So, let’s say you have a watch brand that’s been around awhile, like 73 years. It’s well established, well respected, and has a storied catalog of watches. Let’s also assume that vintage watches are a hot commodity. You want to incorporate that history into a new model, but how? Should you release a tastefully updated incarnation of a classic model, or do you try something entirely new that still clearly reflects the brand’s DNA? If you are Yema, you do both, like the Wristmaster Adventurer and Traveller I am reviewing for you today.
While both models share the 1960s Wristmaster name, they couldn’t be more different. The dress-sport Adventurer is the more vintage-inspired of the two, featuring a 37mm case, a broad dial, and a gloriously tall Hestilite box crystal. The Traveller is more of a modern tool watch with a 39mm octagonal case, an integrated bracelet, and a slightly raised sapphire crystal. Both are rated for 100m water resistance and share the YEMA2000, a 29-jewel, 28.8k bph automatic movement designed and assembled in France. Flipping the watches over, we find typically excellent Yema case backs, stamped with a nicely detailed “Y” logo and engraved with the usual specs.
Adventurer
The Adventurer is the dressier of the two Wristmasters. Yema offers it in beige as well as the rich blue shown here. Like Wristmasters of old, it is on the smaller side, measuring 37mm wide, 48mm long, and 12mm thick – nearly 2mm of which is that double-domed crystal. On my 6.75″ wrist, the Adventurer was a perfect fit, the lugs arcing just enough to follow the curvature of my wrist, allowing the already slim case to tuck smoothly under my buttoned shirt cuff. The domed, signed, and coin-edged crown maintains a suitably low profile. It is polished, as are the flat case sides, in contrast to the sportier longitudinal brushing on the upper surface.
While 37mm may sound small by modern standards, the watch maintains a strong presence thanks to its crisply squared edges, curved barrel case, wide (30mm) dial opening, and of course, that tall box crystal.
Regular readers know I can’t resist a nice dome, and I’m particularly partial to the warm look and dreamy edge distortions of plexiglass. I know some will lament that it isn’t sapphire, but if you really want to emulate a mid-century watch, I believe you must use this 60s-era material. Modern sapphire just doesn’t capture the feel. Besides its authenticity, Hesilite is hard to crack, easy to buff, and develops a pleasant patina over time.
After the rich blue color, the element most likely to catch your eye is the Wristmaster script in the lower part of the dial. It is a delightful throwback that is faithful to the Wristmasters of old. Polished and faceted applied hour markers add a bit of sparkle while the central crosshair ties it together and telegraphs the watch’s sporting intentions. The date window is finished with a polished frame. It looks like a 50-year old design because it is. Several vintage Wristmasters shared this same layout.
Illumination, on the other hand, is thoroughly modern. Yema went with BGW9 SuperLuminova for the lume pips under the markers and in the polished baton hands for a strong blue glow. Granted, those tiny pips do fade more quickly than the hands, but it is still leagues beyond any that remains on the Adventurer’s ancestors.
The watch will come on a 20mm brown leather strap. It’s minimally stitched in what we might call the “modern vintage style,” which is to say it’s not precisely period-correct but more like a recent replacement intended to impart a handmade quality.
The Adventurer is a handsome, versatile watch with abundant vintage charm. It could easily be your everyday watch, equally at home with a blazer and tie as jeans and a sweater. The fact that it looks as if it could have belonged to your grandfather is a bonus. The watch is available for pre-order now on Kickstarter for $452, 38% off retail.
Traveller
The Traveller is a very different Wristmaster. While it too has vintage vibes, most notably in the creamy lume department, it is a more modern design that is still unmistakably a Yema. Measuring 39mm wide, an impressively short 43.5mm long, and just 12mm thick, the Traveller is a compact piece, but it wears slightly larger than its sibling due to its roughly eight-sided shape and integrated bracelet.
I say “roughly” because while it does indeed have eight sides, the left side is bowed outward while the right side is straight with a recessed crown, and the four short sides bow inward. It’s not symmetrical — and it works. Add a polished beveled edge to the otherwise brushed case, and things start to get really interesting. And yet, I still have talked about the most interesting element of the case. That honor goes to the fixed bezel, modeled after a quartz Yema Sous Marine from the 1980s. Right away, you’ll notice the six recesses framing the crystal. Less obvious is the fact that it is not round but has four defined corners that flatten the shape. Its polished bevel matches that of the case.
I’d call the case Gentaesque, but that would really just cover its general shape. There is a lot more going on here. Look at the profile, the way the tall bezel with its vertical sides makes the already slim case appear even flatter, how the layering of brushed and polished planes breaks it up to create more visual interest. It is a delightful design.
Heading back to the dial, I’d note that it is in a relatively small opening, only 27mm. It wears a familiar diver’s layout in black with white printing but Old Radium SuperLuminova for a bright glow with an aged look. Yema didn’t skimp here; there are 13 layers of the stuff adding both brightness and dimension. Zoom in close, and those hour markers look like bars of soap. I love it.
That same vintage lume also fills the hands, which are themselves throwbacks to the 70s Yema Superman. It’s a traditional face, but not one that you would mistake for anything other than a Yema.
If you are selling a watch on an integrated Bracelet, it had better be worth it. The Traveller does not disappoint. Its short, Y-shaped links articulate smoothly and should provide enough range of adjustment to fit most wrists. The links are brushed on top, beveled to match the case, and polished on both the bevel and the sides. The bracelet goes from 24mm at the case (matching the width of its top and bottom sides) to 18mm at the signed butterfly clasp. I love swapping straps, but I’d be perfectly happy leaving this one exactly as-is.
Like the Adventurer, the Traveller has all the correct elements for an all-purpose watch; it’s just that this one is more overtly sporty. Its sleek profile and polished accents will work nicely with a suit, but it is a tool watch at heart. The Traveller is available for pre-order for $565 on Kickstarter, 41% off retail.
Conclusion
At the Kickstarter prices, both of the Wristmasters are an outstanding value. It is a rare and wonderful thing when a brand can nail a design brief as decisively as this and then offer the result for as little as this. Had Yema simply taken the more conventional route and offered the watches for their full retail prices of $720 and $946, they likely would have sold just fine, but at the pre-sale prices, they are almost impossible to resist. Each watch comes with an attractive perforated leather box and the “Time of Heroes” book by Marie-Pia Coustans that covers the brand’s history and catalog of over 1200 watches. This English-language volume is exclusive to Kickstarter. Best of all, Yema promises to ship Early Bird orders in December.
If you want one, you’d better act now. The Kickstarter campaign ends on November 30. Early Bird rewards remain for the Adventurer but have sold out for the Traveller, so they won’t fulfill further Traveller orders until April. For more information, see Yema.com and the Wristmaster Kickstarter Page.
