YEMA Vintage Chronograph cal. Valjoux 7765 / 1980s Display Back

— About the 1980s —

Chronograph detail that takes the eye, with Cal. Valjoux 7765 visible through the display back.

The case is 37mm, a size that sits well on the wrist.

A tachymeter and a telemeter are drawn on a white enamel-like dial, and the geometric layout guides the eye.

The celebrated Cal. Valjoux 7765, to be watched through a display back. A double scale rendered precisely on a white enamel-like dial. The golden 37mm case size, exactly right on the wrist. The classical, instrument-led design thinking Yema is known for. A 1980s piece where the functional beauty of tachymeter and telemeter live together.

— Tachymeter: measuring speed —

A function for reading speed from the time taken to cover one kilometre.

Start the chronograph seconds hand and stop it at the end of the section; the figure on the outer scale gives the average speed.

It can only measure events within 60 seconds — which is to say, speeds a human can follow.

— Telemeter: measuring distance —

A function for calculating the distance to an event using the difference in transmission between light and sound.

Start the seconds hand at the instant of the lightning flash and stop it the moment the thunder arrives.

The graduation the hand indicates gives the distance.

Used in the field and in observing nature, this is applied science reduced to the scale of a wristwatch.

— The aesthetics of an instrument —

Yema's reading of it is interesting: it avoids over-emphasis, and the functions remain as a face you can actually use.

Vintage typography, an exquisite outer layout, legibility that makes good use of empty space.

Classical beauty and function coexist.

— A watch that carries Yema's philosophy —

Functions nobody uses today are preserved here as aesthetics — and yet they are not decoration.

The playfulness of measuring the distance to thunder; the experiment of working out speed in an old car.

This is one of the pieces that embodies the philosophy of Yema, the house that produced so many celebrated racing watches, and that still allows for exactly those pleasures.