Fratello EDC: RJ Shares His Everyday Carry Essentials From Porter-Yoshida, Leica, Dupont, Persol, and More
It’s funny how one’s everyday carry (EDC) can change in just a few years. Even though I have been applying the “buy once, cry once” philosophy for many years, it seems I cry more often than I would have thought.
Many things from my 2022 EDC article have either been replaced or moved to the background. With the latter, I still have them but find myself carrying other items instead while occasionally using the old ones. Pens are a good example. I used my vintage Pelikan 400 tortoise a lot then, but now I use another pen. In addition, I retired the orange four-pen holder, as it’s a hassle carrying four pens every day. Now I have a pouch with one rollerball and one fountain pen. I still use the Victoronix Dutch military knife but only at home. I use one of our smaller Victorinox Bergeon knives in the office for opening boxes. These are just a few examples of changes. Most things in this EDC article differ from the 2022 article. There are also a few bits and pieces I’d never used or owned back then. You’ll see.
Sony out, Leica in
When I started Fratello, I always used Nikon cameras. At some point, I started using Sony A7 cameras with 50mm and 90mm macro lenses. The Sony A7 did a great job, but I didn’t use it as much as I’d planned. I only take pictures occasionally for work, as Fratello has had professional photographers for a long time. So mainly during events, where I am alone, I tend to bring a camera to take some pictures of new watches and the event itself. Carrying around a camera with two or more lenses is no fun (for me). I like to travel light, and with camera equipment, the aluminum cabin trolley fills up quickly. Morgan, our previous photographer, was an avid user of the Leica Q2 (besides the professional Canon gear he used), and he let me try it to see if it was for me.
I was amazed by the ease of use and the quality of the images. The 28mm/F1.7 Summilux lens has a macro setting, which works very nicely for taking wristshots. I decided to go for it, even though I felt the price was (very) steep. The flipside of the coin is that I have taken more pictures with this Leica Q3 than I ever did with any other camera. It’s easy to take with me on trips, simple and quick to use, and requires no lens hassle. Post-processing is hardly necessary; a quick touch-up in Lightroom is just fine. It’s a piece of equipment I carry with me every day. I am not looking forward to the day this camera needs replacement, but I guess I am good, as I still see many using their Q2s and finding no reason to update them.
Castelijn & Beerens out, Porter-Yoshida & Co. in
In 2022, I featured my Castelijn & Beerens briefcase, a brown leather bag that could carry my laptop, pens, notebook, and other small stuff. However, this year I realized I needed something bigger that would also fit my Leica Q3 camera and the occasional watch roll or two. Especially during travel, it’s convenient to have a bigger bag. Finding a proper bag I liked took me quite some time. Like some of my colleagues, I’d been looking at various helmet bags, tote bags, and even backpacks. I also used a bag from Uniqlo for a while, but the handles would cut into my hands when it got too heavy. It was very annoying.
Thanks to Lex, I landed on a website that also offered bags from Porter-Yoshida & Co. I had never heard of the company before, but it offers quite a nice collection of bags. I didn’t want something in leather or canvas, so I chose nylon instead. It’s durable and water resistant, so I only needed to pick the correct size. I went with the black Porter-Yoshida & Co. Force 2Way Tote Bag because it will fit everything I like carrying around. The company started making bags in 1962 and is located in Japan. All production takes place in Japan as well.
Secrid out, wallet in
I’ve advocated using the Secrid card holder for a long time. The problem is that the modest-sized one only allows a limited number of plastic cards. As you know, you will eventually own many of these cards. I also wanted something that gave me some space to carry tickets, some cash, and so on, so I went back to the traditional wallet.
I didn’t want a pocket for coins since I hardly need or use them. These days, I pay for most things with my iPhone, but I sometimes need a physical card to make payments. Though I used a Montblanc wallet for a long time, this LV one was a gift, and I started using it from the day I got it. Both wallets are of excellent quality and will surely last a long time. I still vouch for Secrid wallets, though; they’re great quality and do the job if you just want to carry a few plastic cards. Fun fact: the Secrid company is located across our office building, where the business was founded.
Van der Spek pen case out, Montblanc pouch in
I used to carry a bunch of fountain pens with me, so I wanted a case that would fit four of them. I had one made by Van der Spek, in orange with black leather lining. Carrying four pens became a bit of a burden, though, as I noticed I would use just one or two. So I went through my stuff at home and found my old Montblanc pouch, which I have had for probably 20 years or even longer. I believe it’s been out of production for a long time, but I like it a lot. It fits two pens, and I carry one rollerball and one fountain pen. The fountain pen changes occasionally, as I have a modest collection.
In recent weeks, I’ve been using my Montblanc Great Characters John F. Kennedy fountain pen. I have the burgundy version (there’s also a blue one) with gold hardware. It’s an excellent match with my Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11 Moonshine Gold watch. The other pen in the images is the Montblanc Around the World in 80 Days rollerball. I also have the fountain version of this pen, but the rollerball is a great EDC.
I could do a separate article on pens, as I love to collect them. My collection is not limited to Montblanc, either. I also love Pelikan and my Italian pens from Montegrappa and Stipula. My notebook is also in the pictures here. When I wrote my previous EDC article, I was still using ones from Clairefontaine with superb-quality paper inside, which is essential for fountain pens. But those are hard to come by here, so for the last year or so, I’ve been using notebooks from Leuchturm1917. I prefer Clairefontaine’s paper, but the hassle of getting one is too much.
Persol 649
I swapped sunglasses relatively often in the past, but these days, I use varifocal lenses, and they cost me an arm and a leg every time I buy a new pair of glasses. I have these classic Turin tram driver glasses from Persol, reference 649 in Resina E Sale (resin and salt). Initially, these frames came with beautiful blue lenses, but according to my optician, varifocal lenses were impossible in this color. Something is off with the temples, so I must have that fixed. As I wear glasses, I find it annoying to switch from regular glasses to sunglasses constantly. Unfortunately, there’s no contact-lens solution for my cylindrical deviation; it can only be corrected with glasses. Anyway, I like the classic aesthetics of the Persol 649, and I think they always look great on people.
S.T. Dupont Ligne 1 lighter
I am not a smoker, but I like to light a cigar once or twice a year. Is it even “allowed” to use a gas lighter for cigars? So be it. I just tend to light a cigar at midnight on New Year’s Eve and sometimes in a hotel’s cigar lounge. Long ago, I used to own a beautiful S.T. Dupont lighter with a Clous de Paris motif, but I gifted it to my mom at some point. Last year, I decided I wanted to own a nice lighter for lighting cigars (but I find myself using it on candles at home most of the time), and found this old S.T. Dupont Ligne 1 lighter in gold on a local (online) marketplace. The seller had many different ones, but I liked this one best, and it came with a box and papers. It’s a cool accessory for sure.
GlaxoSmithKline Imigran
I’ve suffered from headaches for as long as I can remember. But in 2003, after a few evenings when I already felt something was off, I woke up in the middle of the night with a painful headache like I’d never experienced. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the eye with a knife. It lasted seemingly forever, but at some point it stopped, and I fell asleep, incredibly tired. The next night, at the same time, it happened again. This repeated itself several nights, and the doctor couldn’t think of anything other than a sinus infection and gave me medication for that. It didn’t help, of course. After a while and many phone calls and visits later, I got an appointment at a hospital with a neurologist, who quickly identified the problem as cluster headaches. I knew about headaches and migraines (they run in the family), but I had never heard of cluster headaches. Well, I can tell you all about them now, more than 20 years later.
Several years ago, I found a good treatment (Watson Headache Approach) that reduced their frequency to once every two or three years. But these periods in which they occur can easily last eight weeks or longer. So I am making sure I always carry my Glaxo-Pen with a few cylinders of Imigran to load it with. These injections are pretty painless, and once a cluster headache starts, I need to inject myself immediately. Then it takes approximately 10 minutes for the attack to disappear. So, unfortunately, this is in my EDC, but I share this for those suffering from the same, although I am pretty sure they know what to do. I also have to add that my cluster headaches are relatively mild (but still painful) compared to those that others experience.
Signet ring
This ring is not exactly new. I received it from my mom when I turned 21. It’s a 14K yellow gold signet ring with a blue-layer stone. Since we have no family weapon, two of my initials are engraved on it. They are mirrored, of course, so that if I seal an envelope with (red) wax, the initials will show correctly. I hadn’t worn it for years, but when my mom got sick last year, I realized how much the ring meant to me. The first time I visited my mom after putting the signet ring on, she immediately commented. Not many people are into these rings, but I don’t care. I like it, and it’s meaningful to me.
A funny story to add here is that when I went to my watchmaker and goldsmith to have it resized, he asked me when I’d bought it from him. I told him that I got it from my mom, and she’d bought it at a local jeweler in the Netherlands in the late 1990s. He then took a loupe, observed the ring briefly, and said, “I made this ring.” Apparently, he made rings like this for a larger company that specialized in gold (signet) rings, which were then distributed to jewelers.
Keychain
My car key is on a Space Shuttle keychain I purchased last May when I visited NASA in Houston as part of a press trip with Omega. The Space Shuttle keychain replaces my gold-colored Lego figurine, which I had on there for a long time. Unfortunately, the gold color didn’t hold up. The NASA Space Center shop also had a Saturn V rocket as a keychain, which my daughter uses for her bicycle.
My watch
I have been using the WristTrack app to track my watches this year. Unsurprisingly, the Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11 in Moonshine Gold from 2019 is my most-worn watch in 2025. Since 1999, I have been buying and collecting Speedmasters, and this gold limited edition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing is the best variation of the Moonwatch Omega has ever made. It is a wonderful re-edition of the 1969 gold Speedmaster “Tribute to Astronauts” edition, complete with some superb details, like the lunar meteorite insert on the case back. I can’t think of any other watches I’d rather own, which means this is my grail watch.
Closing thoughts
Writing this article made me realize how lucky I am to own many nice things. Some items are insanely expensive and have increased steeply in the last few years. Ultimately, I don’t mind paying a certain price for something as long as it meets my expectations. And then, of course, there’s a big pre-owned market for many things, including S.T. Dupont lighters, fountain pens, and whatever you can think of. It’s a nice thought that good stuff is kept in rotation (not only watches)! I recently made my wife unhappy by buying some old Bang & Olufsen audio equipment (the famous Beolab 8000 speakers, for example). I am sure I enjoy using it as much as the original owner did. So check out the pre-owned market for specific things; it might be worth doing so!
