Wearables

Breva's latest watch packs a pop-up speedometer

Breva's latest watch packs a pop-up speedometer
The Breva Génie 03 has a mechanical speedometer
The Breva Génie 03 has a mechanical speedometer
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The Breva Génie 03 speedometer dial
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The Breva Génie 03 speedometer dial
The Breva Génie 03 time dial
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The Breva Génie 03 time dial
The Breva Génie 03 speedometer pops up when in use
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The Breva Génie 03 speedometer pops up when in use
The Breva Génie 03 has a mechanical speedometer
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The Breva Génie 03 has a mechanical speedometer
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You're blowing down the freeway in your convertible and your speedometer suddenly fails; what can you do? If you're wearing a Breva Génie 03 wristwatch, you stick it out the window and carry on, as the latest in the Breva line is claimed to be the first watch to include a pop-up mechanical speedometer.

In an age of smartphones, a backup speedometer is only a GPS-equipped app away. Even in the antediluvian days of analog watches, there was the tachymeter on the chronograph dial to let you work out your average speed. But a mechanical wristwatch that can directly measure a vehicle's speed was one complication that hadn't been tried – until now.

The Génie 03 is billed by Breva as "the world’s first-ever wristwatch with a functional speedometer." It looks like many other upmarket watches and is a bit on the bulky side, with hours, minutes, and seconds read off in a dial on at the 7 o'clock position, but the standout feature is the large speedometer dial on the upper corner of the case marked out in either km/h or mph.

The Breva Génie 03 speedometer pops up when in use
The Breva Génie 03 speedometer pops up when in use

When the stud at 2 o'clock is pressed, the speedometer pops up 6 mm from the dial, exposing three titanium-alloy Robinson cups. Like a tiny anemometer, these catch the wind and spin the 45-component mechanism to give a velocity reading. The idea is that someone on a bicycle, motorcycle, convertible, speedboat, or other open vehicle can hold the watch into the wind and measure their speed from 20 to 200 km/h (or 10 to 125 mph), which is displayed directly on the speedometer dial.

For timekeeping, the Génie 03 has a 230 component, 34-jewel proprietary mechanical automatic movement that was developed in-house. Powered by a micro rotor engraved with the Breva compass rose, it has a 60-hour reserve and a 4 Hz balance wheel.

All of this is sealed in a titanium G5 case measuring 44.7 mm x 15.7 mm and the front and back are encased in sapphire crystals with anti-reflective coating. The whole thing is water resistant to 30 m (100 ft), and the speedometer is dust resistant when open. The strap is natural rubber with a titanium buckle.

The Génie 03 is available for US$56,800.

Source: Breva via A Blog to Watch

View gallery - 4 images
8 comments
8 comments
yawood
What a ridiculous gimmick. I wouldn't pay $5.68 for it, let alone $56,800
Noel K Frothingham
All you've proven, yawood, is that you have no use for this device and there's not a damned thing wrong with that. Our handy-dandy desktop computers and televisions followed much the same path - too expensive in the here and now to be useful, but time down the development road worked miracles in todays world.
Dave82
What you have here is an anemometer not a speedometer. It measures wind speed, completely inaccurate if you are driving into a headwind or tailwind.
Bob Flint
In a convertible, put your arm out a window, or just hold it up. Either way your arm is extended and how do you read the speed?
Besides if you own this expensive watch, your multimillion dollar ride will not have a speedometer that fails, as if you really cared what speed your doing if alone for the bragging rights, other more accurate equipment exists.
Jay Wilson
This is a solution looking for a problem. Besides the smartphone you already have can measure speed and without sticking your hand out the window.
canderso
And Dave is right. This doesnt work at all. Unless there is absolutely no wind.
Abby Normal
but among the wealthy smart set, it is so much of a conversation piece.
Bill Bennett
My phone has a speedometer function, with a HUD on the windshield, why would I want this? $57K, ROFL