Filofax York - Revisited

Looking back through Philofaxy from around about 2015 last weekend, I thought this post deserved to be revisited with a new eye to details we have learnt since then. 

1993 was a period of transition for the Filofax company, they were ending production of organisers in UK and in this case in Italy and sending production overseas to the Far East, where I suspect production costs were only a fraction of what they were in UK and Europe. 

This era was in my opinion has the best quality organisers in their range. The accuracy and closeness of the stitching on this York is a joy to look at. 

Comparing the Filofax Belmont and the Filofax York

These two organisers come from two very different eras in the time line of the Filofax company. 

The Belmont from the 'modern' era of about 2004-2006 and available in Pocket, Personal and A5

The York model was around from about 1993-1998 and it was available in  Mini, Pocket, Personal, A5 and Deskfax sizes. 

Today I'm just going to compare the personal size in each model. 

Both models were only available in Black and Tan leather, I have both in Tan as you will see from the photos. 

The York feels more 'traditional' in its design and looking at it in detail, it is made to a higher standard than the Belmont. 

The Belmont on the left has the more 'stylish' clasp and contrast detailed stitching compared to the York on the right, which could have been made in any decade from 1950 onwards!

The detailed stitching on the Belmont continues to the back cover on the clasp as well. The York is a lot simpler in its design. 

The spine as well on the Belmont is treated to the detailed contrast stitching. 

Internally the Belmont Personal size has a very simple layout. On the left hand side we have four vertical card slots and a full height vertical slip pocket. On the right hand side another two card slots and another full height vertical slip pocket. It also features two pen loops and 23 mm rings 

On the front cover it features a neat double popper arrangement allowing you to expand the capacity of the organiser as needed. The unused popper remains covered by the clasp in either position, which is great. 

The York features 8 horizontal card slots and a full height slip pocket on the left hand side. On the right hand side it has another full height slip pocket and a zip pocket. The zipper is covered by an extension to the pocket. Again two pen loops and 23 mm rings. 

Earlier York models had the model details in gold lettering as shown below, later ones became embossed. 

The Belmont states it is made from Italian calf leather. The York just states Calf Leather, but 'Made in Italy' It's also labelled 'Filofax of England' 

As a bit of trivia Belmont is a town in Durham, although the village name appears in other parts of UK as well. Belmont is the site of a TV/Radio transmitter, hence how I know it!

Which do you prefer? The Belmont or the York?  

Filofax York - A glimpse in to the past by Steve

The period or era between about 1991-92 and 2005 is a gap in my regular use of a Filofax. I started using one in 1986 (my black Winchester).

By 1992 my Filofax had been put in away and replaced with one electronic device followed by a few more.

This electronic wizardry was terminated by a very officious looking security gentleman, who on seeing my HP iPaq on my office desk said to me

'Sorry Mr Morton but you can't use that in the office' 

I questioned the reasoning, he quoted almost word for word an office notice about the use of personal electronic devices including PDA's, but not at the exclusion of any device that could store or record data, voice, unless encrypted to some long standard number.

This guy obviously wrote this office notice and loved quoting it at people who showed even a sniff of interest in the contents of Notice 1283-A/2003 issue 2.1 revised September 2003... or what ever it was called....

I asked about my Psion organiser.... No... it can record audio... OK Filofax? He sort of looked at me with a quizzical view and looked down at my list of holdings (protective marked and registered documents), which sadly for him was very short, but he insisted on seeing every document, notebook or manual so he could sign the checking sheet in each of them and sign me off as being a good boy until his next 'flash visit'

It sounds like a script from St Trinians I know, but word would flash around the building when 'Derek from Security' was 'in the building'. Everyone would make mad scatter to make themselves scarce... but I digress......

So when I got home from work that night I got my Filofax out again, I put my electronic toys to one side and gradually started refreshing the pages in my Filofax... I gained an A5 Finsbury for ease of printing out calendars and inserts etc. At this point I hadn't even thought or considered what had happened to Filofax in the period I hadn't been using one. Until one day when some how by accident in about 2008 I discovered Philofaxy. At this time Nan was running it on her own.

It got me interested in the use of organisers a bit more, up to this point it had just been a 'style accessory', a diary, a place to store maps and addresses. Suddenly a new world opened,  I read all of the posts from day 1 of Philofaxy, to what was the current day back then. I managed a year per day without too much difficulty. I learnt a lot by reading through the old posts. I started to comment more frequently and obviously got noticed... in 2009 Nan invited me to join her along with Laurie.

So back to this missing era... 1992-2005 it wasn't until recently that I realised that Filofax produced quite a wide variety of organisers in this period some good some not so good. Seeing these various models in the old catalogues I've been scanning (I've nearly finished!) got me interested in some of the older models to see what they were like.

Despite what people might think I don't know that much about the older models <shock horror>!! If someone writes in and asks a question I often ask others if they know the answer if I can't find the answer myself.

So when one of our readers offered me a Filofax York I found it very hard to say no. It wasn't a model I was familiar with, but when I saw the picture and description in the 1993 catalogue I couldn't wait to see it for myself.

A catalogue picture is one thing, but to actually hold one in your own hands is another thing.

As you can see it shares the interior design with the Sherwood as did other models at the time.

A very pleasant surprise when the parcel arrived was the original box. This was a time capsule of Filofax nostalgia. I love the full description on the label of the box. And the embossed 'f' in the box lid adds a lovely touch to it.

So inside this is the York in tan calf leather.

A skinny clasp similar to lots of models at the time.

Two pen loops, not elasticated though. 

Note the square profile of the spine, unlike current models that tend to be more rounded.

Eight card slots, enough for most people I would think! Note the  fILOFAX of England, York, Calf Leather, Made in Italy below the card slots . 

A neat pocket and zip pocket in the back cover.

The f on the spine, we have been trying to establish when Filofax started adding this feature. I like the contrast stitching although it blends in nicely on this model. There are no quality control three letter codes on the inside of the clasp or anywhere else on the organiser as far as I can see.

I don't know the history of this particular organiser, it is not surprising that it doesn't lay flat it looks unused to me or virtually unused. The pen loops are still flat, the leather is in beautifully clean and unmarked condition.

There is no quality control stamp on the inside of the clasp so this example could be older than 1993, but there's no mention of the York in the 1991 price list.

It might have been a lovely gift to someone back in about 1993. May be they already owned a Winchester and didn't want to move out of it, but I'm smitten with it. It really is a lovely organiser to own and use.