Yema has spent the last few years doing one thing consistently: putting a movement it builds itself under dive watches that used to run on someone else's. Since the manufacture CMM.20 micro-rotor arrived, the Morteau firm has worked it through the Navygraf line, first the Slim, then the Pearl. The new Navygraf Barracuda CMM.20 is the tactical one. It was made with the French Marine Nationale, it marks the navy's 400th anniversary, and it is limited to 400 pieces.
The specs are the modern Navygraf, the look is not
The case is the familiar one: 39mm across, 46mm lug to lug, 9.75mm thick without the crystal, in brushed steel with a polished bevel. Water resistance is 300m, the crown screws down, and a 2.5mm double-domed sapphire sits over the dial. That is a small watch by current dive-watch standards, which is part of the point.
What changes is the material and the colour. The unidirectional 120-click bezel carries a forged carbon insert, and the dial is forged carbon too, so the compressed fibres draw a different marbled pattern on every example. Against that dark ground, the applied markers and hands are filled with Super-LumiNova, the red arrow-tipped minute hand is the primary diving indication, and a red Barracuda signature sits at six o'clock.
The red details are functional, not decorative
The first 20 minutes of the bezel are printed in red rather than the usual full-scale white. Yema ties this to submarine synchronisation procedure, a 20-minute window a crew can read at a glance to coordinate a timed manoeuvre. Whether or not a buyer ever uses it that way, it is a real reference rather than a styling choice.
The caseback continues the theme in a way that is hard to ignore. Instead of a clear sapphire, it is a red-tinted crystal, a nod to the red lighting used inside a submarine at night to protect the crew's vision. Through it you can see the movement, and engraved on it is the insignia of the French navy's submarine forces.
The movement is the reason to look twice
Under the dial is Yema's calibre CMM.20, designed, made and assembled in Morteau with movement specialist Olivier Mory, using parts sourced within roughly 70km of the workshop across France and neighbouring Switzerland. It is automatic, wound by a tungsten micro-rotor on ball bearings, runs at 28,800vph, holds 70 hours, and is regulated to a maximum of -3/+7 seconds a day. A tungsten micro-rotor and a 70-hour reserve at this price is the part of the specification that does not usually appear until several times the money.
Price
The Navygraf Barracuda CMM.20 comes on a black NATO strap at EUR 2,249, or on a steel bracelet with a micro-adjust clasp at EUR 2,499 (ref. 21.26.20.66.SNL.M). It is available now, backed by Yema's five-year warranty, and limited to 400 pieces. Details at yema.com.
