This Exquisite, ’60s-Inspired Dress Watch Comes From an Unexpected Brand

If you removed the logo and asked me who made the Granvelle CMM.20, Yema would be far from my first guess.

Not that Yema doesn’t make beautiful watches; the French brand has designed some of the most gorgeous divers and chronographs on the market. But never a dress watch quite like this.

Yema

Every detail — and there are many, which I will cover below — is masterfully executed and well balanced, taking heavy influence from the 1960s. This unexpectedly yet undeniably places the Granvelle CMM.20 on the shortlist for best dress watches under $2,000.

The star of the show is the guilloché dial, which ripples from the small seconds dial like a stone dropped into a still pond. A smaller guilloché pattern emanates from the center of the second hand on its dial.

Yema

From a functional standpoint, the Granvelle is the first classic dress watch to contain Yema’s CMM.20 micro-rotor automatic movement. Developed for skin diver watches, it dresses up well because it allows for the Granvelle’s slender 8mm case height.

Lost in the details

Such is the beauty of the Granvelle’s guilloché dial that it is easy to overlook all the other stunning details of this watch. To keep it organized, I’ll start in the center and work my way outward.

Yema

The beveled lance-shaped hour and minute hands provide an angular balance to the curved dial texture. A railroad minute track is counterintuitively placed inside the hour track, made up of applied knife-point indices, blended with batons at three, six and nine, and a double baton at twelve.

Yema explains that the inspiration for the particular shape of the cushion case, along with the watch’s name, came from the Granvelle Palace in Besançon, France, the brand’s hometown.

Yema

The case’s satin-brushed finish is broken up by coin-edge flanks. In a rarely seen twist, the crown is cushion-shaped to match the case.

Yema typically provides multiple straps for its tool watches, and even though the Granvelle only comes with one, it is the perfect complement to the case and dial. The brown leather strap has tan stitching accents and tapers gently to the steel deployment clasp.

Yema

The case back features a clean sapphire crystal display window, showing off the CMM.20 movement, and is secured to the case with four exposed screws.

Luxury for a bargain

Yema has a reputation for producing exceptional tool watches and in-house movements that are bargains in the sub-$2,000 range. The Granvelle extends that reputation to the luxury market.

Yema

Many of the Granvelle’s attributes can be found in the mid-tier price range, but Yema’s skinny micro-rotor movement allows for a big exception.

Most dress watches less than 10mm thick use either a hand-wound or quartz movement. Finding one 8mm thick with an automatic movement for $1,990 is a rare treat.

What’s more, Yema provides a wooden display box that looks like it belongs to a $10,000 watch, accented with French tricolor ribbons.

Yema

Yema certainly caught me off guard with the Granvelle, both because it is a mid-century dress watch, and because it is so well executed.

The Granvelle just dropped into the best sub-$2,000 dress watch conversation like a cannonball in a kiddie pool, and it is a resounding announcement that Yema is no longer a “tool watch” brand but rather a well rounded watchmaker.

Availability and pricing

The Yema Granvelle CMM.20 is available now from Yema for $1,990.

All three dial colors come on a tapered brown leather strap with a deployment clasp and in a gorgeous wooden display box.

Yema

Yema Granvelle CMM.20

Specs

Case Size	39mm
Movement	Yema caliber CMM.20 automatic
Water Resistance	50m

• $1,990 at Yema

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