http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=51918570The word “kinetic” relates to, or is characterized by motion. Kinetic energy is mechanical energy generated by motion. In the world of watches, it has to do with the source of energy that keeps them running.
For divers, the real benefits have come from coupling this energy source with a long-term storage capability. The results brought together in some of Seiko's kinetic dive watch models are truly leading edge.
Kinetic is basically an “automatic” or “self-winding” technology. Instead of winding the watch by turning the crown, it is wound automatically by the movement of the wearers arm. The way it works is described well in this exerpt from Wikipedia:
..... the watch contains a fan-shaped rotor (a.k.a. a weight or an oscillating mass) within the watch case. The normal movements of the user's arm and wrist cause the rotor to pivot back-and-forth on its staff which is attached to a ratcheted winding mechanism. The motion of the wearer's arm is thereby translated into the circular motion of the rotor that through a series of reverser and reducing gears, eventually winds the mainspring. The fully-wound mainspring in a typical watch can store enough energy reserve for roughly two days, however some models made specifically to have longer power reserves can last longer.
Seiko pioneered this technique in the mid 1980’s, and has been making improvements ever since. The “improvements” are mostly to do with how to store the kinetic energy so it can be used to keep the watch running longer when not in motion.
When originally introduced, Seiko called it their “automatic generating system”, or AGS. A few years later they branded these movements “kinetic”. In the beginning the kinetic energy just wound a mainspring. This worked well as long as the watch was worn.
However if the watch was left for a while it would need to be reset and shaken for a certain amount of time to get it going once more. The solution was to come up with a way for the winding action of the oscillating mass to drive a tiny generator that charged several little capacitors. The capacitors stored enough of a charge to power the watch for between 2 to 6 months, even if it was never worn during that time.
But that still wasn’t long enough, and as battery technology advanced, the capacitors were replaced with re-chargeable batteries. Power generation still came from kinetic energy, but excess energy from the generator went to keeping the battery charged.
Today, you can buy a watch that utilizes some or all of these technologies and more. By sensing the absence of movement after a certain amount of time, some watches will hibernate. This is where the hands stop moving to save energy, but the watch continues to keep time accurately.
Certain models will stay accurate for up to 4 years on a full charge. Then when moved again, will automatically reset the display, so the hands once again show the correct time. Now if that’s not cool enough, there’s a perpetual model will stay accurate to the year 2100.
This is great for divers who may use the timepiece strictly as a dive watch and therefore leave it sitting idle for extended periods of time when not actively engaged in diving activities.
A really laudable benefit of all this is the introduction of truly “green” technologies. By utilizing an automatic quartz movement, powered by kinetic energy, you get the accuracy of quartz with no need to replace the battery until it reaches the end of its life, which may be several decades.
