A Guide to your UTAH BEACH A-11 Limited Edition

We've written down a few pointers to help you better understand & use your Utah Beach A-11. We know that for some this may be their first automatic watch and, that can take some getting used to. If ever you don't find the answer here - don't hesitate to contact us via email.

Automatic Movement:
Your A-11 UTAH BEACH comes equipped with a Miyota 9039 Automatic Movement. That means that it is not powered by a battery but rather by the movement of your wrist which spins a rotor within the watch to provide “power”. If you receive your watch and, you see that the second hand is not moving; be aware that this is perfectly normal for an automatic watch such as yours.

Here are a few points to follow to get your watch running smoothly:
Starting your movement:

All you’ll need to do to get the movement started is to wind the crown 15-20 times clockwise. You may feel some resistance while you wind; that is to be expected. From there, as long as you wear your watch daily; it should keep accurate time.

Power Reserve:
The power reserve (that means the amount of time the watch will keep time when it’s off your wrist) for the Miyota 9039 movement is 42 Hours. Beyond those 42 Hours your watch will stop keeping time as the movement runs out of power.
To get it started again, you’ll just need to repeat the previous step (Starting your movement).

Additional Details:
Additionally - an automatic movement has a free rotating rotor inside. It is a common feature that this rotor can make some noise when spinning inside your watch.

Acrylic Crystal:
Another important detail about your A-11 UTAH BEACH is its glass: a domed acrylic crystal. Acrylic crystals were used back on the original field watches of WW2 and we decided to use the same on the A-11 UTAH BEACH. An acrylic crystal is the most shatterproof crystal on the market however, it can get scratched through normal wear & tear. The good thing with such a crystal is that you can buff out these scratches at home with very little effort & complexity.

We’ve added a complete guide that we’ve found. It goes into every detail of polishing your acrylic crystal should it ever get scratched.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvUpCYE_2iI&t=1s&ab_channel=WatchRepairTutorials

The Sand Dial:
For esthetic & thickness reasons, the sand applied on your watch is NOT stuck to the dial. We had tested a fully epoxied sand layer but it came out very thick & created big amounts of unwanted light reflection.

Therefore, some movement of the sand can be expected as you go along wearing your watch. In rare cases, you may also see the brass backing - that is normal and is not permanent. The sand will slide back into place naturally.