If you saw Goldfinger, I’m sure you remember that scene — one of the most memorable moments in Bond movies — when Sean Connery unzips his diving suit and reveals a perfectly tailored dinner jacket. I had the same feeling when taking a closer look at the Feynman Cove. It is presented as a diver watch and sure, it has the specs for it, with its 200 meters of water resistance, but from close, it looks more like a dress watch than a tool watch. There are so many carefully thought out details, many of them quite subtle and sophisticated, that I would be worried to take it into the water not to damage something. Of course, it’s an unfounded fear. 

Its design is more about water as a source of inspiration than creating a utilitarian tool and naturally, this watch inspired by water is made to go into the water.

Waves are a recurring theme: the curved lines of the stainless steel case, the decoration of the rubber strap, the rotor of the automatic movement and I left it last, its most jawdropping feature, the waves painted with black lume on the dial. 

WatchPaper readers might remember from last year my review of the Feynman One, this microbrand’s debut model. It is great to see that they managed to stick to their unique identity and further reinforce the Feynman personality with the Cove. The Cove is actually pushing the complexity of the dial, even further. Both dials are under a domed sapphire crystal, the layers from the Feynman One dial are back, the textures became a lot more intricate, and now we also have lume — to me, the lume has not so much a functional role, as it plays more of an aesthetic part.

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This is a prototype of the Cove and not the final production model, which will have a few slight changes and improvements, such as a bigger crown with a different design, the lume will be stronger and the watch will be slightly thinner. The sub-second dial will also be changed to Chinese characters at 60 and 30-second marks. See the official picture of the production Cove bellow.

When I get a review sample with a black dial, I know that it will be really hard to find the right angle and proper lighting conditions for the pictures in order to not have an annoying reflection on the crystal. I don’t have many details about the anti-reflective coating used for the Cove, but it’s one of the best I ever saw, on par with big Swiss names. The Cove was really easy to shoot, and of course for everyday use, you can enjoy all the subtle details of the dial in any light. 

The see-through back reveals the top-grade, fully decorated ETA 2895-2, with COVE being engraved on the rotor. 

This review comes a few weeks later than it was supposed to, due to the COVID-19 delays, I only had the chance to review Feynman Cove after its Kickstarter campaign ended. It’s still not too late to pre-order directly from the Feynman website for SGD$1,088 (it comes to about the same price in CAD), but don’t delay it, there are only 10 left. 

More about Feynman at feynman.watch

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