The Superman returns with a steel-blue dial, a 39mm case, 300m of water resistance and the CMM.10. Yema spells out which parts of that movement it makes and which it buys, which few brands do at this price.**
On the Superman Steel Blue CMM.10 product page, Yema explains that the bridges and mainplate are machined in its Morteau workshops, that the remaining components come from suppliers in France and Switzerland within 72 kilometers, and that assembly, calibration and final inspection happen back in Morteau.
The word "manufacture" has no legal definition. It serves equally well for a Swiss catalog movement with a different name engraved on it and for production carried out end to end under one roof, and buyers seldom know which of the two they're paying for. Yema clears it up before anyone asks. With that on the table, the price of reference 17.26.10.65.SN.M becomes a conversation worth having.
A 39mm case and a steel-blue dial
The case is 316L steel and measures 39mm across, 11.30mm thick and 47mm lug to lug, on 19mm lugs. The flanks are vertically brushed, the chamfers mirror-polished. The crystal is double-domed sapphire, 2.20mm thick. The unidirectional bezel carries a polished black ceramic insert, a 60-minute scale and a luminous triangle at 12.
The dial moves from navy to a much lighter blue depending on how the light hits it, an effect of the sunray finish. The indices are applied and polished, treated with Grade A Super-LumiNova BGW9, as are the hands. There's no date window, so the hour ring runs unbroken, without the gap at three. The seconds hand is a lollipop, the text on the dial is in French, and the MANUFACTURE FRANÇAISE signature sits at 6.
The bezel lock, patented since 1967
Screw the crown down and a steel bracket attached to the crown guard engages the bezel's toothed edge and holds it still. Loosen the crown and the bezel turns again. Yema places the mechanism on the original 1967 Superman and keeps it patented.
The rest of the industry settled on the unidirectional bezel, which doesn't stop a knock from moving your dive reference. It only forces the error to fall on the safe side: the bezel will read more elapsed time than has actually passed, so the diver surfaces early rather than late. Yema's lock removes that displacement altogether, at the cost of unscrewing the crown underwater every time the bezel needs moving. Each solution pays a different price.
The CMM.10 and the degrees of manufacture
The CMM.10 is automatic, beats at 28,800 vph and holds 70 hours of power reserve. Yema rates it at -3/+5 seconds per day, a tighter window than the -4/+6 COSC requires for mean daily rate. That comparison is worth reading carefully: COSC measures seven criteria across fifteen days, in five positions and at three temperatures, while Yema's number is a factory specification nobody outside the company checks.
There are several steps between a rebranded off-the-shelf movement and a manufacture that produces everything in-house. Yema occupies a middle ground: it designs the caliber, machines the structural components, sources the remaining parts from workshops in the Jura region, and handles assembly in Morteau. In the sub-$2,000 price range, most mechanical dive watches still use off-the-shelf Swiss base movements; anyone wishing to understand what distinguishes one brand from another might start by looking at what it truly means for a watch to be "Swiss Made".
Eleven millimeters of thickness with 300m of water resistance and a sapphire display back is a tight figure, since that combination usually clears thirteen. And the 47mm lug-to-lug says more about how the watch will sit on a wrist than the diameter does.
Worth knowing before you pay
Sales are online only, with fourteen days to return, so you try the watch on once you've paid for it. And as with any proprietary caliber from a small brand, servicing happens at the factory: the international warranty covers five years, but the bench is in France.
| Reference | 17.26.10.65.SN.M |
| Case | 316L steel, 39mm × 11.30mm, 47mm lug-to-lug, 19mm lugs |
| Crystal | 2.20mm double-domed sapphire, sapphire caseback |
| Water resistance | 300 m (30 bar) |
| Bezel | Unidirectional, polished black ceramic, patented lock |
| Dial | Steel blue sunray, applied indices, Grade A BGW9, no date |
| Caliber | CMM.10 manufacture, automatic, 28,800 vph, 70h, -3/+5 sec/day |
| Strap | Scales steel bracelet with micro-adjust, or FKM VITON rubber |
| Price | $1,890 (rubber) / $1,999 (bracelet) |
| Warranty | Five years, international |
Latin America and Spain Perspective
Yema's store ships to Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Peru among other countries in the region, and charges in US dollars in all of them. In Spain the price appears in euros with VAT included, and it's worth opening the page with Spain selected, because it isn't a conversion of the US figure.
Yema absorbs duties only on shipments to the United States. From Latin America the buyer pays them when the parcel lands. Mexico applies 16% VAT plus a general tariff, which can bring the total to around 36% over declared value; Colombia, 19% VAT and a 10–20% tariff; Chile, 19% VAT. These are estimates and should be confirmed with a customs broker. In Argentina, under the current currency regime, any figure published today would be stale within weeks.
Morteau has less than seven thousand inhabitants and the Yema manufacturing facility is located there. That a factory like this clearly informs which pieces of its caliber it manufactures and which it integrates from other suppliers, while much larger brands limit themselves to the word "manufacturing", is one of the few things that a buyer can verify on their own before paying. Yema applies the same criteria in the Navygraf Barracuda with CMM.20 caliber.
