25 June 2017

Second Thousand A5 organiser

Second Thousand is an old brand name/trade name of Van der Spek in the Netherlands. I'm told it dates from around about 2007. I was given this A5 when I visited the factory for the first time with Janet Carr back in October 2014.

From the outside it looks a fairly modest organiser, but it has the classic design cues of being a Van der Spek, remember the company was established in 1926 so some things are well established in their design heritage.


On the rear cover at the base is the trade mark embossed in to the cover. The leather as you can see is nicely gained and is soft and supple.


The interior layout reveals a huge array of pockets. On the left hand side inside cover there are 8 credit card slots plus a business card slot at the foot. There are three vertical slip pockets, one behind the credit card slots, an intermediate one and the inner one with a diagonal profile.

This is mirrored on the opposite side with another three vertical slip pockets. There is also an additional deep card pocket as well as all leather pen loop tucked in behind the generous size clasp.


The rings in this particular example are 35mm Koloman Handler rings, Koloman Handler is another brand name of the modern day Krause rings company. So they are excellent quality and I've not had any issues with them in the last 2-3 years I've used this organiser.


The covers of the organiser do have stiffener between the layers of leather, but that doesn't mean it is not supple and it can do this sort of organiser gymnastics! With light pressure the edges of the covers will touch, but for the ease of being able to take the photo I used the clasp!

This is the equivalent of putting your hands behind your back and touching your finger tips together.

I tried the same 'floor exercise' with a Filofax Malden A5, it can do it to the same extent, but it's no were near as supple at the hinge point at the spine/cover junction as this Second Thousand organiser is!


Janet has a lovely blue leather version of this organiser, read her blog post from 2014 here.

After taking the photos for this post I moved back in to this organiser from the newer A5 Custom I showed you last week.

I can see now why I like this one so much, it might not have a zip pocket, but it makes up for it with a whole host of other slip pockets which allow you to store papers easily and without any confusion as to what is in what pocket. I really like it. It is tough as well, it doesn't mark or show scratches.

The current day Touch Me range have added to this design, whilst retaining all the good things about the older design.

If you have any additional questions please post them in the comments below.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Steve, I was wondering if you have had any experience with removing the Koloman Handler rings. I have an old vintage LV GM agenda with them in 4 rings. I am wanted to switch out to Krause 6 rings so I have more insert options. I would love to hear from you.

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