The Filofax Cavendish and Filofax Kensington were both sold by Filofax at about the same time, late 1999 to about 2003. You will of course find examples of these two models still for sale on auction sites at various price points.
They were both sold in a variety of other sizes, but in this post I will be comparing the Personal size as I own them both in that size!
 |
| L - R Cavendish and Kensington |
Both are made in leather, the Cavendish describes it as 'Deluxe Leather' It is also padded, so it feels softer in the hand. The Kensington 'Real Leather' feels like it would be more hard wearing in repeated daily use.
For those of you that care about such things, the Kensington has square corners, where as the Cavendish has rounded corners.
The Cavendish feels stiffer compared to the Kensington, which also has some sort of stiffener between the leather covers, but thinner, so less intrusive.
I'm sure Neil would give the Kensington a better 'Flatability' score compared to the Cavendish. They do however lay open reasonably flat, the Cavendish requires a little training.
Both feature Krause type rings, i.e. not riveted in. The Cavendish only came with 30mm rings where as the Kensington comes in regular Filofax 23mm rings. So it is slimmer in overall bulk.
 |
| L - R Cavendish and Kensington |
The Cavendish being thicker because of the larger rings it has two pen loops, the left (front) one is bigger than the right (rear) one. The Kensington has just the single pen loop fixed to the rear cover. Neither model has elasticated pen loops.
The interior front of both include 8 horizontal card slots. They both also have a full height slip pocket behind the card slots.
 |
| Top Cavendish, Below Kensington |
They have different designs for the rear inside cover.
 |
| Top Cavendish, Below Kensington |
The Cavendish has a similar width full height slip pocket but in addition it has a three quarter height secretarial pocket on the inside rear cover.
The Kensington has a plain back cover with just the clasp attached to it. The Cavendish has a zip pocket on the back cover which can take the odd paper ticket or similar. Very useful if you don't want to open the organiser each time. The zip is nicely concealed by leather flaps on both sides of the opening.
 |
| L - R Cavendish and Kensington |
These days you might pay a similar price for either organiser in similar good condition. Back in 2000 the Cavendish Personal retailed for £65 and it was available in four colours (Black, Brown, Burgundy, Navy). In the same catalogue the Kensington Personal is listed at £46 and it was available in six colours (Black, Brown, Burgundy, Navy, Red, Green.
The other notable fact about the Kensington is that it was available in almost all sizes then. (Mini, Pocket, Slimline, Personal, A5, Deskfax and A4. The only sizes missing M2 and Compact! However, not all sizes had all colours. The Cavendish was available in Mini, Pocket, Compact and Personal sizes.
Further Information:
Which do you like of these two?
Thank you for this interesting post! I like the Cavendish a lot because of its high quality. The leather is very soft and it is so well sewn.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely a Cavendish fan, I have two the brown and burgundy one, but wouldnt mind trying a Kensington when I find out in the right price!
ReplyDeleteBoth are nice models, and I own a few of both, and the Cavendish has more features, and the larger ring capacity. However, the Kensington is one of my favourite Filofax models of all time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great post, Steve.
ReplyDeleteLike Alan, the Kensington is my favourite too, but I could also see myself using a Cavendish is I needed larger rings. Both great models.