Yema Slims Down the Navygraf in a New Limited Edition

A micro-rotor dive watch? For under $2,000? At first blush, the concept may seem outrageous. After all, micro-rotor movements are typically reserved for high-end dress watches and complicated Indies. They’re hardly at home in the sort of accessible dive watches so many of us like, but Yema has — for the second time this year — dropped a svelte micro-rotor-powered dive watch, and they certainly have my attention.

Yema is not a new name in the watch space. The brand has been around in some form or another since 1948 and, since its return to French ownership in 2008, the brand has been working hard to build itself into a leading French watchmaker. While they are best known today for their vintage-inspired dive watches like the Superman, over the last few years, Yema has slowly been building up a quiver of French-made manufacture movements produced in France’s own version of the Vallée de Joux, the watchmaking hub of Morteau.

To date, they have introduced three movements in this series of French-designed calibers, with more surely to come. Though still reliant on Switzerland for regulating organs and some movement parts (not a bad thing on any level, even Roger Smith uses Swiss-made mainsprings), these movements have been a big step for the brand, and are far from being simple ETA or Sellita clones, like we so often see. The first of these was the CMM.20, a slim 3.7mm ultra-thin micro-rotor movement, with near-COSC accuracy, an anti-magnetic construction, a 70-hour power reserve, and ALD-coated plates. In other words, this isn’t your standard micro-brand movement.

We first saw this movement used in the Kickstarter-funded Wristmaster integrated bracelet steel sports watch. That watch made for a solid debut, but Yema’s bread and butter are their dive watches, so it was only a matter of time before we saw the in-house caliber ported over. The brand first dropped the CMM.20 into a diver earlier this year with the release of the standard production Superman Slim CMM.20, a solid update to their classic Superman dive watch.

Today’s Yema Navygraf Slim CMM.20 Limited Edition draws inspiration from the brand’s impressive history of producing dive watches without beating you over the head with it. This is as stripped-down a dive watch as exists in Yema’s catalog, eschewing vintage hallmarks like the crown-controlled bezel lock. The Navygraf Slim sports a handsome lacquered black dial with applied numerals, plenty of lume, and bright yellow accents. I’m a big fan of the look and really enjoy the dramatic pop of yellow against the glossy dial. The lumed black bezel is straightforward, without any specific scale to be found.

So, with a movement only 3.7mm thick (or thin, as the case may be), you may find yourself wondering about the dimensions of the watch itself. Well, the Yema Navygraf Slim CMM.20 is, without the 2.2mm double domed sapphire crystal, 9.5mm thick (11.7mm total), with a case diameter of 39mm and a lug-to-lug measure of 46mm. Yema claims that this is a watch meant to fit on every wrist and, given the compact lug-to-lug, I’m inclined to believe them.

Despite being 3mm thinner than the standard Navygraf, the Navygraf Slim maintains 300m of water resistance thanks to a redesigned sapphire caseback and screw-down crown. Overall, the Navygraf Slim CMM.20 makes for one solid unit of dive watch in a remarkably compelling package.

You can order the watch now for $1,990 with delivery expected in August of this year. The Yema Navygraf Slim CMM.20 is a limited edition, with only 200 pieces available. Yema