When it comes to watches from Yema, my mental picture has come to be some flavor of their Superman, complete with their rather unique bezel lock that works in conjunction with the crown. And, to be fair, most designs were along that same pattern. That is, until we were alerted to the Yema Urban Traveller.
What is it?
To our eyes, the Yema Urban Traveller is the first truly new design we’ve seen from the brand in the past few years. That all starts with the case, which comes in at a positively svelte 11.4mm thick and a very wearable 39mm diameter. It has a loosely octagonal shape that the integrated bracelet snugs into, and is topped by a bezel with an interesting scallop pattern that calls to mind bezel designs from other luxury watch brands. The dial is also heavily textured, with a honeycomb pattern embedded into it, giving the dial a lot of life.
What’s it powered by?
If you prize known quantities, the movement used in the Yema Urban Traveller may be the weak point for you. Here, it’s their in-house calibre (that’s how they label it, we’ve not verified how in-house it truly is) the YEMA2000. Perhaps cleverer eyes than mine can discern what it may have been based from, and make an educated guess as to how serviceable it would be by your local watchmaker. For everyone else, this feels like a watch you’d likely be sending back to the factory for any sort of maintenance down the road.
What do we like about it?
The simple fact that the Yema Urban Traveller is truly a new design for the brand. Along with that, all of the dimensions seems spot on for making a very wearable and comfortable watch. On top of that, the design has some classic roots, while giving things enough of a difference so it can stand out to the discerning eye.
How can I pre-order one?
That also brings us to another great thing about the Yema Urban Traveller – the price, on a bracelet, is just $890. For everything you’re getting here (and the full specs are listed below), that seems like a reasonable price for something that looks a lot more like a luxury watch than we’d expect to come from Yema. You can check out the full collection (there are three dial colors) and get your pre-order in, directly at yema.com
Tech Specs from Yema
- DIAMETER / THICKNESS / LUGS: 39 mm x 43.5 mm / 11.4 mm / 24 mm
- CASE: Brushed / Polished 316L Stainless Steel
- BEZEL: Brushed / Polished 316L Stainless Steel
- CROWN: Pushed crown with YEMA logo embossed
- CALIBER
- YEMA2000 In-house Caliber “No-Date“
- Maximum rate of +/- 25 seconds per day
- Adjusted to +/- 10 seconds per day by our watchmakers before and after assembly
- Automatic
- 29 Rubies
- 28 800 A/h
- Hours, minutes, seconds
- POWER RESERVE: 42 Hours
- CRYSTAL: 2.20 mm sapphire double domed crystal
- DIAL & HANDS
- Dial with textured effects
- Applied polished SS indexes
- Polished Stainless steel hands
- Super-LumiNova BGW9
- WATER RESISTANCE: 10 BAR / 330 feet / 100 m
- BAND
- Integrated 316L stainless steel bracelet
- Brushed flat surfaces. Polished bevels on the sides
- Double folding clasp
