In 2011, after years of R&D and over €3 million invested, YEMA's first-generation self-winding mechanical in-house movement is released: the Caliber MBP1000. Almost 10 years later, the MBP1000 has equipped over 250,000 YEMA timepieces.
Following the general enthusiasm for our first caliber and in order to secure our independence, we have developed second-generation In-house Calibers which will be exclusive to the brand:
(3 hands)
(GMT)
THE FRENCH Standard GRADE
CHRONOMETRIC Tests
Our second-generation In-house Calibers have undergone numerous control tests including a final one carried out by the Centre Technique Horloger Français, a French independent institution founded in 1945 responsible of testing watch calibers made in France.
The results of the final Chronometric and Power Reserve Tests are satisfactory:
Precision has been improved to +/-10 s/d accuracy and +/-25 s/d tolerance.
(available in French)
SECOND-GENERATION IN-HOUSE CALIBERS
Our new In-house Calibers YEMA2000 and YEMA3000 are an evolution of our first caliber MBP1000. Several components have been improved in order to achieve fundamental gains in terms of precision and durability.
Designed, developed and assembled by our watchmakers in our Morteau (France) workshops, the new calibers combine manufacturing simplicity and efficiency offering great precision and reliability at a competitive price point.
IMPROVED PRECISION
Hairspring regulator
The regulator mechanism has been modified in order to better adjust the hairspring and balance wheel in all positions. The new mechanism is far more reliable, which results in more accurate regulations while avoiding accidental unregulation due to shocks when the watch is worn in the most extreme conditions.
Reversing wheels
In order to counter-effect an excessive rotational effect in one and the same direction of the oscillating weight, the reversing wheels have been modified for an improved winding of the mechanism in both directions.
Oscilating weight finishing
The oscillating weight has been decorated with the mentions, YEMA 1948, Maison Horlogère Française, Caliber YEMA2000.
IMPROVED PRECISION
Hairspring regulator
The regulator mechanism has been modified in order to better adjust the hairspring and balance wheel in all positions. The new mechanism is far more reliable, which results in more accurate regulations while avoiding accidental unregulation due to shocks when the watch is worn in the most extreme conditions.
Reversing wheels
In order to counter-effect an excessive rotational effect in one and the same direction of the oscillating weight, the reversing wheels have been modified for an improved winding of the mechanism in both directions.
Oscilating weight finishing
The oscillating weight has been decorated with the mentions, YEMA 1948, Maison Horlogère Française, Caliber YEMA2000.
ADVANCED COMPLICATIONS
Calendar driving wheel
These components allow the date to jump every 24 hours. The new version facilitate a smoother and more precise jump.
Date Complication
Our new calibers have the advantage of being able to be assembled without their date complication to avoid the "ghost-date effect" on no-date dial models without a date function. The disc wheels typography and colors have also been improved.
GMT Complication
Complication allowing the display of a second time zone via an independent hand.
AT THE HEART OF WATCH CRAFTSMANSHIP
Known for its excellent craftsmanship, the French art of watchmaking has a longstanding tradition of excellence. It goes back more than six hundred years but it is in the 18th century that it takes off in Franche-Comté, the French region in the Jura mountains just a few miles away from Switzerland.
Watchmaking was first and foremost a meticulous craft practiced in winter as a supplementary activity by farmers living in the Jura mountains. Today the watchmaking craftsmanship is preserved by historical Franche-Comté brands like YEMA and the recurrent exchanges between skilled watch experts across the border.
YEMA's workshops are based in the small town of Morteau (Franche-Comté), surrounded by extensive pine forests in a secluded valley in the Jura mountains. YEMA is run by a third generation watchmakers‘ family of Morteau with a small scale team averaging +30 years of service. Today, YEMA and other local watchmakers are the worthy heirs of a long watchmaking tradition that goes back centuries.
All these historical and geographical elements have enabled the French Watchmaker YEMA to design its own In-house mechanical movement.
Jean-Paul Boillot
Master Watchmaker
With almost 40 years of service, Jean-Paul Boillot is YEMA's Watchmaking Master. Born into a watchmaking family for four generations, Jean-Paul has been immersed in the world of watchmaking since his earliest childhood. His parents owned a small watchmaking business in the family home, which allowed him to observe and practice the work and meticulous gestures that mechanical movement require.
“In my childhood, the Morteau valley was the cradle of French watchmaking. Each small village was crowded with family businesses dedicated to horology and watchmaking. YEMA was one of the most renowned local watch brands and the leading French watch exporter at that time. I always had in mind the idea of designing a quality French movement at an affordable price as we used to do in the past. So I was very honored to work on the development of YEMA's in-house Calibers by leading its design, prototyping and assembling.”
Jean-Paul Boillot
A DYNAMIC REGIONAL WATCHMAKING ECOSYSTEM
The French and Swiss watchmaking regions feed into each other in a synergetic way in terms of expertise and talent. 15,000 people from Morteau’s region work daily for neighbouring Swiss manufacturers while another 3,000 are employed by private label French watchmakers based between Morteau and Besançon.
YEMA actively participates in this regional watchmaking ecosystem by partnering with Lycée Edgar Faure in Morteau, which currently has more than 1,200 students. For more than 30 years, YEMA trains a dozen of apprentice watchmakers yearly through well-structured internships led by our Master Watchmaker, Jean-Paul Boillot.
French schools play an important role in the regional watchmaking ecosystem: Most alumni of Lycée Edgar Faure de Morteau work for Swiss manufactures, while 80% of Swiss watchmaking Managers are trained by the School of microtechnical engineers in Besançon (ENSMM).
Many French watchmakers decide to return to the French side of the valley after a few years in Switzerland, so as to join French watchmaking brands such as YEMA. This is the case of many of our watchmakers including Nicolas Bailly, our new Quality Assurance and Technical Manager who recently joined us after a previous working experience in Switzerland.
YEMA also works with Morteau’s town hall on projects aiming at further developing the watchmaking activity in the region, including a watchmaking start-ups incubator that is in the works.
Nicolas Bailly, YEMA's Quality Assurance and Technical Manager
A graduate of Morteau's Lycée Edgar Faure, Nicolas recently joined YEMA with as objective to further improve our internal Quality Control processes. After spending 5 years at Cartier assembling movements, he then worked for a Swiss calibers manufacturers before returning to France end 2020.
Most prestigious watchmaking school in France
The Lycée Edgar Faure, in the small mountain town of Morteau, has one of the country’s most prestigious horology programs.
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Morteau, the watchmaking capital of France
The renowned Morteau watchmaking school generates a continuous supply of talent to French and Swiss watchmakers (English captions activated)
Morteau's watchmaking industry
Morteau's watchmaking industry dates back to the 1700s and represents the town's most important economic activity (English captions activated)
Design, prototyping, assembly and maintenance of our In-house Calibers are manually carried out with precision in our workshops in Morteau by highly experienced traditional French watchmakers averaging 30+ years of service.
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YEMA® 公式インターナショナルストア
1948年創業フレンチウォッチブランド
