Seiko Solar watches are not a recent thing. It’s been almost 40 years that they are around. Starting in 1977, they are older than the Citizen Eco-Drive. It didn’t take them long to catch the attention of serious watch lovers and within a short time, Seiko brought out a full range and entered the world market. These were more higher-end than the introductory models (like this one or say, this)and how much ever predominant Citizen’s Eco-Drive models are, the Solar-powered Seiko-s hold their own stance being less expensive and sturdier. No gimmickry (read: fancy naming) here; Seiko Solar watches do just that much what they claim. Nothing more, nothing less; it’s the same concept of transforming light energy into electrical energy through photovoltaic cells and storing it into little ESU-s or electrical storage units.
Normally, these movements are for a lifetime! Sturdy and simple (provided it’s just time-telling and no other functions), they are designed to run on a tiny amount of power, which makes the Seiko Solar watches run for many months at a stretch once the ESU-s are fully charged. That’s a matter of a few hours or a few days; depends on how you are dividing the 18 or 20 hours of charging time; or, on the intensity of the light under which you are charging the cells. Sun light is the best and requires only around four to five hours to fill up the cells completely; with incandescent lights, charging time may stretch up to longer than 15 hours.
Unlike Citizen’s semi-transparent dials in the older Eco-Drive watches, the recent Seiko Solar watches use dials that do not even come closer to their traditional designs. Besides, they are entirely opaque (to the human eye) and allow a larger extent of design possibilities. As a result, Seiko is now concentrating more on their Solar watches and slowly retracting their battery-powered quartz collections from the market.
Seiko Solar watches range from the ultimate dressy styles to watches with highly complicated functions, targeted towards the niche crowd. This shows their future to be a bright one and also more exciting than before. Not just in the sporty or the dive categories; the chief difference shall remain under the dial. That’s to say, the movements; Seiko has introduced a large number of calibres and they both work and look cool.
Now, you may ask very rightfully: “Doesn’t so many of them going to get the consumers confused?” Or, in a more simplified manner: “How do we know which one is going to be the best?” Let’s answer it for once and for all: Focus on what functions and features you want rather than the technicalities behind the movement. They are all from the house of Seiko, so stay rest assured they all excel in terms of practicality, lifespan and usefulness.
Watch(es) mentioned in this post are listed below. Click to see details and buy them:
- https://www.creationwatches.com/products/seiko-japan-82/seiko-astron-high-intensity-titanium-sbxa003-sast003-3978.html
- https://www.creationwatches.com/products/seiko-chronograph-watches-63/seiko-pilots-solar-alarm-chronograph-flightmaster-ssc009p1-ssc009-ssc009p-mens-watch-2898.html
- https://www.creationwatches.com/products/seiko-chronograph-watches-63/seiko-solar-chronograph-divers-ssc017p1-ssc017p-ssc017-mens-watch-3206.html