Seiko Watches – investors in free energy technology
Seiko Watches unveiled their Kinetic range at the Baselworld trade show in 1986, but the technology had been in development for some time. The movements did not make it to production models until 1988. Looking closely at the engineering involved it is no surprise that the development process took so long to reach fruition.
The first watches were released into the German market in January 1988 and in April of the same year in to the company’s home market of Japan. They were initially sold under the name of Auto-Quartz. These early examples had an average monthly accuracy rate of ±15 seconds and provided 75 hours of continuous operation when fully powered. In 1991 the company introduced the Kinetic brand name.
Today Seiko watches offers a wide range of timepieces with various Kinetic movements. The technology has also been introduced on to some of the higher end watches in the Pulsar and Lorus watches range. As of 2007, Seiko Watches has sold more than eight million automatic quartz watches.
The Kinetic drive system
Watches with a kinetic drive system feature a small electric generator inside. The overall concept is no different to any other DC generator system, but the need to keep the system stable in such a small space created some wonderful innovations and developments of the existing technology.
The generator has at its core, a rotor. In the model developed by the Japanese group the rotor is suspended by magnetic levitation before spinning at 100,000 rpm. This is five times faster than a Formula One racing car engine. The wearer automatically generates the electrical energy by her/his wrist movement.
The units have also seen a huge decrease in the power drawn by the quartz mechanisms. The original Seiko Astron, the world’s first quartz watch launched in 1969, drew 27 microwatts of power. At launch, the Kinetic series used 0.9 microwatts or just 3% of the power usage of its predecessor. The process of continual development that has taken place since then has reduced the power consumption even further down to 0.71 of a microwatt.
The different calibres of Kinetic watches currently weigh in at 150 grams or more on many models. Because of the associated case sizing and weight issues most Seiko Kinetic watches are only available in a men’s size.
Autoquartz
The company has not been alone in the marketplace. In 1998 fellow Japanese manufacturer Citizen created a dual powered movement that also drew power from its eco-drive solar panels in addition to the autoquartz mechanism. The watch was an attempt to enter the high-end market but was ultimately withdrawn. Similar technology has been used by ETA SA, part of the Swatch Group. These movements known as Autoquartz were used in the company’s brands such as Tissot and Omega as well as in brands such as Hermes and Wenger.
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