What's in a name? In this case, the folks at Petermann Bédat named their first creation The 1967... Why 1967? Well, that was the year the quartz protoype was developed and to honour that year, 1967 was chosen as their first reference since their first creation comes with a dead beat seconds complication.
The dead beat seconds complication is a mechanical watch that "runs" like a "quartz" watch. Unlike traditional mechanical timepieces where the second hands sweeps across the dial, a dead beat seconds (also known as seconde morte, true beat or true seconds) timepiece behaves like a quartz watch where the seconds hand ticks from one second to the next rather than sweep across.
The year was 2019 when the duo Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat debut the Reference 1967, two years after having started the company together in 2017. Both founders have impressive resumes having worked in top manufactures in Switzerland and Germany prior to setting up Petermann Bédat. Both gentlemen met at the Watchmaking School of Geneva but after graduation, went separate ways till they reunited to form Petermann Bédat.
Their atelier is based in Renens, next to Dominique Renaud (one of the founders of Renaud & Papi). In exchange for their restoration work, Dominic Renaud helped them developed the Calibre 171 dead beat seconds mechanism. The first commercial versions were in Rose Gold and White Gold cases - limited to 10 pieces per variant. Above the rose gold version and below the white gold.
The White Gold version comes with blue hands (above) while the Rose Gold version comes with rose gold hands.
The case is a classic sized 39mm. While the movement is in-house, the sand-blasted dial is made by dial specialist Comblémine.
In 2021, Petermann and Bédat released a Titanium version (above) with a two toned dial. Limited to 25 pieces, the grade 5 Titanium version is super light and has a very attractive dial. Not only is the case made of Titanium the dial is too.
Now for the pièce de résistance - the movement...
Made from German Silver (both the main plate and bridges), the Calibre 171 has Côtes de Genève decoration. The entire movement is hand finished to the highest quality and this is what you can expect from Petermann Bèdat.
Right in focus is the dead beat seconds mechanism... (see below) built on top of the three quarter main plate.
The anchor for the dead beat seconds escapement is clearly in focus (devil's tail) and that is the mechanism that regulates the ticking of the seconds hand.
I am no techie but I can say that the dead beat seconds complication is not an easy one. A few brands come to mind but one of the most famous (and affordable) comes from Habring. Back to the movement at hand, the Calibre 171 is in-house designed and manufactured and hand finished. Beating at 18,000 vph, the manual winding movement has a power reserve of about 36 hours.
For a first debut, the 1967 featuring the Calibre 171 is amazing. Not only is the movement designed and manufactured in-house, the finishing of the movement and the dial is top notch. I am certainly looking forward to their next project.
Wearing at 39mm, this is a great timepiece with a very appropriate complication. If I only could afford the 1967. But we can dream right? What's your favourite variant? Mine is the Rose Gold.
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