Are Yema's qc issues with mecha-quartz? I thought it was primarily their in house mechanical movements

 

I heard stories of second hands falling on the automatic models but I found a guy with a misaligned second hand on one of the mecha quartz models.

 

Good looking watches on photos. Not so much in the flesh unfortunately.
Bought the wristmaster, been twice back to France, first trying to fix horribly misaligned lume and indices, second to remove debris left on the dial surface.
Nothing impressive with the general finishing at this price point at all (although the crystal is real nice).
And their ‘in-house’ movements are nothing of the sorts, they may be designed by Yema, but they’re never made by them. It works though, and after they serviced, demagnetized and regulated it on the second trip it also keeps reasonable time.
Terrible CS and nonexistent QC.
Watch may look cool, but does not sit well on my wrist despite it’s smallish diameter, lugs are too long and don’t curve enough so they kind of stick out. But then I do not have 8 inch wrists.
Even at half the discounted price I paid, it wouldn’t be worth it.

 

I have a Yema that I love with the in house 2000 movement, and I will agree with many that it is let’s say…nuanced. It works fine but crown action is a little weird and vague. I kind of regard it as you would a vintage Ferrari, gorgeous and worth owning because it lights my pants on fire but you gotta also be sympathetic to its weirdness. I’m ok with that, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to others.

the one you’re looking at however is a seiko mechaquartz and not terribly expensive either. Their watches are great looking so if that one is really doing it for you I think you’ll be just fine. Yema looks with seiko innards sounds like a winner.

 

I have a Yema that I love with the in house 2000 movement, and I will agree with many that it is let’s say…nuanced. It works fine but crown action is a little weird and vague. I kind of regard it as you would a vintage Ferrari, gorgeous and worth owning because it lights my pants on fire but you gotta also be sympathetic to its weirdness. I’m ok with that, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to others.
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i need to get a similar nato and/or a barton crimson elite for this. i couldn't pass up the bracelet because it wasn't much more and it's hard to find a fitted piece at 19mm

most of the the superman heritage line is among the best re-issues of all time. across all price points

 

Some people have to learn the hard way by touching the hot stove themselves. It’s not enough that they’ve watched a gang of others get burned in this fashion.
Luckily, I am not one of those people.

 

Here’s a suggestion for another mechaquartz near(ish) to your price range.

U-2 Dragonlady — Hager Watches

www.hagerwatches.com

 

I bought two watches from them, no issues besides the battery of the Meangraf going flat after three months.

 

Watches are not bad, but their customer service is a few steps below most expectations I had, based on previous experience......

 

I bought my GMT with the ETA movement back in 2019 and it’s been excellent. But I had no reason to deal with their customer service so can’t help there

 

I bought an ostensibly new Yema quartz chrono from Yema's own clearance platform about two years ago. Everything was fine until the battery had to be changed - it turned out that some of the hex bolts that held down the caseback were stripped and the caseback couldn't be opened. Yema couldn't be bothered in the slightest about this - not only did they not offer any kind of service or at least useful advice, they ignored both my e-mails and the messages I entered in the chat box on their website. I did manage to solve the issue overlooked and possibly caused by Yema themselves, but being abandoned as a customer left a sour taste as regards the company (I still like the watch a lot).

 

Hello everyone.
I recently came across a yema watch that really peaked my fancy. To my dismay, it appears the actual company seems to be regarded as the worst thing to come out of France since the “Culte de la Raison”. Jokes aside it seems like they have a history of treating customers very poorly and having major QC issues. I really like the look of the watch and would like to buy it, but it seems irresponsible to do so before asking.

So my question to you is: Have you ever bought a yema watch? How was your experience? Was the quality of the watch sufficient for the price?

And for the true watch aficionados: Do you have any other recommendations in a similar price range. I really liked the dual times zone and 24 hour dial. I also like that it's very sleek and not cluttered.

The watch in question: YEMA Flygraf French Air & Space Force UTC Blue

To be fair, the Cult of Reason wasn't as bad as the Cult of the Supreme Being that followed.

 

An email from Yema likewise piqued my interest. And now i own 6 of em.

no complaint save for the non-quickset date on one of the chronographs.

 

I've owned four Yemas and can honestly report that the only issue I've ever had is that one came with a misaligned bezel. I think that online people start to build a narrative and then many people pile on and confirm what they've heard without always doing so from experience. I definitely see the comments reflecting the lack of quality control and I'm sure that some of it must be true but honestly, for the price, I think it's worth trying for yourself. My Yema Heritage Bronze is a beautiful watch and I've been quite happy with each of my Yema pieces.

 

Yema poor quality control

I've had my eye on yema watches for a while and I think they have a great design and also my family history being French makes it awesome! So ordered a superman got home so happy to see it but it had two flaws that I have noticed. 1) First started out with bezel alignment issue which drives me...

www.watchuseek.com

Here is a past thread that may help you out a bit.

 

Pass

 

Just. Don't. You have been warned. Wait a week, and a different watch will light up your fancy.

 

What's not there in all the Yema threads that you think you'll uncover in this thread? Seriously.

To be frank, you'd be foolish to engage after having read all the accounts here. Be forewarned. If you ignore the copious evidence, you'll only have yourself to blame.

 

Don't do it

 

Hello everyone.
I recently came across a yema watch that really peaked my fancy. To my dismay, it appears the actual company seems to be regarded as the worst thing to come out of France since the “Culte de la Raison”. Jokes aside it seems like they have a history of treating customers very poorly and having major QC issues. I really like the look of the watch and would like to buy it, but it seems irresponsible to do so before asking.

So my question to you is: Have you ever bought a yema watch? How was your experience? Was the quality of the watch sufficient for the price?

And for the true watch aficionados: Do you have any other recommendations in a similar price range. I really liked the dual times zone and 24 hour dial. I also like that it's very sleek and not cluttered.

The watch in question: YEMA Flygraf French Air & Space Force UTC Blue

There's litterally way too many Seiko Mecha-quartz chronographs to tolerate the reportly bad service.
Hemel does a very similar watch (HFT20 Navy Dial ), with the same movement inside of it and option for a 12 hour bezel insert. If you like flight themed chronographs, there's the Hemel Air Support Series that are mechanical chronographs based on old pilots chronographs. Really nice if you want to stray away from mecha-quartz and into the ST19 movements.

 

I must’ve been lucky because I owned one Yema and had absolutely zero problems with it. I ended up selling it for other reasons but the watch was flawless. However statistically I will acknowledge if there’s many many people reporting problems then they obviously have quality issues. I just got lucky.

 

Ive owned three yemas, two being from the superman lineup. QC was okay on them, they were fine and did what was advertised, and I think they looked cool and had a nice vintage charm to them. Also owned the Meangraf Mecaquartz.
My problem was the Crystal had no AR coating on the Superman and the PVC version was super hard to read cause it kept reflecting everything (I have no eyesight problem). Otherwise the watches were fine, I didnt love the crown mechanism with the bezel fixator, it felt awfully wobbly. I regretted buying them new and I lost a ton of money on them so if you go for it, make sure you buy the watch used.

 

Yema makes some nice looking watches. I am interested in one of their automatic GMTs but have been put off by all of the complaints. I think if I do ever pull the trigger it will be with the knowledge that I might be wasting my money and the funds to be willing to take that risk.

 

I have not purchased one but from all the noise, unless it is a well orchestrated campaign by a competitor, there is no way I will spend my hard earned money on a Yema. There are so many good brands at that price point, and unless the design is really really what you want, no reason to risk it IMO.

 

I bought a Meca Quartz rally graff it was a nice watch and was ok for the money, I sold it as it just didnt do it for me - never had any issues with it though in the short time I had it.

Something I noticed was the you tube world went very quiet on Yema certain reviewers were all over Yema to start with, now I see nothing about them.

 

Something I noticed was the you tube world went very quiet on Yema certain reviewers were all over Yema to start with, now I see nothing about them.

My suspicion is they were sending out review samples or freebies to YTers to drum up press and have subsequently stopped. The YTers aren't obtaining Yema watches on their own dime to review.

 

i just got this. Have never dealt with the company though s far as CS

 

Thank you for all of the responses and the recommendation. It seems it's best for me to take my business elsewhere. Sorry if this thread was redundant, I didn't find any other threads but I haven't figured out the forum yet.

 

Now that the negative WIS naysayers have lifted their leg on the Yema brand. And, I would suspect a few of them have probably never seen or held a Yema in the metal—if they had then there are probably holes in their "story" that they are not sharing—I will now provide my input.

I have the Yema Flygraf Pilot M2, and can honestly say that I am very pleased with it. And, it provides excellent value for the money. The Flygraf Pilot's fit-and-finish is nicely done, particularly with its vertical brushed bezel and dial, along with BGW9 lume application on the dial and handset. Its YEMA2000 In-house calibre operates within the manufacturer's specs. Plus, the winding is smooth, not like the gritty feeling when winding some of the ETA and Sellita movements. If there was one change I would like to see Yema make, as minor as it is, would be to have printed "300 Metres" on the dial instead of "990 Feet" — like why use the Imperial system, especially from a country that gave us the metric system? As for the customer support, I have not found their customer support lacking whatsoever.

If you do choose to purchase the Yema Flygraf French Air & Space Force UTC, you will receive an excellent watch for its value of EUR 399, along with excellent customer support.

As for reviews of the Yema brand, you may want to explore Monochrome and Fratello Watches for their reviews on particular Yema models.

Now for the watch pic: