Recently, I seem to have reviewed a reasonable number of retractable fountain pens. Some good, some poor. Go back through my blog and you will see even more as I have covered most available under the £1000 mark. So how does one of the cheapest available compare.

First off I need to thank Michael Owen of Pen Paper Gift ltd for providing this pen for review. The company are the UK distributor for this brand and one of the organisers of the UK Pen Shows. Writech pens can be bought in this country from one of the other organisers, Vince Coates of the Northumbrian Pen Company and The Turners Workshop.

So how good or bad can a £13 retractable fountain pen be? After all this is the cost in the UK yet it is cheaper than some of the ‘budget’ models available from China on Temu and Alibaba.

Initial reaction is mixed. It looks like the sort of pen you would expect to see on sale in a supermarket, but then that is no bad thing and many of you will know my positive views of the Helix Oxford fountain pen. It looks like something that costs around a tenner, but then it is and actually in the hand it actually does feels solid.

The clip is plastic and does work well to secure the pen in a pocket, however I found you have to pry it up open slightly to get the edge over the seam despite the shaped nub. Putting the pen in my jacket pocket before leaving the house was fine, but at an event, where I got it out to use, when I went to one-handed put it back in my pocket I had problems. Something to bear in mind if like me you carry pens around like that. It could be bent open slightly, but then it is almost certainly secured by just a couple of bent clips so I would not want to risk this.

One thing about the clip is it is at the rear of the barrel, meaning in the pocket the nib points downwards, however this also means the clip is not in your way if you do not use a tripod grip, as it can be on the Lamy Dialog 3, the Pilot Decimo/VP, and the Platinum Curidas.

The Clictek comes in two forms, clear demonstrators with medium nibs and solid coloured with fine. Here I have one of the solid pastel variants. Not to everyone’s taste but I actually quite like the shade. The barrel and section look straight, but look closely and you will see mild indentations for the forefinger, middle finger, and thumb tripod grip. This has the great advantage that you will always open the pen with the nib in the right position, while at the same time being shallow enough that you could hold the pen another way without it feeling uncomfortable. Personally I do find the pen comfortable to hold and use.

The opening mechanism is slightly different from most the others. Sure you press in a knock at the back of the barrel, but the trap door here is part of the section, connected by four points. There is a fear that these over time will snap but they should be thick enough to survive and unless you try pulling or twisting on the lid there should be no risk. I would expect the silicone traps of some other brands to fail long before this one. The actual internals are hidden and can not be removed. Looking closely it appears there is are nested sleeves, the inner one hosting the nib and feed and a middle one that actually pushes the trap door open. Net result is no scraping of the nib against the ‘lid’.

Despite my initial reservations of the mechanism I have actually been using this pen quite heavily over the last few weeks including carrying it in my jacket pocket and so far there has been no ink splatter on the inside of the trap door. Also ink evaporation has not been noticeable, unlike with most the other retractable fountain pens. The downside to this type of mechanism is there is little satisfaction from actual process of opening and closing. There is a click on opening but it feels loose, and the process of closing is an anonymous experience. Having said that it is no worse than many a ballpoint.

The nib is the usual thin affair you find in retractable fountain pens and as a result it is quite stiff and nail like. Despite not being to my preferences it has actually been a nice nib to write with. As mentioned earlier, the Clictek pens with the solid/pastel colours, such as this, have fine nib, where as the clear demonstrator models have mediums. I did try the latter at the recent (October 2025) London Pen Show and it was a smooth write. Line wise the sizing is to Asian tastes, so thinner than the likes of Bock and JoWo.

The filling system is Writech’s own proprietary cartridge. I did try a Jinhao converter in case it was the new Chinese standard, but it is not (see end of review for comparison pictures). You get a pack of 5 cartridges with the pen, either ‘erasable’ blue else black, plus an empty cartridge installed. Many reading this blog will be part of the fountain pen community and so be quite happy to just fill the empty cartridge with their own choice of ink, but for those of you who have just come here for advice or a review on this pen, a number of the online stores sell boxes of five for £2 and if you are in/near Shrewsbury, so does Write Here. A search on line also showed Ryman are now selling this pen so may soon also be selling the ink.

The packaging is designed to hang from hooks in a shop and for most of us will probably end up in the bin (no recycling marks), however it could be used as an emergency pencil case as the lid just fit securely in place (for now anyhow).

Over all I was sceptical at first due to a combination of cost and the trap mechanism but in reality I have been very pleasantly surprised by this pen. Certainly it is superior to either of the Endless Stationary pens I have tried (Creator and Phantom), as well as the Ensso BOLT. Part of the reason it has been heavily used these last couple of weeks is because I have been actively grabbing it to take with me, I have not had to force myself to use it just to give a proper review.

Would I recommend the Writech Clictek to others. Yes. At £13 MSRP and potential for it to be under a tenner in a sale, then if you want a retractable fountain pen to try, or even if you just want a cheap pen to use and not worry about losing, then this is certainly worth considering, or just straight up buy it from the Turners Workshop table at a pen show else add it to your basket at Cult Pens, Write Here, or one of the other stores you can get it from.

Pros:

• Price.
• Writes nicely.
• Little to no ink evaporation.

Neutral:

• Clip secures but can be difficult to use one-handed.
• Proprietary cartridges.

Cons:

• At this price point, none that I can think of.

Writing Sample:

Pen Comparison Pictures:

L-R Pilot Vanishing Point, this pen, Lamy Safari. Note I presently do not have its closest rival, the Endless Stationary Phantom as that is on loan to another member of the United Inkdom review group.

Cartridge Comparison Pictures:

L-R Writech, Standard International, Jinhao/Standard Chinese (converter for connection comparison).

With Standard International – note it is wider and deeper.

With Jinhao (also now seeming to be the Chinese standard). Note it is narrower and deeper.