u/SirSamkin

1. Doxa Sub 250T
2. Ray Ban Clubmasters
3. Beretta M1935 in Azula holster
4. Wallet from the local fair
5. Cretan pocket knife
6. Orthodox cross
7. Work gloves (helping a friend with yard work)
8. Report to Greco (current read)

What a great little book! Stayed together getting smashed in my pack or soaked with sweat in my pocket. The accordion folder in the back was great for collecting scraps to paste in once I got home. I filled about 110 pages with writing, I’ll fill the rest with my scraps and some wallet photos of the trip 😁

What can I say? It’s just a damned good watch. I just returned from 2 weeks of backpacking the mountains of rural Crete and there was only one watch I was gonna bring with me. Though it got some pretty nasty scratches on the side of the case from scraping in narrow gorges, and some dents and dings, it held up very well for both scrambling around ruins and swimming in the Libyan sea. Durable and discreet, I have to say it was absolutely the right tool for the job and I’d pick it again!

This is early not all I carried (that’ll come soon when I shake it all out) but here’s some of the stuff I carried on my body and in my pack’s brain during 2 weeks of hiking rural, mountainous Crete in 100F+ weather

1. ⁠Doxa Sub 250T (this was super nice to have on the trip, I’d had it set to local time an then my time back home in the states
2. ⁠Fuji XE-2s with 27mm lens
3. ⁠Passport
4. ⁠Suunto KB-14 compass
5. ⁠National Geographic map of Crete (no gps allowed on this trip!)
6. ⁠PaperBlanks 240 page journal (filled about 3/4 of it!)
7. ⁠Zebra Sarasa brown ink pen 0.5
8. ⁠Locally acquired straw hat (vital in high heat and sun)
9. ⁠Freedom and Death, Kazantzakis (incredible to read while on the trail, really set the tone for the whole thing)
10. ⁠Glacier goggles
11. ⁠Locally acquired carbon steel knife with olive wood handle (like a Cretan opinel, I used it to cut up food on the trail)
12. ⁠Ikon and cross from Arkadi Monastary (most meaningful place I went, set the tone for the entire trip)
13. ⁠Nalgene (there was little water on long stretches of this trip, and temps in the 100s, so I carried 4 Nalgenes and an additional 2-4L of water on top of that at parts)

I just got home from about 2 weeks back packing rural Crete… it’s obviously not everything, but here’s my boots, hat, and what I kept in the admin part of my pack:

1. Doxa Sub 250T (this was super nice to have on the trip, I’d had it set to local time an then my time back home in the states

2. Fuji XE-2s with 27mm lens

3. Passport

4. Suunto KB-14 compass

5. National Geographic map of Crete (no gps allowed on this trip!)

6. PaperBlanks 240 page journal (filled about 3/4 of it!)

7. Zebra Sarasa brown ink pen 0.5

8. Locally acquired straw hat (vital in high heat and sun)

9. Freedom and Death, Kazantzakis (incredible to read while on the trail, really set the tone for the whole thing)

10. Glacier goggles

11. Locally acquired carbon steel knife with olive wood handle (like a Cretan opinel, I used it to cut up food on the trail)

12. Ikon and cross from Arkadi Monastary (most meaningful place I went, set the tone for the entire trip)

13. Nalgene (there was little water on long stretches of this trip, and temps in the 100s, so I carried 4 Nalgenes and an additional 2-4L of water on top of that at parts)

1. Sig Sauer P229 Elite
2. Beretta M1935

This is my only 1911, a 1981 Colt Government I snagged from the used case in a small Ohio town last Christmas.

Per the shopkeeper, the old owner was a bit of a local legend in the competitive shooting scene and this was his pride and joy. His son traded it to the shop for credit towards a Staccato, and that’s how I got it.

I knew nothing about 1911s when I got it, but the thing that sold me is how absolutely smooth the action is and how light and crisp the trigger is compared to the new colts and the 2011s the shop mainly stocked. I also loved the worn grips and blued finish.

Modifications include stippling on the front strap, checkering on the rear slide and extractor, milling the slide to accept the adjustable Wichita combat sight and a larger front sight. It also features Magna-porting and an Ed brown barrel and bushing, and what appears to be a modified and checkered hammer. Most of the internal parts appear to be non-stock and the mainspring housing and grip safety are vintage rubberized Pachmeyr.

Doxas are cool. They just are. From Jacques Cousteau to Robert Redford, they just drop with this 60s and 70s cool that everyone loves. I got this one about a year and a half ago from my wife as a gift since I wanted a GMT for work that would also hold up to field use.

So far it’s been amazing. For a Doxa, it’s quite small (37mm!!!) and it wears so well I forget I have it on most of the time. I usually wear it on a Beads of Rice bracelet but recently I’ve been throwing it on some Marine Nationale straps. They’re very comfy, lower-key than the bracelet and suprisingly dry quite fast once you’re out of the water.

The GMT feature is also tops. I like that it looks so definition Doxa, and yet the paper clip hand lets you immediately know which one is pointing to the 24hr time. The only change I’d probably make is to make the 24hr chapter ring a bit bigger, as it can be hard to see.