YEMA Superman 500 GMT Review

Since its founding in 1948, Yema has been regarded as one of if not the premiere French watch manufacture. YEMA's workshops are based in the town of Morteau which is right in the heart of the French watch making region. The town in the Jura Mountains is just miles away from Switzerland's famed La Chaux-de-fonds as well, an area made famous for its importance in the history of watchmaking.

YEMA was founded by skilled watchmaker Henry Louis Belmont in 1948 with the vision of creating reliable and robust watches for professional use. It was this goal that gained early YEMA watches the reputation for being extremely trustworthy and just being a quality product.



The 1950's and 60's saw YEMA become a pioneer in a newly formed segment of the market, dive watches. Along with early pioneers like Blancpain and Rolex, YEMA was one of the first brands to bring a watch capable of withstanding depths of 100 meters to the market. During this period, the iconic Superman dive watch was launched in 1963.

The Superman was designed to be used by dive professionals and boasted a mind bending 300 meters of water resistance. Other dive centric design elements included a screw down crown and case back which helped with the increased water resistance. A uni-directional bezel and luminous hands and markers also solidified the Superman as a serious dive watch. YEMA soon also introduced a bezel-lock mechanism for the Superman models that would ensure the bezel couldn't be turned by accident during a dive, which is a life saving feature.



For our first introduction to a modern YEMA timepiece, Antoine and his team over at YEMA sent us a modern take on the Superman in the Superman 500 GMT. This modern Superman ratchets up the water resistance to 500 meters and also adds the useful 3 time zone complication. With the new improvements, the Superman 500 GMT still maintains original Superman calling cards like the bezel lock system and shovel seconds hand.

When the Superman 500 GMT arrived the first thing I noticed was the sapphire crystal bezel. I used to own an IWC Aquatimer with a sapphire bezel and currently own a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms which also uses a sapphire bezel, and personally I just prefer this bezel material to aluminum and ceramic bezels. While I love ceramic watches, ceramic bezels have always felt a bit cold to me. While aluminum bezels have a nice look to them, they just don't hold up well. Sapphire adds a bit of depth and warmth to the bezel and is also extremely tough. An added bonus is that sapphire also reminds me of the old Bakelite bezels. The black and white color scheme of this GMT bezel is a lot more pleasant to me than say a Pepsi or Coke bezel.



The second thing that stuck out to me was the bezel lock system. It's actually pretty hard to miss the piece of steel framing the bezel at the crown. The way the system works is that the bi-directional GMT bezel is locked in place while the crown is screwed in. When you unscrew the crown the pressure on the bezel lock is released and the bezel can then be turned freely in either direction. When you have set the GMT bezel to its desired hour, you just screw the crown back in and the bezel is then locked. I just love bezel safety features in dive watches like the push to turn bezel on my IWC GST Aquatimer 2000. YEMA's system is even more foolproof then IWCs, since no diver would dare go into the water with the crown not screwed in.

The final thing that took my attention when initially looking at the Superman 500 GMT was the bracelet design. YEMA offers the watch on various bracelet and strap options including a leather strap, Tropic rubber strap and two versions of a steel bracelet with one being a scale bracelet and the other being the heritage bracelet. This Superman 500 GMT came on the heritage bracelet which is meant to evoke vintage vibes. The heritage bracelet is a five part construction with the brushed link being separated into three pieces with polished pieces dividing them. The look and feel of this bracelet really feels like it came out of the 60s or 70s.



With the initial impressions out of the way, we can now take a look at the technical specs of the YEMA Superman 500 GMT. The watch is crafted out of 316L stainless steel and measures 39 mm in case diameter with a lug to lug measurement of 48.1 mm. The thickness of the watch is 14.1 mm and the watch weighs 130 grams when sized for my 7.25 inch wrist.

The Superman 500 GMT features a double-domed sapphire crystal for better readability and increased water resistance. This design also gives the watch a distinctive vintage look to it. Part of the Superman 500 GMTs thickness can be attested to this 2.6mm thick crystal. Under this super clear crystal is the matte black dial featuring dot and stick indices. The indices appear white during the day and in low light conditions show off the Grade A Super-Luminova. This same lume is found on the hour, minute, GMT as seconds hands as well on the bezel. When charged the Super-Luminova glows a brilliant turquoise blue in the dark.



Like a proper diver, the Superman 500 GMT has an enlarged minutes hand and also incorporates the shovel design to the running seconds hand. The GMT hand is outlined in matching red to the dot found on the seconds hand. A YEMA logo and "Superman" text is found at 12 o'clock and "Worldtime", "Automatique" and "500 Metres" is found at 6 o'clock. Also at 6 o'clock the watch proudly displays "France" instead of "Swiss Made". Finally you have a black backed date window at 3 o'clock.

Like we spoke about earlier, the bezel is crafted out of sapphire crystal and is a GMT bezel with 24 hours displayed instead of the 60 minute diving scale. The night time section of the bezel is done in black, while the daytime section is done in white. In low light conditions the numerals and markers on the black section glow blue, while the white section glows blue and its markings remain black. When the bezel lock feature is disengaged the bezel can turn in both directions, like a GMT should be able to. The bezel has a nice and sure actions and clicks to each hour for a total of 24 turns needed to complete a rotation of the dial. The bezel is also nicely scalloped resulting in very nice grip.



The case is almost entirely brushed and really gives off the look of a tool watch. The screw-down crown features a YEMA logo on top of it and is also nicely scalloped providing good grip. Unscrewing the crown allows you to manually wind the watch and also releases the bezel lock system. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the date while turning the crown away from you and then lets you advance the GMT hand by an hour when turned towards you. Pulling the crown out to position two lets you set the time and also advances the GMT hand. The crown is also protected by rather pronounced crown guards on each side.



Flipping the watch over shows off the stainless steel solid case back featuring the YEMA logo and coat of arms. The case back is screwed down and along with the screw-down crown help with the watch's 500 meter of water resistance. Under the case back lives the YEMA in-house caliber YEMA3000. The YEMA3000 offers 42 hours of power reserve and beats at 28,00 vph (4Hz). YEMA claims the movement is accurate to +/- 10 seconds a day and on our timegrapher we saw -1 seconds per day of accuracy. I'm not sure if all YEMA3000 calibers will be as accurate, but we were pleasantly surprised.



The lug width of the Superman 500 GMT is 19 mm and the bracelet tapers down to 16 mm at the flip-lock deployant clasp. The clasp features the YEMA logo and also has a diver's extension. There are no micro-adjustments on the clasp, but during my time with the watch it never bothered me. The heritage bracelet also gives the Superman 500 GMT a vintage look that when paired with the sapphire bezel really gives the watch a unique look for a modern diver. One last thing on the bracelet is that the removable links are secured by a screw, which we really like seeing.



The YEMA Superman 500 GMT integrated well into my watch rotation and I spent a good deal of time wearing it on my wrist. At 39 mm a watch would typically be a non-starter for me, but with a decent lug to lug of measurement of 48.1 mm, the Superman 500 GMT was surprisingly wearable. YEMA did also send us a 41 mm Superman to review, which I did feel fit my wrist better. The watch has a nice heft to it, but never gave my wrist any fatigue and managed to always stay centered on my wrist. The main thing I can't stand about smaller watches is when they favor either side of my wrist.



It's been extremely hot here in Austin over the past few weeks and I did notice the watch got a bit tight on my wrist after my initial sizing. While the clasp doesn't have micro-adjustments, it does have a few holes you can adjust how long the bracelet is with just a springbar tool and it literally took me 30 seconds to make the bracelet a bit longer.

While I'm not a huge fan of bracelets on watches, the Superman 500 GMT's bracelet was a treat to live with. I do wish YEMA would have sent a Tropic rubber strap as well, since I feel I would have preferred the watch on rubber versus a steel bracelet. This is just personal preference though.



With its black dial, black and white bezel and brushed stainless steel case and bracelet, the Superman 500 GMT was pretty incognito during my time with the watch. I had a few acquaintances ask about the watch, but no strangers approached me about it. Those I showed the watch to really liked it, especially given the price and in-house movement. I feel if you want a more extroverted watch, YEMA offers plenty of watches with much more colorful dials that will get noticed more often.

At $1,199 on the heritage bracelet, the YEMA Superman 500 GMT offers a lot of value for the money. For that price you're getting an in-house GMT movement with a stunning sapphire bezel along with a great heritage in the dive watch space. We should take a bit of time and look at some of the alternatives in the same space as well.



Of course when you talk about a 39 mm dive watch with a GMT function the first watch people think of is the Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT. This watch is also crafted out of stainless steel and features an in-house TUDOR movement with 65 hours of power reserve. TUDOR rates the Black Bay 58 GMT at 200 meters of water resistance which is less than half of the Superman 500 GMT. The TUDOR is also $4,600, which is nearly four times the price of the YEMA.

Next up we have the Longines Legend Diver crafted out of stainless steel and also measuring 39 mm. The Legend Diver goes with an internal rotating bezel instead of the standard dive bezel. The watch is powered by an exclusive ETA movement with 72 hours of power reserve. The Legend Diver is also rated to 300 meters of water resistance. For a retail price of $3,300 the Legend Diver is three times the price of the Superman 500 GMT and has less water resistance and no GMT function.



Finally we have the larger Seiko Prospex GMT SPB383J1 measuring in at 42 mm, but with a just slightly larger lug to lug measurement of 48.6 mm. The Seiko retails for a few hundred dollars more than the Superman 500 GMT and features an in-house Seiko movement that doesn't claim the same level of accuracy as the YEMA but does offer 72 hours of power reserve. The Seiko also only has 200 meters of water resistance versus the 500 meters of the Superman 500 GMT.

You can see when looking at these three alternatives to the YEMA Superman 500 GMT, that the watch really offers a ton of value for under $1,200. It's pretty much impossible to find another watch with 500 meters of water resistance, an in-house movement and a GMT function for anywhere near the price of the Superman 500 GMT.



So would I buy the Superman 500 GMT for myself? Well while the 39 mm case diameter did "work" on my wrist with its longer lug to lug measurement, it was still just a bit small for my personal preference. The 41 mm variant would probably be a lot closer to what I prefer. Also if the watch came with the Tropic rubber strap over the steel bracelet, it would have fallen more into my wheelhouse.

So getting away from my weird sizing and bracelet quirks, would I recommend the Superman 500 GMT to somebody looking at a dive watch that wasn't too large? In a heartbeat… the YEMA Superman 500 GMT offers so much for the relatively low price of $1,199. Like I said earlier, I'm not sure where you can find an in-house GMT movement and 500 meters of water resistance for that price. Also the sapphire bezel and vintage bracelet really give the Superman 500 GMT a very distinctive look. It's really a watch that needs to be seriously considered if you're looking for a watch in this category.



We'd really like to thank YEMA for sending us this Superman 500 GMT and it truly was a great introduction to the brand. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks for our review of the 41 mm Superman 500 Dato as well.

For more information about the Superman 500 GMT please visit : YEMA

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: YGMT22A39-AMS

Retail Price: $1,199

Case Size: 39 mm

Lug to Lug: 48.1 mm

Thickness: 14.1 mm

Weight: 130 Grams

Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel

Bezel: 316L Stainless Steel

Strap: 316L Stainless Steel Bracelet with Deployant Clasp

Movement: YEMA3000 In-House Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date, GMT

Power Reserve: 42 Hours

Water Resistance: 500 Meters