What is it about the moon? Earth’s only satellite has been an inspiration to watchmakers for as long as watchmaking has been a thing. The moonphase of course is the perhaps the most romantic of all complications (at least in a contemporary setting where the actual use case is somewhat unnecessary for almost everyone), and finds its way into a surprising number of watches aimed at the mass market. If you think about it, there are probably thousands upon thousands of ordinary people looking at little renderings of a moon whenever they check the time, perhaps unaware of the long history of the astronomical complication and what it represents.
And then of course there’s the moon and space travel, which gets you into an entirely different segment of watches, led of course by the Omega Speedmaster but serving as a home to an enormous variety of watches from brands as diverse as Seiko, Sinn, and G-SHOCK, all of whom claim either officially or unofficially some connection to manned spaceflight. The moon looms large in a number of ways.
So it should come as no surprise that it also serves as a purely aesthetic inspiration, which brings us to the Yema Superman Titanium MoonTide, a new limited edition from the French brand clad in our favorite lightweight metal and designed to conjure images of the lunar surface. The Superman, for anyone who might need a refresher, is Yema’s core dive watch, originally launched in the 1960s heyday of recreational diving. It features a unique bezel locking mechanism that is tied to the screw down crown. It’s a bit anachronistic, but has a certain charm to it.
The highlight of the new MoonTide is the titanium dial, which has a pronounced texture inspired by the surface of the moon. According to Yema, it’s created using an oil-press technique over a sandblasted base. The end result is a surface texture that plays with the light “like moonlight over the sea,” according to the brand. In Yema’s supplied images, I’m struck by the monotone nature of the dial paired with the case and bracelet, which is to be expected of course given the common material. Often, though, I find watches dominated by a single color rather dull. There’s real visual interest in the dial, however, and in how its rough appearance balances and complements the clean lines of the Superman’s case.
This Superman has a 38.5mm grade 2 titanium case that measures 47mm from lug to lug, 11.3mm tall without the crystal, and is water resistant to 300 meters. It’s finished with contrasting brushed and polished surfaces, and has very subtly curved lugs that anyone familiar with dive watches that have roots in the 1960s will be comfortable with. The case is paired with Yema’s distinctive “Scales” bracelet, which has been refined by the brand to be slightly thinner than previous versions (about 0.4mm). The bracelet is fully brushed and uses a locking folding clasp with a dive extension.
Powering the MoonTide is Yema’s CMM.11 caliber, which they claim is “designed, manufactured, assembled, and calibrated” by Yema watchmakers in their Morteau, France workshop. The automatic caliber has 70 hours of power reserve and is regulated to -3/+5 seconds per day.
The new Yema Superman Titanium MoonTide is a limited edition of 400 pieces, and carries a retail price of € 2,190 on a bracelet. Yema
Zach Kazan
2026-03-18 17:00:00