Horological Meandering

Harry Bishop
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Rechargeable batteries and capacitors

I too loved the concept of Citizen's Eco-Drive. Before that however, I had similar feelings about Seiko's Kinetic watch lines. It was the only non-mechanical type of watch that I really liked the technology in. They marketed it as being better than rechargeable batteries, because it could "last forever", versus batteries which could only be recharged a finite number of times, and which also lose capacity as they are repeatedly only minimally discharged before recharged from the next wearing/winding. And although battery technology has certainly improved over time, it's still certainly not adequate for a consistent 20 years of using a watch.

Then I experienced the problem with the early Kinetics of capacitor failure, which I then learned was common due in many cases to eventual leakage of this power storage device, often after 2-7 years. That's when I switched my minimal "non-mechanical" loyalty to the Eco-Drive.

Since then, due to those problems. Seiko actually quietly changed to a power storage technology similar to Citizen. And although they both refer to "power storage units" in a lot of their literature, I came to the realization this past year that they are both actually just a variation of rechargeable batteries. When I learned this, and realized that forever was actually 5-10 years, I have to admit that similar to what you are feeling now, both these model lines lost their appeal to me ... I have a number of mechanical watches 30-40 years + old which are still working fine, some of them doing so despite not having been maintained since they were made! (and no that does not mean I won't get them cleaned and lubricated anyway, but it's still a good feeling to get something that's never been opened that long and still keeps good time).

The Eco-Drive line is still a very good watch, and one I have no problem recommending - you'll get a reasonable lifetime out of them without the pain of battery changes, and have the pleasure of a mechanical rotor. But, I don't buy watches for logical reasons, I buy them (as I suspect you do) for the emotional connection, and that's missing now that I realize it's just a limited life rechargeable battery.

Harry
www.harrybishop.ca

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