We have to thank Nick for sending in the following post about his recent purchase of the Filofax Japan Centennial Edition that we featured last year here on Philofaxy.
I’ve never seen or held a classic Winchester in person, but after you posted about the Japanese Winchester Centennial release, I became curious. I watched several auctions on eBay, but all were ridiculously overpriced. Finally, I noticed one available via Amazon Japan for what I believe to be the retail price (approx. 361 USD), and I decided to pull the trigger.
It’s beautifully packaged – large outer cardboard carton, and a very durable, thick box with an interior cover insert and velvety cloth wrapping.
I’m very impressed by the binder’s quality – perfect stitching (unlike the Chester, it’s a seamless edge, rather than having the leather wrapped around), and beautiful 25mm gold rings perfectly aligned. It’s an incredibly durable and thick binder – much sturdier than others I own, including the Chester – but even after a week’s use it’s begun to soften a bit, and feels softer to the touch. You can tell this is made to last a lifetime.
The flyleaf is great – and unlike the Heritage flyleaf, the ring holes are sufficiently large so that it moves and turns seamlessly without snagging.
I very much like the ring protectors, though the design makes it difficult to access the pockets (made even more difficult by the thickness and stiffness of the leather). And the pen loop is about the smallest I’ve seen, with no give. For now I’ve been sliding my pen clip through the loop.
The fill (not pictured) was disappointing – exactly the same as the standard Luxury fill (icon front sheet, cotton cream stationery, brown ruler/pagemarker).
All in all, I’m very pleased – I hope Filofax decides to launch a reissue in the UK/US as well.
Thank you Nick for sharing the images and your thoughts about this organiser. What do you think, would you buy one? Let us know in the comments below.
