. This lid can be slid from the box beneath and then you can see that the fountain pen is held into place on a small pillow. A nice detail is the cardboard that’s also in the packaging. You can slide it into the bottom half of the box, which makes is some sort of fountain pen display for your desk.

Diplomat Excellence A Skyline CT
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How does the Diplomat Excellence write?
The Diplomat Excellence writes fantastic. I own a Excellence with a fine nib that writes as a Medium, but the new Excellence that we got on loan by De Roos Vulpenspeciaalzaak is a Medium nib that writes like a Fine nib. Let’s assume that the new nibs write less thick than the old ones. Sometimes I think the Diplomat Excellence is the best fountain pen money can buy. But still the Diplomat’s never got as iconic as the Duofolds or the Montblanc 146 or 149. Every time Diplomat alters the design and it gets a little better every time, but the Excellence still misses that X-factor. The logo on top of the cap is a nice touch and reminds me a bit of a Montblanc.
Diplomat Excellence, perfect middle class
Diplomat makes fountain pens for people that like Volkswagen and Opel. Durability and practicality stand first. If you choose to buy this fountain pen, it’s a choice you make with your senses where quality is key. I’m convinced that sellers prefer to sell as much Diplomats as possible, because nobody will return to complain about the quality of it.
Nibs for the Diplomat Excellence A Skyline CT
For this fountain pen there are different kinds of nibs for sale. The steel nibs are almost as “excellent” as it gets. You really need to be convinced you can handle the more flexible golden nibs to write thinner and thicker lines to justify the higher price. A golden nib costs around € 115,- extra, which is an option that doesn’t really fit with the Volkswagen and Opel fanatics. The Diplomats can be filled with normal cartridge fillings. You can also use a converter in this fountain pen. The clip is fine, you can take the pen with you in all different ways.