Citizen Eco-Drive and Other Cool Watch Technologies

Watches, compared to clocks, are a relatively new phenomenon. While windable clocks have been around since the Renaissance, devices with durable and accurate enough mechanisms to be carried around have only existed for a couple of hundred years. We've come a long way from early mechanical watches powered by springs. Technology like the Citizen Eco drive has made even replacing batteries obsolete, much less winding and repairing fragile mechanisms. Here are some of the neatest and most revolutionary technologies in the watch industry.

Quartz

Quartz powered mechanisms revolutionized watchmaking and use. First developed by Seiko in the 60's, Quartz watches use an electrified quartz crystal to generate a predictable oscillation. That vibration can be measured into a predictable and super-accurate time-keeping device. Quartz watches were as much as a hundred times more accurate than the mechanical watches they replaced. Because Seiko didn't license the technology, quartz watches quickly took over the market in the 70's. Quartz movements can still be found in watches today, including the Citizen Eco-Drive.

Kinetic

This is another innovation developed by Seiko. It allows for near immunity from the need to replace batteries and maintain the watch. A kinetic drive draws power from the simple everyday movements of the wearer's wrist. The engine in the watch then sends this energy through a capacitor and stores it in a long life lithium Ion battery for future use. Even if a Kinetic watch has sat dormant for weeks, the watch can be awakened by simply shaking it.

Citizen Eco-Drive

Citizen Eco-Drive represents the pinnacle of solar watch technology. Remember the solar watches of the 80's and 90's that died as soon as the lights went out? Well that's not the case with the Citizen Eco-Drive. Citizen's unique mechanism uses an extremely thin and sensitive solar panel under a translucent watch face to gather light and store it in a non-toxic lithium ion battery. Some models can hold their charge for up to eight years.

Mechanical skeletonized

Skeletonized watches are an interesting comeback for mechanical time pieces. Since quartz technology made precision time keeping widely available, mechanical watches have become more and more of a luxury novelty. Skeletonized watches seek to put their mechanical beauty on display by shearing off part of the watch case and exposing the mechanism within.

Radio Time signals

Radio Time Signal watches are available for any electronic mechanism, including solar, eco-drive, and kinetic models. They use publicly available radio frequencies to keep and re-set the time displayed by the watch, resulting in no-fuss watch maintenance.

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