Founded in 1948, Yema is an independent French watch manufacturer in Morteau, France, which as Yema reminds us, is “the birthplace of French watchmaking.” The third-generation Bôle family operates it alongside a team of watchmakers with over 40 years of experience. Over the years, they have gained a reputation for producing robust and dependable tool watches suitable for diving, car racing, and military expeditions. Yema has sought a new, more enthusiast focused clientele in recent years, particularly with their popular dive watches and the new Wristmaster line of integrated bracelet sports watches. To enhance this revival, they partnered with Alain Silberstein to create a special limited edition piece.
Silberstein is an artistic watch designer with a background in interior architecture who grew to prominence with his eponymous brand in the 80s and 90s. His original designs were genre-defying and have now become his signature look. His style can be polarizing, frequently incorporating bright primary colors and geometric shapes in unexpected ways. The word “playful” gets thrown around a lot in the watch world, but it truly defines the Silberstein design language – they just have a way of making you smile. And that’s exactly what this new collaboration with Yema is designed to do. It is a 40mm dual crown dive watch in Black DLC Grade 5 Titanium with micro-blasted finish.
The Yema x Alain Silberstein Marine features a crown at 4 o’clock for time setting and winding, while its crown at 2 o’clock, finished in blue Cerakote, controls the inner rotating bezel. The latter features a graduated scale up to the 20-minute mark. In typical Alain Silberstein style, it is cheerfully colored in light blue, with a bright yellow pip at the 60-minute mark. Continuing with the cheeriness is a large yellow arrow hand, and an oversized red triangular hour hand. Instead of a hand displaying the seconds, a light blue starfish is rotating at the center.
All of this is presented against a black dial background. Yema and Alain Silberstein have used 3D Super-Luminova Billight indices and bezel markers to enhance the contrast. Billight has developed a unique patented process in which Super-LumiNova is poured into polyester micro molds to produce tiny blocks. Due to their increased volume, the blocks emit more light than traditional luminous paint. It’s great to see more brands using this type of material, and the impact is remarkable, taking the design to the next level.
Yema’s flagship Manufacture Marteau 20 caliber powers this timepiece. It is a micro-rotor automatic movement with full balance bridge construction and 33 jewels. It is made from non-magnetic alloys and has a power reserve of 70 hours. It is regulated in-house to maintain time within -3/+7 seconds per day and beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour. Instead of striping and graining, it is finished with a black Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) coating, and the micro-rotor is coated burgundy. Due to this movement’s slim 3.7mm profile, the case is only 11mm thick while maintaining 200 meters of water resistance.
The Yema x Alain Silberstein Marine comes with two premium FKM rubber straps in black and red burgundy, each featuring a Grade 5 titanium deployant clasp with a black DLC micro-blasted finish. Each case back is engraved with its designated edition number; only 500 pieces are available. The price is $3,900. Yema
