I’m not going to lie to you, I love a bit of intrigue. When I was a child, I would write notes to my mother in invisible ink made of lemon juice. When someone tells me to keep a secret (which is always a surprise, given my big mouth), I can hardly contain my excitement. And, even now, I fancy myself a real James Bond type when I hide the Amazon boxes from my husband before he comes home from work.
Luckily for me, Bernhardt Watch Company just announced their Cipher Diver, which sits right at the cross-section of two of my hobbies: watches and subterfuge. Inspired by Thomas Jefferson (and, impressively, made in partnership with Monticello), the watch nods more to the third president’s inventive streak than his political career – including the rotating wheel cipher, a mechanical concept designed to encode messages through a specific alignment of letters across a series of discs.
The result is a diver that cleverly allows you to keep a secret message right on your wrist. Beneath the bezel, Bernhardt has included the alphabet printed on UV-reactive ink. By aligning the bezel to a designated hour key and referencing minute markers on the dial, one is able to use the clock’s timekeeping functionality to decode the message. If that’s not some National Treasure type of ingenuity, I don’t know what is. Each diver comes with a UV decoding torch and an initial cipher card, with new encrypted messages released weekly through July 4, 2026 (the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence).
In terms of design, the palette for this watch is inspired by the American flag, with an emphasis on blue with white and red accents, which pairs nicely with the steel case and bracelet. Clocking in at 41mm, it’s a watch with some presence – but that’s probably a good thing if you’re deciphering a code, if you ask me.
In terms of movement, this reference runs on a Miyota 9039 Automatic, which promises approximately 42 hours of power reserve.
The Bernhardt Watch Company Cipher Diver will be released on January 8 with a limited run of just 100 pieces with a price tag of $795. To learn more about the watch, visit the brand’s website.
