Seiko Kinetic

[snowbird]

Does anyone have one of these? What do you think?

Costco had these on sale (model #SKA347, 40mm stainless with black dial) so I just got one and am interested to try it out.

The description says it uses motion to power the quartz movement so it has a power reserve measured in months and doesn't have a battery . . . seems like pretty interesting technology.

[Safetrends]

I have a 2001 Seiko Kinetic Auto Relay 5J22-0A50. Back then it was 600.00 and worth every penny. I wear this when I am doing hard labor tasks which would make a normal watch fail. It runs great and keeps excellent time. I have owned a Seiko for twenty five years it is a good work horse. The watch can be left for days without winding down, it has stored energy that makes it on time for days and weeks at at time.

My two Rolex watches are used for: 1.Dress up and 2.Normal daily wear. And since my 21 year old son is doing all of the dirty work now I really do not worry about wearing my Rolex watch more often.

[snowbird]

Originally Posted by Safetrends

I have a 2001 Seiko Kinetic Auto Relay 5J22-0A50. Back then it was 600.00 and worth every penny. I wear this when I am doing hard labor tasks which would make a normal watch fail. It runs great and keeps excellent time. I have owned a Seiko for twenty five years it is a good work horse. The watch can be left for days without winding down, it has stored energy that makes it on time for days and weeks at at time.

My two Rolex watches are used for: 1.Dress up and 2.Normal daily wear. And since my 21 year old son is doing all of the dirty work now I really do not worry about wearing my Rolex watch more often.

Thanks, that's good to hear that the power reserve works as advertised.

[safd09]

Have had 2 kinetics. Mine were the early models that used a capacitor to store the energy. It was suppose to "run forever" without ever needing a battery. Well... the technology wasn't as advanced as their claims. So in the early 2000's they switched to a lithium-ion rechargeable battery that stores the energy. Takes significantly more movement to be fully charged, but has a very long power reserve. Seikos are great watches, but their licensed service center, COSERV is terrible. They are slow, expensive, and not very customer friendly. IMHO, Citizens are a better choice and similar in price. Also, all of the automatic Seikos I have keep terrible time.

[snowbird]

That's too bad about the service center, hopefully I won't have to use it.

[snowbird]

I've been wearing the watch I mentioned above occasionally for a few weeks now and it seems like a good watch. So far the power reserve seems to work as advertised and the lume is easy to see at night.

[Double_J]

I have one purchased a couple of years ago. I think its the SNL021 or something like that. Thought it looked neat when I bought it but quickly changed my mind and it's been sitting in a drawer ever since.

That said, the technology seems great. It's kind of a pain to get it fully charged from a full stop (something like 500 back and forth waves to build up the power reserve) but it does stay running a very long time. I forget the exact period but it's at least a couple of months.

If only the darned thing weren't so ugly.

[snowbird]

Yes it does seem like a chore to fully charge it once the power reserve runs down, I read that in the instruction book about swinging it a few hundred times. Fortunately it came fully charged so I'm hoping all I have to do is wear it occasionally to keep it that way . . .

[Andad]

Originally Posted by snowbird

Yes it does seem like a chore to fully charge it once the power reserve runs down, I read that in the instruction book about swinging it a few hundred times. Fortunately it came fully charged so I'm hoping all I have to do is wear it occasionally to keep it that way . . .

You do need to keep these charged. If you don't wear them for a while the rechargeable battery loses efficiency.
Easy to replace but a nuisance and a cost.

[snowbird]

Originally Posted by directioneng

You do need to keep these charged. If you don't wear them for a while the rechargeable battery loses efficiency.
Easy to replace but a nuisance and a cost.

What has your experience been in terms of how often you need to wear it to keep it charged?

So far once a week or so has been good enough to keep mine showing as fully charged but I haven't had the watch very long . . .

[Andad]

I have one, it's excellent. I set my other watches by it.

But I can't seem to wear it on its own.

[snowbird]

Nice picture (both of those watches)!