Seiko Gents Kinetic Watch

...Argos Catalogue Shop, but attractive, Seiko Automatic watch.

It had already started stopping, on and off, during the previous couple of months. Then, like some form of 87 year, out of date omen, on April 14th it ticked its last tick.

In terms of appearance, that first Seiko was everything that I seek in a watch. It had a simple stainless steel strap (note use of the word strap NOT bracelet!) and case. The face was very ...
.../> …..oh, no! It said SEIKO on the face!

This one had another word, in smaller black capital letters on its pale silver face: "KINETIC" The shape and size looked almost identical to the stopped watch on my wrist; the two main differences were the silver face and lack of the weekday window.

I entered the shop and asked the fairly elderly gentleman (they always were in Hanningtons!) sales assistant, just what ... more

Here comes an odd one for you!

As, during all of my months spent on review sites, I have yet to read a watch review, I thought that I would set myself the challenge of writing one. In truth it probably will not be the longest or most interesting review RICHADA has penned…..

….but bear with me for a few minutes if you will.

Firstly, for those who do not know me that well, a little bit about me. I am no fan of jewellery, fashion or otherwise - at least not on my own person. As, hopefully, a relatively respectable company director, I do however have need of a passably accurate and presentable time-piece. Before any of you jump in with 'ah, but surely you have a mobile telephone and that shows the time!' well, yes that is true, but it is simply not as convenient as taking a quick glance at the left wrist. Neither does it show me instantly the date.

Shock, horror, RICHADA wears a wrist watch!

Sorry, time is ticking by here - listening VERY carefully I can actually hear it…..as yet, no mention of the product being reviewed, tut, tut!

Now for a clever leap in time, back to the last century, to be absolutely precise, the 87th anniversary of the last supper being served on the Titanic - April 14th 1999. For the previous three years or so, this inauspicious date had clicked over on a fairly cheap, £38 from the Argos Catalogue Shop, but attractive, Seiko Automatic watch.

It had already started stopping, on and off, during the previous couple of months. Then, like some form of 87 year, out of date omen, on April 14th it ticked its last tick.

In terms of appearance, that first Seiko was everything that I seek in a watch. It had a simple stainless steel strap (note use of the word strap NOT bracelet!) and case. The face was very clear in black with gold and luminous hour pointers and hands. The one thing that never found favour was that it showed the day of the week as well as the month date.

Yes, having the month date at hand is very useful, but come on…….. I'm not that fuddled that I need a watch to tell me what day of the week it is!

As men do, I started eying up watches in shop windows. Cheap ones, expensive ones, knowing exactly what I wanted but seemingly it was unavailable at any price. Was it sensible to spend a fortune on a watch for life, a Rolex even perhaps? No! How about another cheap watch from Argos then? They were all too cheap and flashy looking.

On 15th April I had to venture into the town centre at lunchtime to bank the company's cheques. There, in the window of our long, dearly departed department store, Hanningtons, was the watch of my dreams……

…..oh, no! It said SEIKO on the face!

This one had another word, in smaller black capital letters on its pale silver face: "KINETIC" The shape and size looked almost identical to the stopped watch on my wrist; the two main differences were the silver face and lack of the weekday window.

I entered the shop and asked the fairly elderly gentleman (they always were in Hanningtons!) sales assistant, just what a "Kinetic" watch was. He was no better informed than I, but was happy enough to produce the box along with the very explanatory instruction leaflet.

My main question was regarding the longevity of this new fangled technology. If I was to purchase this, ideal looking, watch from him for £229, was it going to last any longer than the £39 one from Argos - after all it looked alarmingly similar for such a large price difference.

"It is new", he told me, "I would be lying to you if I told you that this watch is going to last you 10 years, because they simply have not been on the market for that long". He went on to tell me that: "Seiko have invested a lot in this technology and are putting a lot of weight behind promoting it".

Question unanswered then.

I liked the watch, was intrigued by the mechanism and needed, that very day, a new time-piece. I became on 15th April 1999 the proud owner of a SEIKO KINETIC watch - model number 5M42.

Unlike my original Seiko, the hands and hour pointers on the face are also silver, again having luminous insets in them. The bracelet is almost identical, a multi-linked stainless steel one, although this later one does have a safety clasp which closes across the fastener at the back.

Also unlike my previous watch, this one has an almost silent tick, press it hard to your ear and you may just here it. On the other hand the oscillating weight which charges the mechanism can clearly be heard "oscillating", sometimes as you move your wrist, occasionally when you are walking quite normally. It is a difficult sound to describe, but makes for quite a talking piece on occasion when people remark on it - especially children who are unused to a watch making such a soft rattling sound.

This particular watch is classed as "Water Resistant", according to the instruction book only capable of resisting "accidental contact with water". Seiko do produce Kinetic watches which are resistant to 10, 15 and 20 bar, none of which are sufficiently water proof for diving.

As my old watch was not working and the new one was, I left the shop with the new watch on my wrist, the salesman having removed three metal links from the strap.

What is KINETIC ENERGY?

Please do not expect me to explain this Kinetic business, sorry that should be "energy system", in any great detail, I will attempt to describe to you just what the diagram in the book tells me.

This Kinetic range of Seiko watches, of which mine is just one, work entirely automatically, powered by kinetic energy. First of all inside the watch is an oscillating weight, rather like a pendulum in an old grandfather clock if you like, but much, much smaller. This weight, which can only weigh very little, the entire watch weighs 92g, swings backwards and forwards as you walk, charging through a tiny rotor and generating coil block a "Kinetic Electricity Storage Unit". Looking at the diagram - photographed copy below, this looks suspiciously like a rechargeable battery to me.

My particular model, the 5M42, has the more powerful of two Kinetic energy systems. As mentioned the energy is created by just walking around in every day life - this is not then a suitable watch for those with an incapacitating disability.

An 80 metre walk is sufficient to run the watch for six hours, 350 metres will give you two days charge, whilst after 800 metres it is fully charged and will run for between twelve and fourteen days without being worn or taken for a walk.

The instructions inform me that the amount of power generated differs from person to person - interestingly Seiko provide you with a power reserve indication button, press it and the second hand marches around anything up to thirty seconds - providing the reserve is fully charged. My watch is worn every day, only taken it off at night, during the six and a half years that I have been wearing it, the indicator has never shown it as being less than fully charged.

Just in case you are wondering what happens during the thirty seconds that the watch has advanced - well, it merely pauses, waiting for time to catch up before advancing in the usual way, second by second.

There is a warning also for you that the power reserve is low and that in approximately six hours the watch will stop. To conserve energy, the second hand will jump two seconds at a time rather than advancing in the conventional manner. I have never seen my watch do this, but Seiko claim that the watch will remain accurate whilst running in this mode.

If the watch has been left unworn and has stopped, it can be instantly re-started by swinging the watch a couple of times before placing it on the wrist.

THE WATCH MOVEMENT

In terms of the watch movement itself, there are no moving parts - the hands are controlled via a tiny printed circuit block. In simplistic terms my Seiko Kinetic watch is no more than a self charging electronic watch. The clever part, as far as I am concerned, is that it looks entirely conventional - a classically good looking wrist watch indeed.

Unlike some watches that I have worn in the past, this one makes turning the extra day at the end of a 30 (or 28/9!) day month a piece of cake too. The crown wheel (adjustment knob) has two positions. Pull it to the first one and you have control of the date - without altering the time at all.

Incidentally, when setting the date on this Kinetic watch, it must be done after 01.00 and before 21.00. This is should be obvious really as the date needs to turn over at midnight rather than midday!

Pull the little wheel to the second click and you have control over the time. You can "stop time" or synchronise it, or by twiddling the knob in the entirely conventional manner sending the hours and minutes backwards or forewords. Which very conveniently brings me onto the most important aspect of wearing a watch, which is:

TIME KEEPING:

Having already told you that this is a very clear to read, simple watch - even partially sighted people I am sure would be able to use it - what sort of time keeper is it? Well, here is the best news of all! According to "the book" Seiko claim that it is accurate to within15 seconds per month at operating temperatures of 5degC to 35degC.

The normal operating temperature is between -10deg.C and +60degC.

I have never subjected my watch to the top end of the temperature spectrum, 35degC in the middle of Poland in the summer would be about it, I have however had it on numerous occasions to well below -15degC and on one -28degC.

Whilst these are the manufacturer's claims, I am here to delightedly inform you that between the hours going forward in the spring and back in the autumn I NEVER have to alter the time on this watch. It is much more accurate than Seiko claim. Before our twice yearly trips to Poland - I do change the time to European and back again, the time was only ever changed and synchronised twice a year - at which point I would be surprised if it were more than ten seconds out.

If my experiences with Seiko's Kinetic watch are anywhere near representative of the quality of the rest of their Kinetic range then I would unreservedly recommend this particular type of watch. My £229 proved to be money very well spent indeed!

Having done an "Ask" search last night I have found a whole range of Seiko Kinetic watches on the net, starting from £160, in the shops you will pay from £230 for them - just as I did over six years ago. All in all, even better value for money now than then. 

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