The watch brand Yema is increasingly focusing on its French roots and is also introducing a Swiss-Made line

The watch brand Yema is increasingly focusing on its French roots and is also introducing a Swiss-Made line

The reason for this seemingly contradictory strategy is that the manufacturer from Morteau, France, is expanding its manufacturing expertise while continuing to offer affordable watches for a broad range of watch enthusiasts. And the latter are Swiss Made.

To understand this – as a rule, watches of Swiss provenance are considered more valuable than the higher-quality version of themselves – it is worth taking a brief look at the extremely dynamic Yema year 2024, in which the manufactory course set by the father/son team Pascal and Christopher Bôle.

In 2009, the family-owned company Ambre France, founded in 1965 by René Four and Marcelle Bôle and based in Morteau, took over the Yema brandFrom the very beginning, the goal was to develop and manufacture in-house calibers. The first was the MBP1000, a reliable standard caliber at a competitive price, of which 250,000 were produced over time.

Yema and the path to manufactory

In 2020, the company teamed up with renowned watchmakers Olivier Mory and Patrick Augereau to optimize, among other things, the gear train and the mechanical oscillation system. The new calibers were designated Yema2000 (three-hand) and Yema3000 (GMT).

Production of these two calibers has now been discontinued as part of the current strategy. But more on that later.

Previously, the company continued to invest purposefully, restoring the building in Morteau and equipping it with modern machinery and production lines.

The result: Calibre Manufacture Morteau (CMM) watches have been produced here since 2023. These are equipped with a Swiss regulating organ, while the base plates and bridges are manufactured by Yema.

The first in-house caliber was the CMM.20, which was also the first French micro-rotor movement. The tourbillon caliber CMM.30 with a tidal complication followed in the same year.

Finally, in 2024, the CMM.10 was launched, a completely new three-hand caliber with chronometric precision and a 70-hour power reserve, designed and developed by YEMA.

After three years of profound transformation, Pascal and Christopher Bôle proudly announce that the strategic shift to a manufacturing company is complete. But they're far from finished and have already begun implementing their visions for 2025.

Yema and the visions for 2025

Morteau has big plans for the current year. For example, they intend to further optimize their workflows and thus improve quality through the introduction of ISO 9001 certification. Other priorities include the development of new watchmaking complications, streamlining the collection, ensuring immediate delivery, and upgrading their customer loyalty program.

“The low return rates in customer service and the excellent chronometric performance of the first caliber series prompted us to focus our entire production capacity on our new manufacture caliber series,” emphasizes Yema.

In addition—and this brings us to the Swiss-made plan—a new collection will be rolled out, equipped, and manufactured in Switzerland. This addition is priced below the growing Manufacture portfolio and, thanks to the use of Sellita movements, also allows for on-site service in important foreign markets such as the USA.

The goal is to remain an "accessible watch brand," as the price segment of the Yema2000 and Yema3000 models will not be abandoned, but will now be represented by the Swiss-Made collection.

As part of this strategy, production of the Yema 2000 and Yema 3000 calibers will be discontinued. However, stocks are still being used up. The manufacturer's warranty for these and previously manufactured models with these movements will, of course, remain unchanged, the company emphasizes. The same applies to customer service and maintenance.

"While we will primarily focus on the production of our French manufacture calibers, starting in 2025, we will gradually replace the Yema 2000/3000 models with new models equipped with generic Swiss calibers. To allow our watchmaking team to fully focus on the production of our French manufacture calibers, we have entered into a partnership with a Swiss watchmaker located just a few kilometers from our workshops in Morteau. This new strategic partner will handle the manufacturing and assembly of future Yema models equipped with Swiss calibers.

“On to a new chapter.”

Pascal and Christopher Bôle