This French Watch is Insanely Beautiful

This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the best looking dive watches that I've ever seen. And this watch is French, not a country exactly known for creating incredible watches. This one though, I think is incredible. First of all, in terms of the design, I think it's drop dead gorgeous. But then the second facet to it is its technical capabilities. This is one you need to see, I think you're going to like it. So this is the new Yema Skin Diver CMM20. This is part of Yema's iconic, and I mean iconic, Superman dive watch range. If you don't know much about the Superman, I mean, it's a whole rabbit hole in itself. It's one of France's most iconic watches of all time. Originally had a locking mechanism on the crown, which was good for locking the bezel, but not really practical for diving. You know, like having to unscrew the crown to use the bezel underwater, doesn't really seem like a good system to me. This one doesn't have that, but it does have a bezel locking mechanism. You're going to want to see it, trust me, it's pretty cool. And I know yourself, viewers hate it when YouTubers do comparisons and like to bring in other watches. But I think what this watch offers you for the money, compared to the likes of Tudor with the Black Bay or Longines with the Legend Diver, it seriously wipes the floor with it on a technical level, and I genuinely think on a visual level too. I'm not usually a fan of dive watches, because for me, they're typically too utilitarian. Basic designs, no personality, but you can't say the same about this one. It's absolutely beautiful. For disclosure, Yema did send over this watch for free. I don't have to send it back after the video. However, as always, I don't let a watch brand tell me what to say, and there'll be a dedicated floor section where I tell you some things that I don't like about it. Inspired by Yema's Skin Divers from the 1960s, it leans on that vintage Superman aesthetic. However, it's absolutely jam-packed with modern features. Three colorways with this Skin Diver. It comes in a very delicious red, and I was close to picking this one. It comes in a black dial for those of you who, I'm sorry, are a little bit boring. And then there's the third option, and I think this one is the pick of the bunch. This is a champagne-slash-silver-slash-cream. I don't really know how to nail this color down. All I know is that it's beautiful. Dial design is super Skin Diver. There's certainly nods in there in terms of those numerals, in terms of those quarter-hour indexes. So, Yema's original Skin Divers from the 1960s. Applied trapezium indexes for the rest of the hours. But my favorite part of this watch is the brushed metallic dial. This one in particular has an almost golden finish to it, which gives a little bit of a hint, at least for me, to old-school champagne-dialed dress watches, which might be the reason I like this one so much. Bezel color matches the dial, and then there's a piece of sapphire on top of the bezel to offer some longevity. That being one of the modern parts of this watch. All those applied elements combined with the polished handset. It looks incredible when it catches the light. It's a real eye-catcher, this one, because of that metallic dial and all those applied elements. When the lights go out, boom, this one glows pretty well. C3 Superluminova, so you get that green glow. And because the indexes are so big, the lume experience here is fantastic. Often, large lume plots lean into that utilitarian side of things. I don't think that's the case with this new Yamaskin Diver. Because they have a polished surround, because they're trapezium in shape, it offers a little bit of character, and for me, it actually looks quite dressy. Case material, 316L stainless steel, and finishing on this watch is magnificent. Like, especially on the case, genuinely breathtaking. Brushed case sides, brushed upper lugs, and then there's a polished edge separating those two sections. The actual mid-case to this watch is very thin from the side profile. The bezel actually looks thicker than the mid-case, and then you can see a very large double-domed sapphire crystal on top. Now, there's a reason that bezel is so thick. It's because of that locking mechanism, which we'll cover in a minute. Clarity on this sapphire is exceptional, and you get plenty of beautiful distortion because of that bubble effect on the perimeter of the crystal. Bracelet on this one features a scale-like design. I'm sure this bracelet style has been done before, maybe even by Yema. It's my first time seeing it, and I've got to admit, I think it's damn beautiful. But just notice how tight the links are together. There's no gaps, there's no facets. It's simply the bracelet design woven together like chainmail. It's very beautiful. Safest from 20 down to 16. The clasp is your standard sort of butterfly deployant, and there is some micro-adjustment on here. However, it's a double push-button micro-adjustment, which I'll admit doesn't feel as premium as other micro-adjustment systems. However, the benefit of it having the two buttons means that you can adjust the fit on the go. You don't even have to take the watch off, which is pretty cool. And typically, the dial design would be the star of the show. I often say that in my reviews, but it's not the case with this one. The star of the show is the case back. Flipping this watch over, first of all, you get a piece of sapphire. Always nice. But inside here is Yema's manufacture micro-rotor calibre CMM-20. Yema, on their website, says that this is a rare calibre worthy of showcasing, and I completely agree. It's an absolute stunner. Finishing-wise, you get some stripes that come away from that micro-rotor. All of the main plates are done in black, with that micro-rotor done in a steel, so you get some nice contrast. You can see the balance in the corner ticking away. You can also see some screws. You can see the rubies. This one truly is a pleasure to look at. Spec-wise as well, in terms of that movement, you are getting something pretty special here. 28,800 vibrations per hour. So you get eight ticks per second. Nice and smooth. And micro-rotor is always impressive, especially at this price point. 70 hours of power reserve wipes the floor with your typical Seiko and Miyota movement. And accuracy, get this. Minus three to plus seven seconds per day. That is just a couple of seconds of COSC certification. This one I have, plus two seconds a day. Been running like an absolute dream. However, this movement does have one downside, which we'll cover in a minute. Now, the weird thing about this movement is that it is actually nice and slim. It's around three and a half millimetres. However, the watch itself is a lot thicker than that. And that's because if we go back to the side profile, you've got a millimetre or two with the case back. You've then got around four or five millimetres with that mid case. Another four or five millimetres with the bezel. And then around two, two and a half millimetres with that crystal. So even though the movement is quite slim, the watch is quite thick. This watch measures in at 13.6 millimetres, which isn't bad for a dive watch. Especially one that has 300 metres. Screw down crown, so it delivers that. But for a micro-rotor movement, typically that's associated with super thin watches. Not the case here because of the bezel and the crystal. Now, the reason that bezel takes up so much space is because it actually has a locking mechanism. Not like the old supermans of the past where you had to use the crown. With this one, it's pretty simple. You push the bezel down and then you can operate it. Once you release the pressure from the bezel, it's now locked in place. Now, that's pretty cool because you can't knock the bezel throughout the day. It stays in the same position. Also quite a satisfying fidget toy. Probably shouldn't say that about quite an expensive watch, but it is. In terms of the rest of the dimensions, 39.5 millimetre case diameter. Lug to lug, 47 millimetres on this one. Lug width, 20 millimetres. Altogether, these dimensions work really well on my six and a half inch wrist. It's pretty much the sweet spot for a diver. I mean, we've seen these dimensions so many times in the past. There's nothing unusual about how it wears, but there's also nothing exceptional about how it wears. One thing I will point out is that the bracelet is quite rigid. Because those links are so close together, there's basically not much flex in the bracelet. There's not much movement in there. That means you do get a really sexy wrist roll because all of those bracelet links are so tight. However, it doesn't quite conform to all of the lumps and bumps of the wrist. Is it a trade-off worth making? It's down to you. Now, what are the drawbacks? What are the things I don't like about it? Well, although this movement is very impressive, and it is. It's impressive on a technical level. It's impressive in terms of the beauty, but it doesn't have hacking seconds. Now, that's not too big of an issue, right? I collect vintage watches anyway. Some of them don't have hacking seconds. It's quite normal. But to those of you who like to preset the time super precise, okay, you can backhack the movement where you start setting the time backwards slightly. However, it's said that that's not great for the movement. So the fact it doesn't have hacking seconds, that's quite a modern feature that you kind of expect. It has to be leveled against this watch as a flaw. Another thing, I don't feel like Yema's used any anti-reflective treatment on the Sapphire Caseback. It's quite muddy or cloudy when you're looking at it in certain lighting. Sometimes you struggle to see the details of the movement, and I think this is a movement that you want to see in full glory. And the other one, those bracelet links being so tight together, I like my bracelets to have a little bit of flex in them. I like them to articulate a little bit more around the wrist. I think when bracelets do that, they're a little bit more comfortable to wear throughout the day. That might not be a big issue for some people, but for me, it's an issue. However, what I did, I took it off the bracelet for a while, and I popped it on this FKM rubber strap, and somehow stumbled upon the best strap combination that I've ever seen in my life. This is an aftermarket strap. It wasn't even made for this watch, but it matches it flawlessly. Colour-wise and style-wise, it quite literally looks like it was made for this watch. So for me, I am going to wear it on this bracelet occasionally, but I'm also going to be pulling that rubber strap out because it looks a million bucks. So, a beautiful sapphire crystal, an impressive bezel-locking mechanism, incredible case finishing, an unbelievably beautiful bracelet, and an in-house micro-rotor movement with a 70-hour power reserve and pretty impressive accuracy. How much is this one going to cost you? Now, it's not eye-wateringly cheap, this one. However, for everything on offer, I think it's pretty compelling. In US dollars, £2,790. In pounds, for us Brits, £2,248. It's a lot of money, but I think for everything you get here, that's bloody impressive. Listen, I'll link back to when I mentioned Tudor, when I mentioned Longines. Those watches, sometimes, are double the price of this. I'm thinking of the Black Bay, you know, it's double the price. But on a technical level, especially with that movement, I think this watch is offering more. Visually, this watch is way more down my street than your typical Tudor Black Bay. For me, it's a little bit dressier because of that champagne dial, because of those beautiful bracelet links, and you just don't see these features very often. The movement, absolutely beautiful, great power reserve, insane accuracy. I mean, sure, it's attractive to go with a Tudor because of the name, but I think it's about time we started to put some respect on Jemma's name, too. If you want to read more about it, or check out the other colourways, I'll, of course, leave it linked in the description below. Appreciate you, catch you soon, guys. Bye for now.