Automatic quartz is a collective term
describing watch movements that combine
a self-winding rotor mechanism to
generate electricity with a
piezoelectric quartz crystal as its
timing element. Such movements aim to
provide the advantages of quartz without
the environmental impact of batteries.
Several manufacturers employ this
technique.
Mode of operation
A rotating pendulum inside the case is
attached to a relatively large gear
which meshes with a very small pinion.
As the wearer moves, the pendulum turns
and spins the pinion at a very high
speed - up to 100,000 rpm. This is
coupled to a miniature electrical
generator which charges a storage device
which is a capacitor(s) or a
rechargeable battery. A typical full
charge will last between two weeks and
six months.
Applications
= Seiko=
Japanese company Seiko pioneered the
technique which it unveiled at the
Baselworld 1986 trade show under the
trial name AGM. The first such watch was
released in Germany in January 1988 and
April of the same year in Japan. The
watches had an average monthly rate of
±15 sec and provided 75 hours of
continuous operation when fully powered.
Early automatic quartz movements were
called AGS; in 1991 the company
introduced the Kinetic brand name. Today
Seiko offers a wide range of watches
with various Kinetic movements. The top
of the line is the caliber 9T82,
included in Sportura and PROSPEX
Collection. It is sold in limited volume
at a price range of about US$3000 which
makes it one of the most expensive
automatic quartz watches. Kinetic
technology has also been used in some of
Seiko's Pulsar and Lorus watches. As of
2007, Seiko has sold more than eight
million automatic quartz watches.
The different calibres of Kinetic
watches currently are relatively large
and heavy, weighing in at 1/3 of a pound
or more on many models. Therefore, most
Seiko Kinetic watches are only available
in a men's size.
Movement calibers：
1M20
3M21 3M22
3M62
4M21
4M71
5D22* 5D44*
5D88
5J21* 5J22*
5J32*
5M22 5M23 5M25
5M42 5M43 5M45 5M47
5M54*
5M62* 5M63* 5M65(GMT)*
5M82 5M83 5M84
7D46* 7D48* 7D56*
7L22*
7M12 7M42
7M22 7M45
9T82*
YT57* YT58
(*) In use as of at Aug-2008
= ETA=
Swiss company ETA SA, part of the Swatch
group, made seven different automatic
quartz movements, calling them
Autoquartz. They were part of the
premium Flatline series of movements and
were sold to a variety of watch vendors,
primarily European and American. High
grade movements designed to last as long
as their premium mechanical movements,
they had between 15 to 53 jewels. Unlike
most quartz watches, Autoquartz could be
calibrated to increase their accuracy.
Several vendors had their Autoquartz
watches COSC certified. In 2006 to
increase production of its highly
demanded mechanical movements, Swatch
discontinued supplying the Autoquartz
line to customers. Then in 2009,
possibly due to available production
capacity or stocked parts, Tissot
reintroduced the Autoquartz in its
PRC200 dive watch. The Autoquartz
movement used by Tissot is gold plated
and carries the designation ETA 205.914.
Movement calibers:
204.901
204.911
205.111
205.711
205.911
205.914
205.961
206.211
Manufacturers who employ or employed ETA
movements: Tissot, Rado in their
Accustar line of watches, Longines,
Swatch, Omega, Dugena, Wenger, Hermès,
Roberge, Mido, Bovet, Fortis, Belair,
Franck Muller, HTO and Cyma.
= Citizen=
Citizen, one of the world's largest
watch manufacturers, also built an
autoquartz-powered watch: the Eco-Drive
Duo. Novel to this watch was the use of
both mechanical power as well as a solar
cell. This model was an attempt to enter
higher-priced markets, but the
technology failed to attract consumer
interest and Citizen has since stopped
making use of the unique movement. No
other autoquartz powered watch from
Citizen is known; all other Eco-Drive
models only use solar power or thermal
power.
= Ventura=
Ventura is a small Swiss watch
manufacturer claiming to be "the World's
only manufacturer of automatic digital
watches". Their VEN_99 movement was the
only watch to ever combine autoquartz
and digital readout of time in one
package. Offered were three models: the
Sparc rx, fx and px. In late 2006, the
company started selling their movement
with an incorporated alarm, another
exclusive feature. All hardware is
proprietary to Ventura.
In 2007 the company went into
bankruptcy. Support was available from
an independent entity. In 2011 the
company re-emerged from bankruptcy and
continued to sell its models,
introducing the "2nd gen
Micro-Generating-System" and marketing
the watch integrating it as the world's
first and only digital-readout
multi-function automatic quartz module.
Unlike with other manufacturers the
watch movement and power source are
separate units, only linked by a single
wire.
Pricing
In spite of the relatively complex
mechanical parts used, Seiko has
positioned their kinetic watches to be
medium-priced. Exceptions are kinetic
with other complications such as
chronograph movement 9T82, 7L22 and
direct drive movements. ETA sold
Autoquartz to a variety of Swiss
manufacturers with pricing below $100 to
multiple thousands. Ventura prices its
automatic quartz watches at around
2000-4000 Euro.
See also
Automatic watch
Seiko Spring Drive
Complication
Jewel bearing
References
External links
watches-lexic: ETA Autoquartz
Seiko AGS Quartz Watch The world's first
automatic power generating quartz watch.
The Seiko Kinetic: Boon or Bane?
