Author: Merrel Briona

Independent watchmaker Petermann Bédat made its name with its inaugural watch, the 1967 Deadbeat Seconds. It soon followed up with an even more complicated split-seconds monopusher chronograph, executed to an equally high standard. The watch stands out even among the increasingly crowded field of high-end independent watchmakers.

 

Now, at the IAMWATCH event in Singapore, the duo has introduced a new watch: its first pure-play chronograph, the 2914 Chronograph Monopusher. Surprisingly, the new watch is even smaller than the earlier split-seconds model, with an unusually traditional 36.5 mm platinum case, and is limited to 20 pieces.

 

Pure-play chronograph

The 2941 Split-Seconds Chronograph, launched in 2023, was an impressive watch. Few independent watchmakers attempt the split-seconds chronograph genre, let alone one with an instantaneous jumping minute counter. But some collectors have been yearning for a pure-play chronograph without the extra complications. Three years later, the duo has finally delivered with the 2914 Chronograph Monopusher.

 

What really surprises is the size of the new watch. The original split-seconds chronograph was already relatively classical at 38.5 mm, but the latest model goes a step further with a 36.5 mm case, returning to the proportions of watches from the 20th century. This is small even by today’s standards, amid the current trend for smaller watches. The platinum case makes it all the more appealing – despite its small size, the watch will feel solid and reassuringly heavy in the hand.

 

The new 2914 retains the best features of the 2941 Split-Seconds Chronograph, with a few changes. It remains a monopusher chronograph and keeps the jumping chronograph minute counter, so there is still plenty to appreciate mechanically. The only thing missing is the split-seconds mechanism. This is not necessarily a drawback, since it was an additional module hidden beneath the dial. Its removal has little visual impact on the new watch, and the movement looks much the same from the back, just as attractive as before.

 

 

The dial has been refined, particularly in its proportions. Compared to the earlier chronograph, the 2914 has smaller sub-dials in solid, dark colours, which look more elegant than the slightly oversized counters of the previous version. As a result, the new dial is arguably more attractive, despite now being made of brushed steel rather than frosted platinum.

 

Petermann Bédat may be known for its clever movement construction and excellent finishing, but its design deserves just as much attention. Many new independent watchmakers struggle to get their dial designs right, but Petermann Bédat has found a design language that is original without straying too far from classical watchmaking. The semi-open dial and sapphire components are contemporary, yet the overall look remains familiar and elegant. That is no small feat.

 

 

Calibre 234

Inside the watch is calibre 234, the same base movement found in the earlier split-seconds chronograph. Perhaps reflecting the founders’ backgrounds at A. Lange & Söhne, its architecture draws some inspiration from the Datograph. It features long, slender steel springs and levers, with beautiful curves and finishing. Another nice touch is the arrowhead-shaped tails on some of the levers, inspired by vintage Minerva movements but with a twist.

 

As with the dial, the movement has a classical appearance but is entirely original in its execution. It doesn’t feel like a recreation of something from the past. One distinctly modern element is the oversized jewel on the mainspring barrel, a signature detail found across Petermann Bédat’s watches.

 

 

Interestingly, the movement has a slow frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour, an unusual rate in the modern watch world but entirely apt for a chronograph with such an old-school character. The seconds track would be even more fitting if it had five divisions per second, as on the earlier split-seconds version, rather than the four currently marked. This would allow the chronograph seconds hand to tick in step with the track.

 

Tech Specs: 2914 Chronograph Monopusher
Reference: 2914
Movement: Calibre 234; manual winding; 56 hours power reserve; 18,000 vibrations per hour (2.5 Hz)
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, monopusher chronograph
Case: 36.5 mm x 9.9 mm; platinum; water resistant to 30m
Limited edition: 20 pieces in platinum
Price: CHF 180,000 (excluding taxes)

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani blasted Google’s decision to block its search engine in schools that restrict its AI features.

“Google is trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools,” he wrote in a social media statement. “No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children.”

“Our public schools exist to serve students,” Mamdani added, “not to grow the profit margins of Big Tech.”

Google announced Tuesday that it would turn off AI features in its software for students unless school administrators specifically chose to activate them — something educators have been asking for.

But with this seeming act of goodwill, Google smuggled in a twist: if schools decide to restict all its AI features, it would also disable their access to Google Search. In a statement to the New York Times, which first reported the decision, Google vice president for education Chris Phillips offered little by way of explanation, stating that “Search and AI are deeply integrated.”

Strictly speaking, this is true, and by being intentionally vague Google is giving the impression that it’s a technical problem, not a deliberate choice to ice out AI-wary schools. Its search engine is now laden with AI features. And even before the post-2022 chatbot boom, it long used AI algorithms to improve its search results.

Search and AI are indeed “deeply integrated,” then, but does it have to be this way? Before chatbots, the way Google Search integrated AI still encouraged you to perform the actual act of searching through information instead of giving you entire answers. Even its old-school “featured snippets” that appeared above search results pulled stuff from a webpage word-for-word, prominently linking to the original source and ensuring that nothing was being lost in AI hallucination.

Since then, Google has added its AI Overviews and a full-blown AI mode, turning the experience into something more like using a chatbot. Now, when you search on Google, the top of the page features an AI summary and chat window that will automatically synthesize lengthy answers to even the most specific queries, presenting them authoritatively despite the AI being notoriously prone to hallucinating. A casual user, or the average student, has almost no reason to chase down actual sources of information. 

That’s worrying to parents and educators, who want their children to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to research problems independently. The problem is only exacerbated when a child is given access to a full-fledged chatbot product, such as Google Gemini. Along with the wealth of studies suggesting a reliance on these tools impacts critical thinking , many school districts are wary of thrusting a technology that’s become synonymous with effortless cheating at school assignments into students’ hands.

Mamdani has made AI in education a key part of his agenda. In September, he announced a one-year moratorium on New York City schools using AI in the classroom, a policy he called the “most comprehensive of its kind anywhere in the country.”

For Google, amid all these concerns, to tell schools it’ll now cut off their search access if they restrict AI comes off as an unusually spiteful move. It is by far the dominant search engine and most people’s gateway to the internet. Its bargaining power in this standoff with schools is incalculably outsized — hence Mamdani’s accusation that it’s using “monopoly power to force AI into our public schools.”

A federal judge, on that note, ruled in 2024 that Google held an illegal monopoly over the search engine market and used its dominance to shut out competitors. There’s a compelling argument that it’s now doing something similar with schools, hoping that it can strong-arm them into submission so it can guarantee that this generation of children will be future customers by getting them hooked on its AI ecosystem.

More on education: The Tech Industry’s Aggressive Push to Integrate AI Into Schools Is Turning Into a Disaster