# Just arrived / du nouveau! Yema Yachtingraf Heritage!



## clarosec (May 18, 2014)

Salut messieurs/dames!

I will switch to English for broadest audience reach (bien que vous savez sans doute que je suis bel et bien franco) - let's kick things off by saying a couple of things: 1) I'd been after a French watch for a while now; 2) I couldn't decide on Lip/Yema/Baltic; 3) I love boats and things that go with them, like boaty watches.

You may have seen my review of the Citizen Sailhawk elsewhere, which is a great workhorse boat watch. That being said, I love the look and vibe of vintage yacht timers, but they were always very pricey or even too "task-specific". The Rolex yacht-master is slick but what if you want to time something for more than a 5-10 minute yacht race start sequence? Whoops - grab your Casio. Okay okay TL;DR - you don't care about boats, or start sequences... what about the watch, you dummy!

Coles notes - went on Yema site, saw some Black Friday deals, then saw that they had listed FOUR of the discontinued Yema Yachtingraf Heritage 39mm on black leather strap. "Regular" price USD $2,250, now down to USD $1,499. Sapphire crystal, yacht timer, Valjoux 7753 chrono movement? Take my damn money! I'll admit I was paying in "snow pesos" (Canadian dollars) So at $1500 US I knew I could get it to Canada for right around CAD $2,000.

And it arrived today!










What does your USD $1,500 get you? Not much in packaging. A nice Yema brown leather "travel" case, the watch, a little guide telling you where to download the manual, et c'est tout - that's it.

But the watch, mes amis. Friends, I have smaller wrists and thought I'd find 39mm in a chrono to be small. No sir. It pops from every angle. I thought I wouldn't like the blacked-out hour/minute hands - but they help calm down the busy dial. The glass is domed Sapphire. The case back is comfy, there's 100m WR (for a mechanical chrono at the price point? I'll take that). Bezel is smooth bi-directional. If I had a minor gripe - this watch is a chrono with a 24 hour totalizer. Instead of a dive bezel, maybe a 12 hour one to add some time-zone functionality? Especially since the bezel isn't unidirectional click, but smooth bidirectional.

Would I like it on a bracelet? YES - Yema offer their Superman bracelet as an accessory but be warned - I asked them and sadly it will not fit the Yachtingraf. This being said they (and a number of other manufacturers) offer some really nice tropic strap options, and I can tell that this thing is going to be a strap monster.

Warning on straps: 19mm lug width. I can hear you cursing already but if you have 18mm NATO of course those will go fine. So many NATO options with this thing. Lug width is never a deal-breaker for me, rather an excuse for extra goodies.

It does wear a bit tall compared to a Speedy, but height wise is similar to a Black Bay, or the Citizen Nighthawk, but in that smaller 39mm package. The lug length might have something to do with that but I don't think so too much. The case is nicely angular and beautifully polished.

Lume appears solid. Not Tudor/Rolex/Seiko diver fluorescent, but at least equal to my Speedy. Note the triangle at 12 on the bezel is also lumed. Nice touch!

Only been on the wrist a couple of hours, but I timed the filet mignons on the BBQ, and I'm dreading taking it off and having to pack it away for a month.

J'adore! So glad I pulled the trigger on this.


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## Reno (Sep 23, 2008)

Félicitations *clarosec *! *😀👍*

Ton enthousiasme fait plaisir à lire !

Par courant de voir cette _Yachtingraf_ en plus, ça change ! 👌


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## clarosec (May 18, 2014)

Merci! c'est vraiment une très belle pièce. Le calibre est identique au Omega 3304, donc celui qu'on trouve dans tous les Speed "date" (du Speed date - très moderne!) d'environ 2009. Dommage que Yema n'ont pas inclus le guichet mais ce n'est pas grave. Le cadran est déjà pas mal bourré de trucs. 

Je portais ma Speed aujourd'hui et je porte maintenant ma Citizen Sailhawk... les deux montres me donnent vraiment le goût d'aller fouiller pour la Yema!


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## nemozeco (Aug 29, 2011)

That's really a great design, an unusual dial that will definitely catch the attention.
Congratulations on the purchase!


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## clarosec (May 18, 2014)

Update - the watch is on its way back from Besançon to me. Somehow, the crystal exploded all on its own. I didn't bash it or anything. Looked down at noon at my desk, it was fine. Looked down at 2 pm, HUGE crack right up the middle.

Tout cela pour dire - c'est l'heure pour une revue du service après-vente de Yema - Bref: Superbe!

For those of you not familiar with Yema, they do all their service tickets online. I connected with them, uploaded a couple of pictures, and in 20 minutes had a DHL waybill in my inbox. Boxed up the watch, affixed the waybill, booked pickup online, and DHL picked the watch up from my house. Tracked all the way to the factory, and 24 hours later, email from Yema saying they have my watch. 

Being that it was the crystal, I was half expecting Yema to write back saying it was something I did that broke it and there would be a fee to fix it. Instead, I got an email saying "we're fixing it and it will be back in your hands in 30 business days". That would have put the latest return date at September 21.

I didn't think much more of it and then ping! DHL email saying it's on the way and set to arrive September 15. Routing = Besançon/Mulhouse/Basel/Leipzig/Cincinnati so far... 

Can't wait to get it back!


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## clarosec (May 18, 2014)

Update - the watch is on its way back from Besançon to me. Somehow, the crystal exploded all on its own. I didn't bash it or anything. Looked down at noon at my desk, it was fine. Looked down at 2 pm, HUGE crack right up the middle.

Tout cela pour dire - c'est l'heure pour une revue du service après-vente de Yema - Bref: Superbe!

For those of you not familiar with Yema, they do all their service tickets online. I connected with them, uploaded a couple of pictures, and in 20 minutes had a DHL waybill in my inbox. Boxed up the watch, affixed the waybill, booked pickup online, and DHL picked the watch up from my house. Tracked all the way to the factory, and 24 hours later, email from Yema saying they have my watch. 

Being that it was the crystal, I was half expecting Yema to write back saying it was something I did that broke it and there would be a fee to fix it. Instead, I got an email saying "we're fixing it and it will be back in your hands in 30 business days". That would have put the latest return date at September 21.

I didn't think much more of it and then ping! DHL email saying it's on the way and set to arrive September 15. Routing = Besançon/Mulhouse/Basel/Leipzig/Cincinnati so far... 

Can't wait to get it back!


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## clarosec (May 18, 2014)

Et voilà! De retour! Verre remplacé, rehaut remplacé, et en plus - contrôle de fonctionnement, contrôle d'étanchiété, et contrôle de réserve de marche. Facture? Zéro - fait sur garantie. Eh bien. Merci Yema du service exceptionnel. J'aurai préféré un rehaut 12/24h comme remplacement mais bon... faut pas trop se plaindre! D'ailleurs, vous avez pris mon conseil justement pour la Yachtingraf Bronze, qui figure un rehaut de 12h, et la date. Ça me tente... mais à CAD 2,000 $ je ne sait pas.

And there it is, home! Crystal replaced, bezel replaced, and also - regulated, water resistance test and power reserve test. Cost? Zero - covered under warranty. Well then. Thank you Yema for the exceptional service. I'd have preferred a 12/24h bezel as a replacement but I can't complain! Besides, you took my advice for the Yachtingraf Bronze, which rightly has a 12 hour bezel and date. Tempting... but at CAD $2,000 I don't know.

Pics to follow.


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## Reno (Sep 23, 2008)

clarosec said:


> Et voilà! De retour! Verre remplacé, rehaut remplacé, et en plus - contrôle de fonctionnement, contrôle d'étanchiété, et contrôle de réserve de marche. Facture? Zéro - fait sur garantie. Eh bien. Merci Yema du service exceptionnel. J'aurai préféré un rehaut 12/24h comme remplacement mais bon... faut pas trop se plaindre! D'ailleurs, vous avez pris mon conseil justement pour la Yachtingraf Bronze, qui figure un rehaut de 12h, et la date. Ça me tente... mais à CAD 2,000 $ je ne sait pas.
> 
> And there it is, home! Crystal replaced, bezel replaced, and also - regulated, water resistance test and power reserve test. Cost? Zero - covered under warranty. Well then. Thank you Yema for the exceptional service. I'd have preferred a 12/24h bezel as a replacement but I can't complain! Besides, you took my advice for the Yachtingraf Bronze, which rightly has a 12 hour bezel and date. Tempting... but at CAD $2,000 I don't know.
> 
> Pics to follow.


Excellent ! Content que ça se finisse bien, clarosec ! 👍

J'ai eu affaire au SAV de _Ambre_ à plusieurs reprises par le passé (pour une _Yema_ et des _Yonger&Bresson_) et ça s'est toujours très bien passé. Rapide, efficace.

Mes Yonger étaient toutes sous garantie, mais ma Yema 'Sous-Marine' était d'une collection plus ancienne, hors garantie, et la réparation (un problème d'usure avec le tube de la tige de remontoir) avait là aussi été faite *gratuitement* 🙏 ce qui m'avait impressionné. Ils avaient même refait l'étanchéité et le contrôle au timegrapher.


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## Jimbo85281 (Jan 3, 2015)

Any updates on this piece? How has it held up? Do you know what the numbers on the rehaut mean??


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## Panerol Forte (Jan 22, 2019)

Très belle montre et excellente affaire. Je suis d'autant plus impressionné par leur service après-vente, ce n'est pas la première fois que je lis des éloges quant à leur efficacité et au sérieux de la société.


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## clarosec (May 18, 2014)

Jimbo85281 said:


> Any updates on this piece? How has it held up? Do you know what the numbers on the rehaut mean??


Still running great - I take it sailing all the time. It now lives on either a black/red/blue single pass or "Gulf racing" single pass strap. Thing has been bulletproof since I got it back, and last time I checked it was running +6s/day. I'm looking at doing a SOLO 300 sail here in Ottawa - 300km single-handed on a 45km stretch of the Ottawa river, to raise some funds for camps for children with cancer. That'll be a good test. 6 days-ish of bashing around with lee shores everywhere! 

I reach for it at least as often as I do for my Speedy since that one is hesalite. Numbers on the bezel are bog standard dive watch. The stuff on the chapter ring on the dial is... decorative. I don't mind, but it if had a compass bezel + port/starboard/reaching markings it'd be better for racing etc. Still a great look and works fine.


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