New: Yema LED Kavinsky Limited Edition

Yema announces the release of a new LED watch in collaboration with French electro music artist Kavinsky in a cool retro rendition of a watch from the 1970s.

Press Release information with commentary in italics.

Editorial Commentary

The collaboration is with the French musician Vincent Belorgey, who is known professionally as Kavinsky, a fictional character he created. Kavinsky is a Zombie who came back from the dead as a music producer after his Testarossa crashed in 1986. The entire story of Kavinsky is interesting, funky and weird.

As we understand it, the watch is designed by Vincent himself, as a personification of the character of Kavinsky. The base watch is the Yema LED, which currently exists in the Yema catalog with a steel case in either a silver finish or gold finish. The actual design contribution by Vincent seems to be the addition of the engraved linear lines across the sloped surfaces of the case front, and the new three link bracelet. The button at 4 o’clock is now red, and the watch is delivered with a special pouch with both Kavinsky and Yema logo markings. And of course, the case back now bears the collaboration verbiage and logos of both entities. Interestingly, the case now is specified to a 50m water resistance rating, a lower specification than the regular LED watches which are listed as 100m. The new Kavinsky watch will be available in a silver version or a black version. Yema does not specify how the finish colour is achieved, but we presume it is via a PVD method to obtain the black finish. Also curiously absent in the current documentation is the limited edition series size. Yema does state that it is a limited edition series, but the edition size is not specified.

The watch will be available on Kickstarter from 18th of March. Currently the pricing is in the just shy of EUR 200 at Kickstarter, which is a rather interesting price point for a watch like this. And this pricing is based on the EUR 274 retail price, which is the same as the current models in the Yema catalog. The Kickstarter will also provide options to bundle the watch with a vinyl record of Kavinsky’s “Reborn” album (released in 4 February 2022) or as a pair watch.

The movement is a proprietary quartz movement which indicates the digital time on the dial via its LED display. The other functions are operated by the red button at 4 o’clock, which toggles to display the time in 24 hour format, and the date via day, month and year.

The watch itself is a very retro looking digital watch with red LED display, and has the retro futuristic vibe, which is characteristic of the SciFi nature of the Kavinsky personality.

We have requested for a review sample to do a full hands-on review.

Yema LED Kavinsky Limited Edition

Kavinsky is a worldly famous French electro music artist. His character is fictitiously represented by a Zombie who came back f rom the dead as a music producer after his Testarossa crash in 1986. His first track “ Testarossa Autodrive” was an instant success and 2 additional singles followed right after. In 2007, he was chosen by Daft Punk to open their now legendary “ Alive” Tour. In 2011, his track ‘Nightcall’ produced with GuyManuel de Homem-Christo became the original movie soundtrack of Ryan Gosling’s ‘Drive’, a worldwide success.

KAVINSKY’s debut album ‘Outrun’ was released in 2013 followed by a collaboration with The Weeknd on the song ‘Odd Look’. In 2022, KAVINSKY is back with ‘Reborn’, his second album recorded at the famous Motorbass studio in Paris. The first single, ‘Renegade’ features a wide sound and a powerful chorus. The second single ‘Zenith’, which is scheduled for release on February 4, 2022, offers a cozy and futuristic atmosphere. With “Reborn” Kavinsky amplifies his sound without deviating from his implacable trajectory.

In the 1970’s YEMA launched its first LED display watch, which became iconic in France. For the release of his new album due in 2022, KAVINSKY instinctively approached the French Watchmaker YEMA to develop his own watch in line with the world of his character.

The YEMA LED KAVINSKY is then reinvented by the artist himself. While using today’s materials, the watch has a very 80’s look which stays faithful to his character and will be offered as a unique limited edition. Like the Ferrari Testarossa or the “Teddy” worn by the character Kavinsky, the YEMA LED KAVINSKY establishes itself as a must-have accessory of his wardrobe.

Yema LED Kavinsky specifications

DIMENSIONS
Diameter: 42.00mm x 35.50mm

Thickness: 10,5 mm

Lug: 20 mm

CASE
316L stainless steel, brushed/polished finishing

PUSHERS
Dual pushers:
1) Display hours, minutes, seconds, date
2) Settings

CRYSTAL
Mineral

WATER-RESISTANCE
5 BAR / 50 m

MOVEMENT
Proprietary LED-Quartz movement

FUNCTIONS
Hours, minutes (12h or 24h), seconds

DATE
Date function (day, month, year)

LED
Red LED display

Display lights up when pushing the side button