Yema is one a few brands of watches that have had the privilege of having a watch in space. Along with the likes of the Sturmanskie Vostok 1, the Omega Speedmaster and the Bulova Lunar Pilot Chronograph, Yema’s Spationaute was the first French watch in space. The SpaceGraf Zero-G continues the space tradition by honoring the 30th anniversary of CNES’s (Frances Space Agency) parabolic zero-g flights.
The Zero-G is available in Stainless Steel with a black or blue dial for 399 US or in Black PVD with a black dial for 449 US direct from Yema on their website. I have spent the last week with the blue dialed version and every day I find I like this little watch more and more. But I am getting ahead of myself, let get into the details and see what makes this watch special.
The Specifications
Case Size: 39mm x 13mm thick
Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel Case
Dial: Textured Blue Matte
Glass: Domed Mineral Crystal
Strap: 19mm Canvas with Leather Lining
Movement: Epson YM90A Caliber, here is spec-sheet for the Caliber.
First Impressions
The Yema SpaceGraf Zero-G Steel on paper is a simple watch, it is not sporting an exotic movement, or unique case, or crazy complications. But it does have a solid set of specs, 316L Stainless Steel case, Check; Capable Quartz Movement with 5+year battery life, Check; Domed Mineral Crystal, Check; Textured Dial with Chronograph Function and applied indices, Check.
My first impression of this watch before I even received it was that the 39mm case size would wear small on my 7.25” (185mm) wrist. Even though I have several 38mm dress watches, I typically wear 42-45mm sport watches. I was pleasantly surprised that the Zero-G did not feel or look small, in fact if feels very natural and comfortable.
I also had some concerns about the Zero-G’s round dive like indices, especially on a space-oriented watch. It originally seemed like round markers did not quite fit with the idea of space exploration. Most of the other space-oriented watches have stick indices or numerals. That is until I found the story of the Rolex GMT Master Apollo XIII worn by Jack Swigert on the Apollo XIII mission in 1970. In fact, the Rolex with its traditional round indices was also worn by Ron Evans on Apollo XVII and Ed Mitchell from Apollo XIV, not to mention Chuck Yeager when he first broke the speed of sound. When you factor in the Rolex, the Yema Zero-G is in excellent company.
But do the round indices work? I would have to say unequivocally YES, in fact as I was taking my pictures, I had the watch on rocks and wood logs and none of the pictures “felt” right. I finally put it on an old metal table and then on my keyboard and it just fit with the higher tech backgrounds. For some reason this watch actually “feels spacey”, at least to me it does.
One of my favorite aspects of the Zero-G is the chronograph. It is amazingly simple with a second hand that measures to the 1/5 of a second and a single sub-dial that counts the minutes up to one hour. Every time I have ever used a stopwatch, I have always recorded a time under an hour and 1/5 of a second is more than fast enough for any situation I would be recording. Watches with multiple sundials, intervals less than a 1/5 of a second are, in my opinion, overkill for a watch. If you need to time something that accurately, you are going to use a dedicated stopwatch/timer. The Yema Zero-G chronograph function works perfectly, is easy to read and is actually useful.
The Zero-G package is rounded out with a well-executed simple stainless-steel case and nicely textured dial in a wonderful blue color. In fact, combined with the blue strap this watch was made to be worn with blue jeans. Check out my picture below with the Zero-G and a double red striped NATO band with my jeans in the background.
The Strap
Speaking of straps, the one that comes with the SpaceGraf is EXTREMELY comfortable it also works very well with the watch. As always, I like to try watches on other bands, and the logical choice is to put it on a NATO, in fact the pictures on Yema’s website (scroll to the bottom) show the Zero-g on NATOs and it looks great. It is rare that I find a watch that works this well on the strap that comes with it (except metal bands which almost always work) but the Zero-G also felt very natural on the 20mm NATO I had laying around. I wish I had a rubber strap that fit, so I could give that a try.
One of the few issues I have with this watch has to do with the band, at 19mm it is a somewhat weird size, having looked at and worn well over a 100 watches, this is the only one I have run into that has a 19mm lug width. It is by no means a deal breaker, and an 18mm or 20mm NATO will work fine with it, but if you want a fitted strap you will need to get one in 19mm. On the plus side though the Zero-G does have drilled lugs so changing straps is super easy.
Conclusion
The SpaceGraf Zero-G presents a compelling argument. Its modest set of specifications belies the effectiveness and beauty of the total package. There are several aspects of the watch that I would like to see handled differently especially considering the 400 US price point. The first thing I would love to see is the addition of a sapphire crystal vs the mineral, this would significantly increase the wear resistance and robustness of the watch. This is doubly true for a domed glass like on the Zero-G. Also changing the lug width to 20mm would make it easier to swap bands as well as give it a sportier sturdier feel.
Having spent a little less than a week with this watch on my wrist almost every day, I am kind of amazed at how much I like it. The sum of its parts is truly greater than the whole. Every time I look at my wrist to see the time, I think “that’s a cool watch” which is something that only a few of my watches do for me.
This would make a great daily wear watch. If you are like me and wear jeans regularly and prefer a casual/sporty watch that is comfortable, accurate and has a bit of a pedigree to its name, the Zero-G is a real contender. I really like the 39mm size for a daily wear, I think the Zero-G might have started a culling in my collection with a migration to slightly smaller sports watches. Considering this is coming from a guy with as many watches as I have, this is really saying something about the Yema SpaeGraf Zero-G!
Keep on a Watching!
Edward