This Affordable Pilot’s Watch Is Powered by Seiko’s Weirdest Movement

French indie brand Yema has supplied its country’s military with watches for years. Fortunately, many of the designs developed in partnership with each armed services division are also sold to the public.

The new official watch of the French Air Force is now available for purchase. Along with an ornately sandblasted case and highly legible dial, it is equipped with an obscure Seiko movement that pulls a fast one.

Yema

Yema’s new Flygraf Pilot French Air Force is intricately decorated for an official military-issue watch, but that doesn’t interfere with its effectiveness. The slate-gray dial is finished with a coarse texture to eliminate glare and maximize contrast with the raised, smooth hour track.

The hour markers are raised numerals, and a horizontal line running from 9 to 3 helps orient the dial at a glance. They are encircled with a printed railroad minute track on a sunken, smooth ring, with a grainy outer ring featuring a printed 60-minute track.

A white Yema logo is printed below 12:00, and the red, white and blue logo of the French Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace (Air Force and Space Force) is printed above 6:00.

Yema

The fence post hour and minute hands are gray with white lume inlays, and the white needle seconds hand has a lollipop counterbalance and a red tip.

Blue-glowing Super-LumiNova on the hands and hour track also gives the dial strong legibility in the dark.

Ticked off

The motion of the seconds hand is deceptively smooth, ticking four times each second. You’d be forgiven for assuming it is powered by a mechanical movement.

However, the Flygraf Pilot French Air Force is equipped with the obscure Seiko Caliber VH31 quartz movement. Its “quad-pulse” system makes the seconds hand beat at the equivalent of a 2Hz mechanical watch.

Yema

If you look closely, the seconds hand moves sluggishly, like an automatic at the end of its power reserve, but still much smoother than a typical quartz. Seiko claims that it is accurate to within 15 seconds per month and has a 2-year battery life.

On blast

Yema added a subtle tactical detail by finishing the 38mm stainless steel case with a sandblasted camo texture. The shading is achieved by blasting the metal with different densities, creating three distinct surface textures.

Yema

Another benefit of using a quartz movement is that it allows for a sleek 9mm case height, excluding the protrusion of the double-domed sapphire crystal.

The French Air Force’s “tricolour” target emblem is printed on the black woven nylon two-piece strap, which is secured with a signed stainless steel pin buckle.

Availability and pricing

Along with improved performance and easier maintenance, the funky Seiko quartz movement in the Flygraf Pilot French Air Force dramatically reduces the watch’s cost. All while eliminating the one visual quirk that drives most quartz hatred.

The Yema Flygraf Pilot French Air Force is available now from Yema for $530, making it one of the French brand’s most affordable watches. As usual, import duties are covered by the brand for American customers.

Yema

Yema Flygraf Pilot French Air Force

Specs

Case size	38mm
Movement	Seiko Caliber VH31 quartz
Water Resistance	100m

• $530 at Yema

Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases? Add Gear Patrol as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.

Related Topics