Paris-based watch and industrial designer Alain Silberstein has probably been the most prolific product collaborator in the watch space over the last several years, and today, I’d like to look at a limited-edition watch he did with fellow French watch brand Yema. Paris is also home to Romaric André (Seconde/Seconde/), who has been at least equally prolific in design collaborations, but Mr. Silberstein’s products are generally different in almost all ways from what the brands he works with normally produce, and thus his collaboration watches are much more distinctive than the playful cosmetics that Seconde/Seconde/ is known for. Both are great, and it is interesting that so much design and personality collaboration is happening on the French-speaking side of the watch industry so much more so than the German side. Anyhow, I digress. Let’s get back to looking at this diver’s style watch that evokes much of what Alain Silberstein did when he was running his eponymous brand some years ago.
Rather than try to develop entirely new concepts and visuals, Silberstein has been very successful simply adapting his traditional aesthetic onto new watches from other brands. He already has a huge body of work for consumers and enthusiasts to enjoy, and his process probably includes listening to what watches and concepts his fans want him to return to, and then finding an appropriate brand partner to create them with. Here we see Silberstein’s playful take on the traditional diver’s-style watch, which includes red, yellow, and blue “toy-like” hands and a sea star seconds hand in the center of the dial.
At a glance, the Yema x Alain Silberstein Marine Limited Edition looks like a simple watch, but it goes into slightly more high-end territory (still well under $5,000 USD) thanks to a movement that is a bit more on the interesting side. That also leads me to an important difference between this prototype model and the final version of the watch: the “Swiss Made” label on the lower part of the dial will be replaced with “Manufacture Francaise” (made in France). That’s because the mechanical movement in the watch is French and known as the caliber CMM.20 Manufacture Morteau (Yema features this in some other watches with a lower price, as well). This attractive micro-rotor-based automatic movement has blacked-out bridges and a red-hued micro-rotor. It operates at 4Hz with about 70 hours of power reserve and is supposed to boast impressive shock-resistant and anti-magnetic properties. The movement here offers the time only without a date.
Over the movement on the rear of the case is a sapphire crystal with two metalized fishes: one in gold and one in silver. This is a nice cosmetic detail, although these fish remind me of freshwater carp (or koi). This is an ocean-themed diver’s watch, and there is a saltwater sea star on the dial. That incongruity slightly bothers me, even though the argument can be made that the designer was trying to imply that this watch is meant to be worn in any large body of water. I respect that but would counter with the fact that I don’t know of anywhere that people dive (or even swim) with carp. Rather, we almost exclusively view these fish in ponds and tanks that people do not go in. Am I getting too in the weeds with marine biology and recreational swimming right now? I mean, there are more than enough fish in the sea for the design teams to have found one or two species to place on the caseback.
The case itself is a classic “compression-style” diver’s case with two case crowns and an internal rotating diver’s timing bezel. The matte black case is 40mm wide, 11mm thick, and is water resistant to 200 meters. Over the dial is a slightly domed AR-coated sapphire crystal. The case is produced from lightweight grade 5 titanium and given a black DLC coating for color and strength. This prototype has a steel deployant clasp, but Yema tells me that the final versions will, of course, have a matching DLC titanium deployant strap. Also, the Yema x Alain Silberstein Marine Limited Edition will come with the pictured black rubber strap (good quality rubber, I must say), along with a red rubber strap that I think will make it look a bit more fun and colorful overall.
Even though the dial heavily features Alain Silberstein’s joyful aesthetic, it very much remains a tool watch. Reading the time is easy, and the hour markers are very luminous being machined from solid pieces of lume material (the trade name for the material is “Billight”). That also gives the dial a welcome three-dimensional look to it. I am not a huge fan of the polished Yema logo and “Marine” label. I think these would have been a bit nicer and more harmonious with the overall design if they matched the rest of the matte color theme of the rest of the timepiece design. Not everyone’s eyes will like the Alain Silberstein look since, I imagine, not everyone is a fan (even though I am). If you are, however, sympathetic to Silberstein’s design sense, I think you will enjoy the combination of practical utility and designer flair that uses a less-than-boring automatic movement for this otherwise daily-wear sports watch.
Alain Silberstein fans will, no doubt, like this Yema-based reminder of his now-vintage diver’s-style watches (that are very difficult to find on the market). Without duplicating those historic pieces, Yema is able to faithfully capture some of the fun of those styles in a way that I think integrates well with its more tool-watch-focused product catalog. Yema and Silberstein claim that this is a “one-off” collaboration, presumably meaning that there are no more products planned, and also that future versions of this limited-edition Marine watch will not be made. But I believe if this watch is really successful, the brand might try to come out with a future version of it that has some small design differences.
The limited-edition Yema x Alain Silberstein Marine watch will be produced as a set of 500 pieces. It does feel like a good blend of designer style and practicality, at a price that today feels fair given the pedigree and personalities involved. Retail price for the Yema x Alain Silberstein Marine Limited Edition watch is $3,900 USD. Learn more at the Yema website.
