COURG : A-11

FIELD REPORTS
#COURG = COURAGE

The COURG ORIGIN: Mission critical pilot instruments, fused with diver tools.

COURG is a way point, which is a navigational tool used by pilots to chart their flight across the globe. Way points are composed of 5-letters and made to be spoken as a word so pilots can quickly transmit their location via radio. This particular way point stands just outside Washington, DC and as you probably guessed -- is pronounced COURAGE.

We chose COURG because courage is a character trait we could all use more of -- choosing to make the right and often difficult decisions even when we know the going will get tough.

A-11: American Legend

The COURG A-11 pays tribute to the WWII American fighter pilots who strapped these timepieces to their wrists and helped lead to the Allies' victory. 

When we embarked with the goal to build the perfect timepiece forged for every adventure, we turned to mission critical pilot instruments, which helped the Allied air corp and troops win World War II. We selected the time-tested and proven A-11, a classification of original American designs based on a military spec for aviator wrist watches.

The U.S. military contracted multiple American watch companies to build these watches and called this specification A-11. Three manufacturers produced hundreds of thousands of these for Allied airmen who flew countless sorties against enemy targets. Although originally designed for flight navigation, the excellent design later trickled down to ground troops.

The A-11 production standard used a hand wound 7 to 16 jewel movement. These had smooth sweep and hacking seconds. A plastic crystal covered the lumed hands. The case was 27mm dust and water resistant chromed nickel alloy/brass, in order to save stainless steel for other war purposes.

Manufacturers painted the dials black and used white numerals and markers for high contrast visibility. In addition, manufacturers were not allowed to mark the dial, thus giving the watch a clean logo-less finish.

Watchmakers made many different designs — some with minute railroad tracks (left), others with circular hour markers (center), yet others in 24-hours and with red counterbalance second hands (right).  

COURG A-11. Heritage x Reliability + Upgrades

We translated the iconic A-11 design into a classic 39mm size and implemented a date window at 4PM.

From the moment we first learned about the A-11 watches, we wanted to honor the legacy. So, we preserved all the original specs as a starting point, then upgraded the materials [titanium and sapphire], movement [24 jewel auto], standards [15ATM/20ATM], and functions [rotating bezel, date].

Titanium encased. Powered by your adventures.

Built from premium materials inside and out with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, which we've coated with an anti-reflective glare layer. Titanium grade 2 or grade 5, bead blasted and 20% lighter than a stainless steel equivalent.

The uni-directional titanium bezel prevents accidental rotation, and provides rugged precision machined teeth for grip.

This watch is rated to 15ATM (Ti.Gr2) or 20 ATM (Ti.Gr5) with a screw down crown and streamlined crown guards to protect the movement from external shocks.

The dial is matte black with our proprietary RDXb1 luminous paint that glows a true blue at night, paired with a C3 green second hand and bezel marker.

Our date window cutout is circular to increase visibility of the numeral and add to the overall iconic design, with white numerals on black.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Case, Case Back, Crown, Bezel: Titanium grade 2 or Titanium grade 5
• Case Back: Deep corrosion etched, screw back
• Crown: Screw down, with RDX logo
• Dial: Matte Black with vintage white numerals with RDXb1 blue lume
• Hands: Lumed with RDXb1 blue and C3 green
• Functions: Hour, minutes, seconds, date
• Rotating Bezel: Uni-directional 90-click (Ti.Gr5) / 120-click (Ti.Gr2), C3 lume marker
• Water Resistance: 15 ATM (Ti.Gr2) / 20 ATM (Ti.Gr5)
• Movement: Automatic Seiko SII Instruments NH35A (21,600 bph, 41 hour power reserve, 24 jewels)
• Time Set: Hacking 
• Movement holder: Brass
• Date: White on black calendar wheel
• Lugs: Drilled with shoulderless pins
• Weight: 1.8 oz. (51 grams, ~20% lighter than steel equivalent)
• Dimensions:
  Width (w/o crown) / 39mm
  Height / 13.7 mm
  Lug-to-lug 46.6 mm
  Lug-to-lug (strap) 20 mm
  Lug width 3.4 mm
• Standard Issue Strap: Black ballistic nylon Mil-Strap/G10/NATO equipped with Titanium hardware