Review: Yema Superman 500

Yema has been around forever, whether you knew it or not. Truth be told, I thought it was a zombie brand—one of those long-gone brands that some wily entrepreneur brings back from the dead, like Aquastar or Nivada Grenchen. But Yema was founded in 1948 in Besançon, France, and remains there to this day. The reason I thought it might be a zombie brand, is because many of its offerings are reissues of its classics. Yema, though, is doing far more than any of those zombie brands are, and the Yema Superman 500 is evidence of that.

In addition to a few chronograph models, the Superman garners the most attention for the brand. The brand celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2018 by releasing the Superman Heritage dive watch to great fanfare. In the intervening years, the brand has developed its proprietary YEMA2000 caliber, improved the Superman’s construction, and expanded the line. The Yema Superman 500 is an evolution of the Superman Heritage, with the YEMA2000 caliber, no date, and upgrades to the water resistance, crown, and crystal.

The beige lume, arrow hand, and triangle at 12 make this a classic vintage dial. The thin case is evident from the start and furthers that vintage notion (if you can believe it, there was a time when brands tried to make dive watches thinner). The most notable element, though, is the bezel lock at 3 o’clock.

The Case

The Yema Superman 500 is offered in 39mm or 41mm (the 39 has a slightly shorter lug-to-lug), so there’s something for everyone. While I know it’s consistent with the vintage model, the entire watch is polished, aside from the bezel wall; it’s a lot of shine just waiting to be marred, and I’m shocked I didn’t pick up any scuffs during my time with the watch. The crown, which has been improved, has some of the best winding action I’ve ever experienced: it’s smooth and dead quiet, with a perfect amount of tension to let you know something is actually happening. That said, the ends of the crown guards are pointy enough that you feel them with every rotation and my fingers even caught on them once or twice.

The Yema Superman 500 sits well on the wrist, despite the straighter lugs and caseback. Actually, the caseback has actually been thickened to help bump the watch up to 500m water resistance. The crystal is tall with edge distortion, but nothing so dramatic as to affect legibility. The bezel insert is aluminum, which keeps with the vintage design of the Superman. The drop of the bracelet is a bit precipitous, but that’s visual and nothing to do with wear.

Alright. Let’s talk about this bezel lock. It’s the Superman’s sine qua non and undoubtedly a cool bit of vintage tech. But it’s peak horological affectation: it’s utterly useless, if not a hinderance. First, the bezel on the Superman 500 is unidirectional, with great action, but very little chance of inadvertent shifting. Second, even if it was a friction bezel or bidirectional, the lock severely limits the bezel’s use. You can’t quickly set it for timing pasta or timeouts, and in the off chance you actually use it for diving, its only use is to time your full dive, as you won’t be able to adjust it once you’re under (I’ve confirmed this with people who actually dive). Finally, the locking device itself just floats around when the crown is unscrewed, as you can see; while it is secure when locked, this gives it a rather flimsy feeling,

The Dial

The dial is a rather simple affair. If you don’t like the whole “vintage lume” look, you may be put off, but I think it looks good against the black dial and it’s not so obvious as to be jarring. Legibility is excellent, with high contrast between the printed lume markers and hands. The stoplight seconds is a nice touch, and the red matches the dial text.

I like the dimensionality and crispness of the lume, which rises just slightly off the dial. The only real nit I have to pick with the dial is that the 12 o’clock triangle is so large that it requires the logo and brand to be shrunk down too much. I would’ve preferred a bit of moderation and a larger graphic.

The lume on the Yema is honestly fantastic. Given some of the other quirks of the watch, I was half expecting to be disappointed. Instead, I found the watch to shine brightly and evenly (including the bezel pip). It charged quickly with just a short trip to the mailbox and stayed legible in my home’s low-light stairwells for some time.

The Rest

The Yema Superman 500 is equipped with Yema’s very own YEMA2000 caliber. There’s a little debate, but I think it’s safe to call this movement in-house: it’s developed, designed, assembled, and regulated by Yema at its Morteau, France, workshops. That’s most of the work, and I don’t expect any brand but the hautest of horologerie to manufacture its own components. So,Yema gets the “in-house” credit. The movement is an evolution of Yema’s MBP1000, with improvements made to several gearing elements, the regulation mechanism, and the date function (which is omitted here). You get an automatic movement running at 28,800 vph, with 29 jewels, with a 42-hour power reserve, all regulated to -/+10 seconds per day. Sign me up.

Anyone who has ever tried a Yema will tell you that the clasp is by far the worst part of the watch. There’s no reason for there to be a thin, cheap feeling, stamped clasp, and yet that’s what we’ve got. Functionally, it’s fine, but I was left wondering why the care that went into the watch (and even the bracelet) didn’t go into the clasp. The only issue I have with the bracelet is how the brushed endlinks abut the case’s polishing. It’s an odd clash that makes the bracelet seem out of place. That said, the bracelet does nicely continue the slim profile of the watch, and the drilled lugs make swaps a cinch.

I almost always recommend buying a watch on the bracelet if it’s an option, and I would probably still suggest doing so with the Yema Superman 500, but if you are not so inclined, an FKM rubber strap with a folding clasp or a leather strap are also available. (Tellingly, the rubber strap option costs more than the bracelet option.) The watch also performed ably on other straps, including the ones above and a few thin leather numbers I have. The case construction means NATOs add minimal height.

As far as reissues go, this is a home run. And really, this isn’t a reissue—it’s an evolution of that original 2018 Superman Heritage, which is itself a reissue. I’d argue it’s better than its Heritage sibling, given the better specs and the fancy pants in-house movement. If black isn’t the right fit for you, the model also comes in a blue dial with a matching bezel, and that version has regular white lume! If you can overcome the inanity of the bezel lock, the Yema Superman 500 is quite a watch and surely there’s a configuration that will tickle your fancy.

You can learn more about the Yema Superman 500 on the Yema website.