A watch for the lost decade

The 70's are sandwiched between the dynamic decade of the 60's and the exuberant 80's. These were years plagued with the oil crisis, localized but vicious wars, the disillusion that followed the 60's and the emergence of Disco, they are also referred to as the lost decade.

It's also a decade which saw a departure from post WW2 and the introduction of newer materials and style into daily life. Watches designed in the 70's have a distinctive "flair" that sets them apart as angular designs and sharp edges were back in style.

Therefore it was with a bit of a surprise that I found out that the first Wristmasters from Yema are dated from 1960 and are already featuring the heraldic logo engraved on the back, but they don't look at all like my Wristmaster.

But the story has a twist in it because the Wristmaster underwent a redesign in 1970 and the models produced during this decade are styled differently, with some even having monocoque cases. My 21st century cream dial Wristmaster is clearly a blending of some of these models because it's very much a watch that would look at home in 1977.

The Yema Wristmaster looks very much like something that could have been made by Seiko during the 70's, and Yema was indeed at some point part of Seiko, but that only happened in 1995 IIRC, therefore the Wristmaster looks the way it does because back then this is how watches were supposed to look like.

This also mean that, being free of Seiko legacy, it can frame the date window and add a signature to the crown, while also keeping the dial free of a wingman secondary logo and instead placing the name of the watch at the bottom in a nice cursive font that is very much alike the longhand that I was taught at school during the 60's.

(I wish that Seiko would have done the same and kept the Alpinist name on the dial of the SPB instead of stamping their stupid prostate logo there, but this is a rant for another post.)

The Wristmaster cream dial, with its crosshair markings and raised indices that are accented with black is so interesting to look at that it takes some time until the realization that there is no bezel whatsoever sets in. This is somewhat masked by the presence of the tall boxed acrylic crystal that creates a ring of refracted light.

I can't say if the Yema Wristamster wears similarly to vintage 70's watches. I can just say that it wears on my wrist well enough so that I don't care that it's only a couple of years old.