Eco Drive/Solar..........maybe revisited!?

[Griff]

I think this is the best idea so far for powering a watch, quartz wise.
Kinetic is fine, but Eco Drive where any light will power the movement seems the best bet with even fewer moving parts. If you can stand digital, then solar digital seems the most efficient........and maybe the most lacking in soul!!?
I've become quite impressed with Eco Drive Citizens, and bought one as some may well know. I like it a lot.
Seems a good option for a collector/enthusiast to have at least one of these.
Seiko and Pulsar solar quartz watches have 2 jewels, one at each end of the stepping motor.
Why don't the likes of Omega do one of these, or some of the other top makes!? Too much snobbery prevent them??

[gray]

Why don't the likes of Omega do one of these, or some of the other top makes!? Too much snobbery prevent them??

I don't know Griff, why don't you poll one or two of them and see what they say :wink:

My guess is it's not the market they want to sell into and I doubt they could do it profitably - well certainly not at the margins they are used to.

In any case most brands are no longer independent and no doubt some company within the parent corporate group is probably already selling to that particular market sector.

[KCampbell]

The Eco-drive Skyhawk I have is an absolute marvel. When the light level drops it first stops moving the second hand and turns off the LCDs to preserve juice, then it stops the hour and minute after some period of time in the dark.

When you re-expose it to light everything comes back to where it should be, after up to 4 years in storage. I have also noticed that the minute hand moves in 15 second increments - at each 15 second interval marked by the second hand the minute advances 1/4 of a minute. I'm assuming this is because there is actually no gearing between any of the hands, they are all driven independantly by stepper motors.

Kevin

[Gert]

It's a great technology. Light power has the advantages of no additional moving parts (cf. kinetic drive) and no cell replacement (at least for a couple of decades). Should make it perfect for diver's and other outdoors watches. Orient and Casio has some models as well, but I haven't seen any of the Swiss using it.
I have been looking to get one myself to try it out.

Regards,

Gert

[Crusader]

The Eco-drive Skyhawk I have is an absolute marvel. When the light level drops it first stops moving the second hand and turns off the LCDs to preserve juice, then it stops the hour and minute after some period of time in the dark.

How long until the hands stop turning? Does this happen every night, or after 14 days in the drawer...?

Crusader

[KCampbell]

If the light received is not sufficient for charging, say under a shirt sleeve, the digital displays dim and the second hand stops.

According to Citizen the other hands stop after about 60 hours of insufficient light, I haven't tested it to know for sure if this is the actual shutoff - I've just come back to mine after a couple of months in a drawer and seen it catch up.

Kevin

[expat]

I came across this watch a while back, and was sorely tempted...
http://www.roachman.com/thermic/

The Seiko thermic uses your own body heat to drive a temperature differential generator. It also has a jump hour feature, one of my favourite complications.

For a more detailed write-up of the technical aspects of the Thermic read this, the relevant article is half way down the page.

http://www.natureinterface.com/e/ni03/P045-049/

Paul

[Ming Thein]

I like the idea of the Thermic or Kinetics better. A bit closer to being a mechanical watch, especially the kinetic chrono - it has a fully mechanical chrono plate :D

Omega make a kinetic-like watch - the Seamaster Omegamatic.

Ming

[Gordon]

I came across this watch a while back, and was sorely tempted...
http://www.roachman.com/thermic/

The Seiko thermic uses your own body heat to drive a temperature differential generator. It also has a jump hour feature, one of my favourite complications.

For a more detailed write-up of the technical aspects of the Thermic read this, the relevant article is half way down the page.

http://www.natureinterface.com/e/ni03/P045-049/

Paul

Looks pretty cool. Has there been any recent developements in Thrermic watches?

[Ming Thein]

Not electronic ones. But Philips has invented a perpetual winding system which uses bimetallic strips to wind the mainspring, working via changes in temperature.

Ming

[expat]

I remember reading about that watch, amazing, probably as close as we'll ever come to a perpetual watch.

Ming, maybe you can answer this, but it's my understanding that more mainstream watches use a bi-metallic strips not as a winding mechanism but to achieve better regulation. I know that early pendulum clocks used bi-metallic weights to compensate for changes in ambient temperature.

Also, even though I'm grew up in Canada I am aware of Daleks, so I got the exterminatrix reference. What the hell is a Klytus?

Paul