Henry Louis Belmont founded Yema in 1948 in Besançon, France, the historical centre of French watchmaking. Through the 1950s and 1960s Yema grew into one of France's largest wristwatch manufacturers, serving the domestic market and French North African colonies. The brand's defining commercial product was the Superman dive watch (1963), France's first serious dive-watch reference: 300m water resistance, external locking bezel, distinctive crown-lock mechanism, designed for French Mediterranean and Pacific navy use.
Through the 1960s and 1970s Yema expanded into Rallygraf (motor-sport chronograph), Flygraf (pilot chronograph), and Yachtingraf (sailing regatta chronograph) references. At its peak in the early 1970s Yema employed approximately 1,000 workers in Besançon and Morteau, supplying continental European and international markets. The brand was among the French firms most successful at exporting mechanical watches.
In 1982, French astronaut Jean-Loup Chrétien wore a Yema on the Franco-Soviet Salyut 7 mission, becoming the first Frenchman in space. The Yema Spationaute reference became collector-prized in the decades following. But the quartz crisis and the collapse of French watchmaking in the 1980s devastated Yema; the brand contracted through the 1990s and 2000s and operated as a small-production house primarily selling heritage reissues.
In 2019, Yema was acquired by new French investors who committed to continued French manufacturing. The brand launched the MBP1000 in 2020, a French-designed and French-assembled in-house automatic movement, representing a serious investment in re-establishing Yema as a genuine French manufacture rather than an importer. The modern collection includes the Superman (dive watch reissue, now with MBP1000 movement option), the Rallygraf (motor-sport chronograph), the Flygraf (pilot), the Wristmaster (dress), and the Spationaute (space-heritage commemorative). Retail runs from approximately €500 (Superman Maxi quartz) to €2,500 (Superman MBP1000 automatic) and €4,000+ for specific limited editions.
