Field Ops: RECON Flight Plan

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.

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

I’ll be dropping into our ground operations with two objectives:

1. Ensure COURG build continues to taxi down the runway and check the flight manifesto for quality in time for wheels up.
2. 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.