Thank you everyone! Just came back from quick ride - very happy! Bike tracks nicely, fit feels great, very happy! Wheelset/tires combo feels great as well - combined with compliant steel frame gives very smooth ride.
And I figured out stem - I remember oddjob or wrk101 mentioned Sunlite two bolt stem (Sunlite Stem Quill Alloy 2BOLT 180x22 2X80SL | eBay) and I think it will give me exact same position and cleaner look. I bought VO stem and quill column for another project but fit turned out great so I kept it on Bertin.
So happy - it's been my longest project ever, I bought the bike last summer and it went through several iterations (none made me quite happy) and finally I like what came out.

Also hoping that someone may recognize the model, perhaps have catalogue scan, etc - this frame is in "never for sale" category for me and may be in several years I'll build it with original parts (which is terra incognita for now - I think bertinjim mentioned it is close/similar to C35 French model)