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Rob, a 24-year-old defense systems engineer has all the trappings of someone very successful.  I’m not sure what a defense system engineer does for a living, but clearly he’s no refuse engineer.  He sends his Working Week EDC for our Everyday Carry Pocket Dump of the Day.

Where shall I start?  How about the Montblanc keychain fob.  Judging by the other Montblanc fobs, you’ll need a couple of C-notes to get it and it doesn’t even come with a bottle opener, flashlight, or a fuzzy slipper.

Then there’s the $848 Mont Blanc 25330 Boheme Bleu pen.   Or the $10,000 Rolex Submariner watch.  And then there is the $725ish Alfred Dunhill Rollagas Lighter.  Or the very nice Maxwell Scott wallet.  Crikey!

God bless him for achieving success so early in life.  But then again, he drives a Ford Focus.

I surely hope he has a good carry rig for that Green GLOCK 19x.   He does have a Zero Tolerance folder, but no flashlight.

Does anyone know of the “Prada” or “Montblanc” equivalent in flashlight manufacturers?  If so, send Rob a note.

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50 COMMENTS

  1. The Ford Focus RS has 350bhp and AWD.
    That’s high end for econoboxes. But then, the Mustang is soon to be the only car produced by Ford and everything else in their sales lots will be trucks and SUVs…

    • 350 horses? OMG. Never would have guessed that! Especially in that tiny little car. It probably hauls ass.

      Then again, I just don’t see the Focus having a certain sort of “magnet” with it that would be desirable for a 24-year-old single guy…

      • It also has AWD to ensure all that power is transferred, via grippy tires, to the ground.
        “Defence”, that’s how they say in in the UK. In the US we call it Defense. Maybe he works for BAE?, they do a lot of work for DoD and have offices in free states.
        Missing a light, holster and spare mag. Pretty fancy and nice EDC for an engineer, well done.

        • BTW, I believe this systems engineer’s job is to manage how to integrate, for example, an upgraded weapon system or countermeasure system to an existing version of a combat system for a warship or fighter plane.

        • That’s how I understand it, Jack. If all the fun ‘toys’ don’t play well together, the end result is useless.

          (*WARNING* I drive like Ken Block…)

    • I, too, carry a G19 regularly without a spare mag…. why?

      Cause I don’t want to…

      I also leave the toilet seat up and use the same knife for peanut butter and the jelly. Take that society.

      • Spread the peanut butter on one slice, clean the blade on the other slice of bread, spread the jelly. No cross contamination that way. It’s a technique I developed at the age of 10. You may use t no charge.

  2. One 10,000 dollar watch or 2 Wilson combat supergrades. I think I’d rock a timex. McGizmo would be flashlight maker I’d choose if I wanted to drop 500 on a flashlight.

  3. If you make your stuff too nice, it ends up being…you don’t own your stuff, your stuff owns you. He’ll learn that someday, but like everyone else (when they’re young) its not a an easy lesson to teach. $5 is a good price ceiling for a pen, and its even better if your pen came for free at the bank. And a bic lighter will suffice as a piece of emergency gear. I mean…I’m sure the guy doesn’t smoke, why would he? Its a ruthlessly foolish endeavor, we all know that, and it would be made even more foolish by using a stratospherically priced lighter.

    • I’m with you Madcapp, I’m not sure why the dude is rocking out so much money on a lighter and a pen but if you want a sign that says look at me. I guess you can carry whatever you want. I did buy a Submariner in ’98 but it was only $2800 new back then. Personally a bic pen and zippo for a combined $25 bucks works fine for me. Then I can buy another firearm and ammo as well. To each his own.

      • My phone has a clock, calendar, flashlight, and cat videos. I consider it far too expensive for what it does, and the price doesn’t even come close to most of these fancy single-purpose tools. Pretty sure I am becoming a grouchy old man…

    • I am also with you.

      I used to carry a Nighthawk Custom 1911. It was gorgeous. Man Jewelery.

      I was in the process of boxing up my Colt Lightweight Officers ACP, itself a $1200 gun, to send to Wilson Combat. So they could make it actually shoot well.

      Then I noticed my G19 in the corner of my safe. I put the G19 over the top of the OACP. I noticed they were the same size. The Glock was actually thinner and lighter.

      The Glock held 16 rounds of 9mm.
      The OACP held 7 rounds of .45.

      The Glock was worth $550.
      The OACP would be worth $2600 when Wilson was done with it.

      At that point I decided that while a fancy 1911 is great as a toy and object d’art, it wasn’t the tool for me. I sold the OACP.

      All my 1911s now are full sized range toys.

  4. I had no idea the submariners were up to that point.
    I got mine for 2,500 after my top ten finish at the world 3 gun shoot. It was a special treat to myself for finishing 7th overall.
    Good grief, that was in the early ‘90’s.

    • Yeah, the Rolex market is nuts right now. $10K is actually an okay price for a new Sub. The problem is that even if you have the cash, the watches themselves are unavailable from authorized dealers. It’s said that Rolex is artificially limiting supply right now. I’ve also heard that there’s a “list” that the AD’s have of people in their territory that have priority (think pro athletes, actors, etc.). So, the dealer just might have that Daytona in stock, but it won’t be for sale to you.

      • That’s crazy. I looked at a Sub 10 years ago or so. I decided against it and bought something else. At the time a decent stainless one was $3k used.

        Daytonas were $10k.

        What is a Daytona worth these days??!!??

  5. Hmmmm. I guess I would expect to see at least a Wilsom Combat pistol for someone of such discriminating tastes.

    And using a lighter for everyday illumination is a little wanting in my book.

  6. This is just my opinion(obviosly) but this is by far the biggest douche bag dump of the year. Let me just display how manly I am by showing off the expensive shit own to everyone. Maybe it was the tone and style the the article was written in but REALLY,come on dude. And the Focous which is referenced probably is the rs edition, hell even the rs edition Fiesta is sick just check Ken Block light up SF in 600hp fiesta on youtube

    • Jealous much?? I’ll never understand why some of you judge so many others by what they spend their money on. His money….his choice. For a 24 year old professional with probably no wife and kids that kinda stuff isn’t hard to afford. It surely doesn’t make him a douche or any less of a man because he has a specific taste.

      I can understand the no flashlight or spare mag criticism but the jealously is junivile and speaks poor of your character.

      • Just because he has a choice doesn’t mean we can’t laugh at someone for being pretentious. And yes, spending that sort of ridiculous money on vanity items speaks to someone’s character.

        • …and the fact that he probably carries *because* he flashes so much money. Geez…a $10K watch? No thanks. I’d rather have a reliable $100 timepiece, $5000 in rock solid guns, ammo, and prep, and the remaining $4900 for a rainy day.

          Even if I won the lottery, I would never flash cash and hardware.

  7. Defense Systems Engineer?

    Shouldn’t he be carrying two briefcases and a bat? And order breakfast at the fast food joint after 11 am?

    (kidding…kidding!)

  8. The problem with having a Rolex is that a lot of people are going to think it’s fake, since they’re the most faked watch around (especially the Sub). There are some really, really good fakes nowadays, BTW. You’d have to remove the caseback and look at the movement to tell for sure. You can get a fake with a high-beat Swiss automatic movement (matching the smooth second hand sweep of the real thing) for around $300-500. These days, I don’t think I’d ever buy a Rolex from anyone other than an authorized dealer.

      • Aside from knowing that you own a real Rolex, I’m not sure. That’s why I’d rather own a lot of mid-tier watches rather than only one high-end watch.

    • Truth right there: I bought an “authentic” fake Panerai (Power Reserve Automatic) at a flea market in Vietnam for $200. It matches a real one down to the feel of the mainspring when you wind it. I work with sales people who have GMTs, Marinas etc… and none of them could tell. If you look at the movement in the case back you would only be able to tell if you were nerdy enough to know which movement Panerai used in specific years the watches were made. It even kept good time (lost about 5 minutes over the 6 months I wore it for) and the 40hr power reserve was actually accurate.

      I stopped wearing it not because it was an obvious fake, quite the opposite, I stopped wearing it precisely because it wasn’t obvious and I took a job change where people would know what it was and I didn’t want to put out the impression that I was the kind of person who had $10k watch money lying around. That and my wife bought me a real IWC Pilot for our anniversary. The real-fake Panerai still sits on a watch winder in my closet though.

    • I’ve read a number of articles about Rolex that state it isn’t considered a high end watch by people that are fanatical about and really know watches. At least not anymore.

      • Simple details: the proportions of the case, the details on the dial/bezel, the strap (both finish on the materials and the details on where the strap attaches to the case).

        It also just doesn’t square with the surroundings: cheap car (sorry boy racers, people who have Rolex money don’t buy riced out Ford’s, no one cares how fast it is), cheap gun, cheap knife, cheap sunglasses in profile pic, doesn’t know how to spell defense, doesn’t know how to shave… etc.

  9. But…but, how can this be so. All the young people in America are making minimum wage and living in poverty. Or so I’ve been told.

    I know a kid. A real nerd that got pushed around a lot in school. He did 2 years at a community college and his first job at a video game company was at 6 figures. His starting salary.

    Looks like our defense engineer is one of the young that are doing, not whining.

    • Yup, I’m not going to hate on him. At least he’s a productive member of society, and not a drain on it, which is a lot more than I can say for most people his age. If we had more like him, we wouldn’t be “feeling the Bern” as much as we are!

    • We graduate a considerable number of students from my CS department each year who go on to starting salaries in the 70, 80, 90, 100k ranges. Not all of them are in traditional computer engineering positions, either, but also in games (like you mention), research, software development, and interaction design. It’s the “studies” students who should think more carefully about how well cultural agitation and professional outrage really pay…

      I’ll say this though: a 24 year old engineer making 90-100k a year still has no business dropping 10k on a watch. Save for retirement. Make a down payment on a house. Invest. Get some culture. Think about all the ways life (and income) can go sideways for you down the line and prepare for the worst. Buying nice things from time to time is cool, but have some sense.

      • Yessir. The young man I referenced saved money, got married and bought a nice house in Idaho. He works from home and only occasionally returns to CA for business. His kids go to Christian school. And he just turned 30.

    • Good on him, I say. I made my first six figures in my late 20’s and won’t apologize for it. I grew poor and clawed my way to it with long hours and hard work.

      I hate when people say, “oh, you’re lucky.” My answer is always, “it’s not luck.”

  10. Everything in that picture is straight off the mass produced shelf. Try visiting the real EDC world. Hand made coolness in small batches and sold by the makers themselves. Flashlights? Start with a Barrel Flashlight. Good luck getting one.

  11. Why do I never see 2 guns in any of these EDC dumps? All of my teachers who were gunfight survivors, winners, carried 2-3 at all times.

  12. If he has the dough for it, good for him.

    Just don’t be a $30,000-millionaire with no cash, nice shit, and high interest payments coming out of your ears

  13. Spending thousands on a watch? Hundreds on a pen? Must be nice to crap dollar bills. All I see is someone setting themselves up for an armed robbery. Hope he can get to that Glock in time.

  14. The Focus RS is actually pretty spacious on the inside ( I’m 6ft 205lbs) and there’s plenty of room in the 2017 that I own( all leather power seats are infinitely adjustable)plus… it’s REALLY FUN TO DRIVE!
    I would recommend the OLight family of penlights. At about $50 they are superb!

  15. Sniff… Sniff…. Smells like a Pawn Shop collection. Another EVERY DAY CARRY with ZERO wear and tear! More reality in a worn, stand alone, Bersa.

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