Comparing the Filofax Winchester with the Filofax Kensington

I have been 'circulating' through my underused collection of Filofax Personal Size organisers and other brands in this size since December last year. Using each one for a week or two before swapping my pages in to another organiser. My page fill now fits in to any standard 23mm ring size organiser. Or smaller if I reduce the number of months of my diary that I carry.

The Filofax Winchester and Filofax Kensington are two organisers I have recently tried out. 

The Winchester was my first Filofax bought in 1986 (40 years ago!) and the Kensington came in to my ownership a few years ago, it doesn't show any signs of a lot of use. 

The Filofax Winchester is of course from the era when organisers were made in England, this one most probably in Forest Road, Ilford at the Filofax Factory there. Production there ceased in about 1993 and was moved overseas. The Kensington being from overseas and some say the quality suffered. 

When I swapped from the Kensington in to the Winchester I noticed a couple of things straight away. The pen loop on the Winchester is very tight for my mechanical pencil (Pentel P207) to fit compared to the Kensington. I have an old Papermate ballpoint pen that fits the Winchester pen loop comfortably. 

Also modern plastic 'Today' markers stick out of the top/bottom of the edges of the Winchester. Only by a mm or two 

I did some measurements to see what the differences were between the two designs. 

• Kensington = 285 mm open and flat, 190 mm high. 
• Winchester = 275 mm open and flat, 183 mm high
• Today marker = 185 mm high

The Kensington seems to have much softer leather, I'm guessing because it is thinner, but it feels good in the hand and in every day use. 

What other differences are there between the two:

• This particular Winchester is a 4CLF (4 pockets Calf Leather with fastener) it therefore has three pockets in the front inside cover (ID pocket, business card pocket and a full height vertical slip pocket) and one full height vertical slip pocket in the rear inside cover. 
• The Winchester pockets are covered by broad flaps which also act as ring protectors. There are no zips to go wrong. 
• The Kensington has eight horizontal card pockets and a full height vertical slip pocket on the inside front cover. With another full height gusseted vertical slip pocket on the inside rear cover. There is also a full height gusseted vertical zip pocket on the rear inside cover. 
• Both feature Krause style rings. The Winchester has a plain polished top cover. The much later Kensington has the filofax branding, engraved into the top cover of the rings. 
• This era of Winchester like other Filofax organisers of this age do not have the f embossed into the leather of the spine, the Kensington does. My Winchester has my initials in vinyl letters, still there since I attached them 40 years ago! 

Naturally the Winchester being my first holds a lot of memories, especially as I still have my diary inserts from the first few years to look back through and see what I was up to!

Do you have a favourite old Filofax? 

Silent Sunday

 

A5 Boston Filofax in Ultraviolet with current read

Web Finds - Saturday 14 February 2026

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Web Finds - Saturday 7 February 2026
2. Silent Sunday
3. Dates for your diary - 14 & 15 February 2026
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 784
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 11 February 2026
6. Guest Post - Filofax Norfolk as a sketch book
7. Free For All Friday - No. 901 by Anita 

Here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. 100 Years of VDS - Blog Vdsshop
2. Cute but blank inserts and accessories - Filofax
3. How I Plan and Organize My Life & Business: The Planners and Routines I Use Each Year - Strange & Charmed
4. A Review of Paper for 6-Ring Binders - The Well-Appointed Desk
5. Help with Malden personal Filofax - Filofax
6. Blank Planner Pages Are Not a Waste - Planner Fun
7. SAFARI: Mini XL & A5 Compagna - Blog | Gillio
8. Updated post for interior pics of pocket ranger - Filofax
9. Shuttle Art vs Premium Dot Marker Brands: Is the Price Difference Worth It? - All About Planners
10. Fighting The Pace Of The Modern World (pg. 47-57) - FranklinPlanner Talk
11. Episode #349: Guided Mind Sweep - Getting Things Done
12. Link Love: Overworked - The Well-Appointed Desk
13. Web Finds – 11 February 2026 - Travellers Notebook Times
14. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
• We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. 
• Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
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Enjoy

       

Free For All Friday - No. 901 by Anita

After recently reading Steve's post, I realised that I can get a bit bored with my set up sometimes, especially in the winter months when I get a bit fed up with the weather. So, instead of looking to implement something new, I instead thought about what I normally do and if there is anything that I'm doing less of that usually helps me:

• Brain dumps - I normally do these on a fairly regular basis, but for some reason I seem to have gotten out of the habit of this since Christmas. Since starting these again recently, I feel like my brain has sighed with relief!
• Using an A4 weekly folded page for more space - I don't use these pages all of the time, but they can really be of help sometimes if I'm feeling a little cramped in personal size.  

Have you recently brought something back into your routines and/or organiser that is helping you as well?

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. I hope that you have a great weekend.      

Guest Post - Filofax Norfolk as a sketch book

Thank you to EmpressBat for her guest post, it is always interesting to see other uses for a Filofax Organiser. 

I have many Filofaxes in different styles, colours, and sizes. I have had to stop collecting them as I have run out of shelf room, and I really don’t need anymore!  I like to use the Filofax binders for various reasons and encourage others to think outside of the using it as a diary or planner stereotype, particularly given the Filofax origin was of a binder of facts, and not a planner.

One way I use my Filofax binders is as sketchbooks. Being able to remove paper out, move it around, and add to the binder makes it ideal to hold on the go sketch paper. I can take a page out to draw or paint on, and when I have finished the page can easily be stored back in the Filofax. 

I can also add swatches of paint or pencils, and notes about the sketches and medium all in one place. Because I like to use 300gsm (140lb) cold press paper to sketch or paint on, I need a binder that can handle thick paper and hold more than a few sheets! 

This is where the Norfolk Filofax personal with its 30mm ring capacity is ideal. 

I have the Norfolk in sage green, and it is crammed full of my favourite sketch paper, I use the zipped pocket to hold a sharpener, a short pencil (a long pencil won’t fit), and other small drawing accessories even a small glue stick, and the pen loop is great for a small pair of scissors. (If I suddenly feel like creating a collage my scissors are ready).

The personal sized Filofax Norfolk is not too heavy or large to carry around, can carry a good chunk of sketch paper, and it makes for a great portable sketch set up on the go. 

Accompanied with some decanted gouache paint in a tin, a couple of paint brushes and a water bottle, I even used it to capture a quick sketch of a lake we visited recently.

As I mentioned I have a lot of Filofaxes, some are currently ‘having a rest’ in my collection, and others are being out to work for a variety of uses. None of them currently are being used as a planner.  

Filofaxes are so flexible and can be adapted to all manner of uses. 

How do you use yours?