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Kinetic watches are often underappreciated. They provide a nice bridge between those who want something mechanical but do not want to spend a lot of money on an automatic watch. Not only this, but kinetic watches are far less costly to maintain than a mechanical timepiece.
Seiko created the first kinetic watch in 1988. Shortly after this, the movement reached the height of its popularity before falling into relative obscurity. Kinetic watches are still well known today, but are no where near as popular as automatic, quartz, digital or even solar watches. There are a variety of reasons for this, most simply relate to cost and demand for kinetic watches – which is very small.
Overall, kinetic watches are both durable and good value for money. However, from a purely logical point of view, there is no real reason to ever buy a kinetic watch over a solar watch. For this reason, we have seen the decline in the popularity of kinetic movements. There is still a special place in peoples thoughts for kinetic movements, which are still preferred by those who want something semi-mechanical. However, it would be unlikely that we see many other brands switch over to making kinetic watches in the future.
As of today, Seiko are really the only brand of note creating new kinetic watches.
Table of Contents
What Is A Kinetic Watch?
A kinetic watch is something of a hybrid between an automatic watch and a quartz movement. Like an mechanical automatic watch, kinetic watches generate their power from the movement gained whilst wearing the watch.
However, an automatic watch uses this energy to wind a coil which is slowly released over time. Once this coil is empty, you will need to move the watch again to generate any kind of power. A kinetic watch also uses energy from movement to power the watch, but this energy is stored in a capacitor. If you’ve never heard of this before, you can think of a capacitor as a storage battery. This slowly releases energy when the watch is not moving and keeps it going through periods of non-movement.
A kinetic watch will have a much longer power reserve (when fully charged) than an automatic watch which usually have a range between 48-96 hours.
Kinetic Vs Solar Watches
Solar watches are the biggest rival to kinetic watches, with solar watches being more popular. This is because solar watches are cheaper to make and probably a bit more practical for a non-watch fanatic too.
When you look at the movements of the watches, there is really not too much difference between the two. Both watches work off quartz based movements and draw their power from a capacitor. The difference lies in where the power is generated. Solar watches draw in power from all available light sources, where as kinetic watches draw their power from the movement of the wearers wrist through a rotor.
Due to the practicality of solar watches, you will find they are far more available than kinetic watches which can only be found in Seiko watches (and also watches using Seiko movements).
What Brands Make Kinetic Watches?
Unfortunately there are only a handful of brands which make kinetic watches. This is mostly because they simply aren’t that popular. Most people either want a quartz or an automatic – not something in between.
The only brands that make kinetic watches are Seiko and it’s subsidiaries Pulsar and Lorus. There are also a handful of micro brands that use kinetic movements. However, these brands regularly change designs, movements and go out of business.
Are Kinetic Watches Reliable?
Yes. Kinetic watches are no less reliable than a standard quartz movement and work in a very similar way. The only real difference is a quartz watch draws power from a battery, where as a kinetic watch draws power from the movement of the rotor.
In terms of both accuracy and reliability, you would expect pretty much the same results from both kinetic and quartz. That is, if you were to put a Seiko battery powered watch next to a Seiko kinetic, any difference would be negligable.
In fact, kinetic watches will have better reliability than most automatic watches (other than high-end luxury brands).
How Long Do Kinetic Watches Last?
Typically a kinetic watch will last somewhere between 10 and 15 years. At this point the capacitor will likely not hold a charge anymore which will result in the watch stopping whenever stationary. Once the capcitor is changed, the watch will go for another 10-15 years. After this point, the movement may discontinue working. But this shows kinetic watches have very good longeivity.
Can A Kinetic Watch Be Fixed?
Yes. Kinetic watches are no more difficult to fix than standard quartz watches and significantly easier than mechanical timepieces. A capacitor replacement is only a little more difficult than a battery replacement. Any other fix is similar to that on a quartz watch.
The Best Kinetic Watches
PADI Special Edition
One of the most high spec kinetic watches ever made is the PADI GMT. If you’re unsure what this watch is, it’s pretty much a professional diving watch made to strict specifications. You can notice that the lumes are extra bright and made to a high standard, alongside a separate, different colored red hand on the main dial.
This watch is not quite a Seiko Monster, but is still gigantic, it has a serated bezel alongside a reinforced steel case and sapphire crystal glass. You may scuff and mark this watch, but it’s both difficult to scratch and very resilient. Overall, you will be very hard pressed to find a dive watch that has a kinetic movement – this is just about the only one on the market right now. Yes, you will be able to find both quartz and automatic dive watches of a similar standard, but these are not commonly made at all.
Seiko SRN071P1
The SRN071P1 is a great looking dress watch which is suitable for both smart and casual occasians. The striking blue hands contrast very well with the plain white dial. Much like other Seiko kinetic models, this watch has a power reserve button at the 2 o’clock position, although the double tick mechanism lets you know whenever the watch is running low on power regardless of how much is left.
A nice feature is the small date semi-subdial alongside the date window. Once set, this will automatically tick over the match each day of the week. You will not need to keep resetting this and winding it forwards as each day passes.
Seiko Premier Perpetual
Seiko Premier is towards the top end of the Seiko range (other than Grand Seiko of course). This is because the watch has a variety of complications which are fairly difficult and expensive to put into a watch. The main focus is towards the perpetual calender which can be seen on the bottom dial of the watch. This displays both month of the year, along with whether the watch is in a leap year or not.
As this watch does have the perpetual calender complication, this means once set, you will not need to wind the watch forward for a leap year, as it is already instructed to do so. Other than this, the watch has a 24 hour subdial and a double date window at the 12 o’clock position.
Pulsar Kinetic
This watch may not be to everyones taste, but it is quite rare anyone other than Seiko themselves makes a kinetic watch. As the brand is a subsidiary of Seiko, you can see that they also love to plaster big letters saying “KINETIC” on the bezel. This is the Japanese equivalent of western brands putting Japanese characters on their products. Perhaps to your eyes it looks bad, but to someone else it looks cool.
All in all, this is a pretty standard and very solid watch. It has two fairly high crown guards for protection and features a striking red seconds hand which cannot go unnoticed. The main key benefit of buying a Pulsar is that you’ll get the quality of a Seiko for a cheaper price.
Seiko SKA445P1
The SKA445P1 is one of the more sport style watches that Seiko makes. Its serated black bezel makes it look somewhat similar to the original Tag Heuer F1 bezels which were popular in the early 2000s. Other than this, it is just a pretty solid watch with a solid stainless steel case and band.
If you’re wondering what the button is on the top right above the crown. This is the power reserve indicator. The power level is indicated on the right hand side of the inner dial with a red section towards the 12 o’clock marker showing low power.
