When your new watch designer is a Rockstar

Nice review. For me yema = yawn a.

Had a Flygraph, it was awful! Basically a diver with bezel removed and a flieger dial, it was poorly finished, wildly inaccurate and way too chunky.

Wouldn't have another Yema as a gift !!

Good review tho, as always 👍🏻👍🏻

Just happened to be wearing this watch - and I can agree with all of your comments. Very nice looking watch - but the bezel and hands are a bit weak.

Nailed it with the QC / customer support issues. I've heard one to many whispers online about these things. That's honestly what has kept me from making any recent purchases. I think they're designs are good, personally, especially this model here. Hopefully they can resolve those missteps in the near future.

I own four Yemas. Love them. Only had one issue (crown stripped on my bronze watch and wouldn’t screw down). Yema fixed it, although I did have to ship it back to France and wait a month. All in all, Yema is one of my favorite independent brands and this is one of my favorite watches:

Thanks for the review! When I look at this watch I see Tudor influence, not exactly sure why. The clasp is a parts bin standard used by Timefactors and Crepas to name a couple. I find it annoying but to your point the clasp is solid enough.

As cool as this watch is, I see too much duplication in a crowded GMT space.

Had a black dial Navygraf with the yellow hands. Loved the look of it but the bracelet wasn't great and the bezel was misaligned. Sold it eventually, and I sometimes do miss its charm

I'm finding these stories all too common unfortunately

Interesting to watch your operation of the GMT hand. Looks to me like Yema went with the same option as the Hangzhou 6460…they took a day date movement and swapped the day complication with a GMT hand, which is why the GMT hand only moves counterclockwise.

But the colors and proportions are just... 👌

Yeah, what a shame ...

Finally a person with positive experience with Yema!

Does the bracelet feel rattly at all? Sometimes with stamped clasps, it creates an unappealing jangle that annoys me…

Nope, bracelet feels great on this one!

Lovely timepiece 👍🏼 with @Max check out #watchjourney2023 and my idea that’s come to life to send a Casio on a journey around the world 👍🏼

Good call!

I think it's a stretch to say that the jumping hour wheel "often" fails.

I don't know, maybe. If you take it as an absolute then yes, the failure rate will be low. I would assume so much is clear.

But failure of that part seems to be, relatively speaking, more common than most other things within a watch movement. So in that sense it fails "often". And while I cannot prove anything here, date mechanisms with a jumping hour are usually a weak link in terms of how its designed... some might say the designs are a bit flawed. I wouldn't go that far but having a bi-directionally jumping hour coupled to a jumping date is strikes me as more complicated than a date moving one way and a fourth hand doing the same. More complicated is usually more fragile, so much seems plausible.

Indeed Rolex even seemed unhappy with their 3185 to the point where they introduced the 3186 and made changes to how the hour hand bit works. I am not incredibly familiar with that movement but I hear the updated solution wasn't nearly as robust as the date mechanism on the 3135 (there is some thin spring that can break apparently). The Tudor GMT movement seemed to have trouble with the date as well, more so than their other movements.

If @Max's statement regarding bad (edit: I meant CS) QC of Yema is OK based off anecdotal evidence from the internet, then breaking date/hour mechanism on travel GMTs are as well 🍻 in my opinion at least.

Thanks, good thorough review and good to ask those questions. I have a Yema that I got by winning a charity auction from the soon to be renamed @HotWatchChick69 , so much less than list price. I’ve had no service issues, so can’t comment on that.

But to the watch itself, I think you’ve hit on a lot of good points and have a few misses.

Mine is not a GMT. However, I’ve got both caller and traveler GMTs, neither one is better (although jumping hour hands are fun); each can be useful. My bezel action is much better than what you describe, so maybe they’ve got some QC issues or the bicolor bezel is a problem in its action. I do like the look of your bicolor bezel better. I agree the dial face and hands of mine overall are a bit boring. The yellow second hand and the round hour markers are a step up. I think the case and bracelet are the same as yours and I like them, it’s smooth and doesn’t rattle. II find the clasp ok, but the latching mechanism is too stiff. There is some micro-adjustment, but you need a spring bar tool, no nothing ‘on the fly’. The MN strap is nice. Overall, despite the plain face, this is an attractive watch and a good summer wear. Worth it if you find a good example and it’s getting wear from me, but it doesn’t stand out from the many good mid-level divers out there.

I’ve got three Yemas. I’ve not had a single issue and received great service. On the other hand, I’ve had a less favourable experience with Seiko…

I definitely would have it in the MN strap , nice colour combo and ascetic overall. Good review thanks Max .

But I don't wanna be apart for so long with mah babies!! /s 😛

Damn dude - nice patina

The CS thing comes up from time to time. As I said in this post about my Bronze Superman:

https://www.watchcrunch.com/complication/posts/any-love-for-the-yema-burgundy-bronze-superman-36291

I'd seen some horror stories online, but between reading between the lines and noting that some of the people complaining sounded like serial pains in the arse and would probably moan about anything, and the fact that I've never - truly - needed customer service on a watch ever in my life, I thought what the heck. Very happy with the watch itself. The CS may well be terrible, but I doubt I will ever deal with it.

And as I said in this very recent thread, specifically asking about the brand:

https://www.watchcrunch.com/ToastyBread/posts/is-yema-a-good-brand-of-watches-42152

Yema owner here; Burgundy Bronze Superman. A great watch, especially at the price point.

Some people have criticised the customer service on social media in the past, and it's now become one of those Internet things where, if someone mentions Yema, you get people (who don't own Yema watches, mind you), swarming in and declaring, "Customer service issues! Customer service issues!" and wobbling their head and running off, but dig below the surface and you will quickly find they have no experience.

I've written a long piece on this topic before, but the TL;DR version is, how many times have you needed the CS from a watch company? In many years, and dozens of watches, I never have, personally. So one of the things I considered when thinking about Yema and had the usual swarm of, "Customer service issues! Customer service issues!" people who don't actually own Yema watches, I thought to myself, "Even if these people are 100% right - which I actually doubt - will I ever use CS? Probably not!" And I bought the watch.

I love it. Well made. Looks good. Runs like a champion.

Hi5

I love the new wrist master they came out with. The integrated bracelet on it looks good

I love the look of some of the Yemas but I’ve heard so many complaints about poor qc and customer service I’m scared to death to buy one.

Yema is a terrible company. They have some nice looking pieces but the QC and customer experience are miserable. If you have one and it’s great, consider yourself lucky and hope nothing goes wrong that would require an interaction with their ambitiously named “customer service” people. If you don’t have one, stay far away.

Go Christopher Ward. They have wonderful customer service and top-spec quality. Yema is the opposite.

Interesting video, I notice you did not mention anything about the bracelet adjustability. Are the links pinned or screwed? Just curious