Seiko Kinetic Watch
Seiko Kinetic is the technology employed by the well-known Japanese company for achieving a continuously recharged quartz movement. A Seiko Kinetic watch, therefore, offers the endless power generating capabilities of an automatic watch coupled with the benefit of an accurate quartz movement. Seiko Kinetic technology is also known by other names, like auto-quartz.
A pendulum fitted to the rear of the movement is responsible for the task of recharging the watch in a same way as with an automatic watch. However, the main spring is connected by a large gear to a pinion, instead of tightening a main spring. As the wearer of the watch moves during daily activities, like moving the arm or walking, the pinion is turned at very high speeds that can reach up to 100,000 rpm. This is used in order to generate an electric charge that recharges a battery or a storage facility called the Electrical Supply Unit. The ESU functions similar to a lithium battery. The stable voltage provided to power the quartz movement, allows for a very high accuracy.
Today, many of the Seiko’s modern watches feature a Lithium-Titanium Ion battery that allows up to several months of power reserve. Another advantage of the new Lithium-Titanium Ion battery is that the watch will not overcharge the battery.
Some Seiko watch models have an auto relay function, in addition to the kinetic movement. Auto Relay allows the watch to automatically enter a “sleep” mode when not worn for 72 hours. The system saves the date and time and retains the normal time keeping, but while in hibernation mode it does not operate the watch hands to display the time. This way it is possible to drastically reduce power consumption by the movement.
Kinetic movements are not limited to simple watch models that can show only the time and date. This technology has been expanded to include moon phase displays, perpetual calendars, and chronographs.
Due to the excellent power generation capability of a Seiko Kinetic watch, there is no limit to the number of features that can be implemented within a kinetic movement.