BREVA SA
Chemin Frank-Thomas 32
Case Postale 6428
CH-1211 Genève 6 (Switzerland)
Tel. : +41 22 737 49 98
Fax : +41 22 737 49 99
Profile of Breva founder, Vincent Dupontreué
Breva founder Vincent Dupontreué was born just outside Paris in 1977. He had a precocious entrepreneurial spirit that had him making and selling bracelets on the beach in Corsica during holidays when just 11 years old and building and selling skateboard ramps with his brother at 13. A job working in a bespoke men’s clothing store at 18 led, a few years later, to the position of sales manager at Ermenegildo Zegna. Vincent Dupontreué quickly decided he wanted to run his own boutique and when that wasn’t a possibility – he was still only 22 years old – he set up his own fashion brand, called ‘Vincent Dupontreué’.
After seven successful years Vincent Dupontreué sold his fashion brand, did an MBA in Lausanne, Switzerland, and ran an art gallery for a couple of years.
On his 33rd birthday in 2010, the desire for a nice watch ignited his entrepreneurial spirit once again and he decided to launch his own high-end Swiss brand. A beautiful weekend on Lake Como in Northern Italy provided both the inspiration for the name, Breva – ‘La Breva’ is a warm southern wind contributing to the agreeably mild micro-climate around Lake Como – and the idea of creating a mechanical timepiece that forecast the weather.
In 2013, after three years of research and development, Vincent Dupontreué launched Breva with the Génie 01, the world’s first mechanical wristwatch displaying time, altitude, weather forecasting barometric pressure and power reserve. This was followed in 2014 by the Génie 02, which features a fully functional precision mechanical altimeter, as well as time and power reserve indications.