COURGcrew —
I’m at JFK about to board and thought I’d share the flight plan for the next few days so you have a sense of where we’re headed. Here’s the rough coordinates for the next few days. This tour of duty will be intense and we’ll have a lot of big decisions to make.
JFK-YYZ-HKG
Sat-Sun, 14-15 NOV
Transit: JFK –> YYZ –> HKG
Mon, 16 NOV
AM: Dial manufacturer. Will learn about the entire process of how they make the dials.
PM: Hand manufacturer. A rare glimpse inside the watch hand manufacturing process.
Tu, 17 NOV
AM : Case manufacturers. Inspect the production line, machining process, finishing.
PM: Leather strap manufacturer. Confirm leather samples.
Wed, 18 NOV
AM: Meet Mission Log printers and interview new potential manufacturers.
PM: Meeting with a former director of a German watch operation.
Thu, 19 NOV
Full day: Watch assembly operations. Seiko’s technical engineers will be on hand supervising.
Fri, 20 NOV
AM: Meet potential new manufacturer with tritium capabilities
PM: Tour fulfillment partner facilities and learn about their operations.
Sat-Sun, 21-22 NOV
Transit: HKG –> YYX –> JFK –> R&R
Gear in Tow
Landing Gear
I’ll be dropping into our ground operations with two objectives:
- Ensure COURG build continues to taxi down the runway and check the flight manifesto for quality in time for wheels up.
- Create a short documentary to share the journey of our COURG time machine construction.
Above you see an early photo of my planned gear. For visuals, I’ll be shooting stills (Nikon D700, I swapped out the D3 to keep more lean) and also 4K video (Panasonic Lumix Gx-8, new tool and I’m excited to get it out in the field), along with a variety of lenses. I’ll capture audio with an on-camera hot-shoe mounted Sennheiser shotgun.
Have a good weekend, and my next dispatch will be from the field. Godspeed. elbert, over and out.