Spread Your Wings and Soar with the Génie 02 Air

By Chris |  March 11 2014

Whether your passion is paragliding, flying, skydiving, hang gliding, mountain climbing, skiing, or simply enjoying the fresh air and stunning views that high altitudes offer, the Breva Génie 02 Air is the perfect companion.

The Breva Génie 02 Air combines the stunning sophistication of a beautifully crafted mechanical timepiece with the practicality of a fully functional, high-performance altimeter.

The black titanium case of the Génie 02 Air offers a subtle but stunning backdrop to the high-legibility hands and markers, ensuring that essential information such as time and altitude is easily visible at a glance.

The superbly finished proprietary movement, much of which can be fully appreciated through the open dial and display back, was developed exclusively for Breva by award-winning movement constructor Jean-François Mojon (Chronode). The Génie 02 Air is 100% Swiss-made, from inception to realization.

The dial side of the timepiece is dominated by a sub-dial at 8 o’clock displaying hours and minutes, and the precision altimeter sub-dial at 2 o’clock displaying meters (or feet). Arcing around the top of the dial is the large-scale altitude indicator, which displays up to 5,000 meters (or 16,400 feet), with small seconds below. At 4 o’clock, an indicator is revealed when the air valve is open or closed (it must be open to indicate the altitude). Below is the 65-hour power reserve indicator.

In pride of place at the bottom of the dial is one of two aneroid capsules measuring air pressure (from which the altitude is derived), with a high-precision arm multiplying by 200 the expansion and contraction of the capsules and relaying the air pressure to the two altitude indications.

Three chevron-engraved crowns wind, set, adjust and operate the functions of the Génie 02:

• 9 o’clock: a two-position crown both winds the movement and sets the time.
• 2 o’clock: a screw down crown rotates both the altitude’s precision-scale and large-scale to adjust for variations in air pressure, which affects altitude readings.
• 4 o’clock: a screw down crown either seals air out of the movement or allows it in (for altitude function). Longevity and reliability of the timepiece are maximized by means of an osmotic Teflon membrane that filters any moisture and humidity from air before it enters the movement. Just above the crown, a red band on the dial marked “SEALED” warns when the valve is unlocked.

Turning the Génie 02 Air over allows the complexity of beautifully finished 415-component movement to be more fully appreciated.

The movement is framed by the code names of many of the world’s airports, engraved around the perimeter of the caseback along with their altitudes above sea level: GVA-430M­, HND-6M­; SYD-9M­; JFK/LHR-24M; SIN-7M; DXB-19M; HKG-9M; LAX-38M; GYD-3M; CDG-119M; BCT-4M; CVF-2008M­; OLB-37M; IBZ-6M; MIA-2M­; KUL-22M­; LTT-18M­; CGK-10M­­; BGI-52M. How many of these airports do you recognize?

Winding the movement makes the rotation of the mainspring barrel cap visible.

The Génie 02 Air is a limited edition of 55-pieces in titanium G5 and is available with calibrations in either meters or feet.

www.breva-watch.com