I’ve worn quartz and self-winding (or automatic) watches in the past; both have their positives and negatives; for instance, quartz watches keep great time, but you usually have to replace their battery after a year or two. Automatic watches also keep great time, but if you don’t wear them for a couple of days they wind down; it’s always best to keep a self-winding watch on an automatic watch winder when you aren’t wearing it, so you don’t have to keep resetting it.
Eco-Drive, however, is an interesting mix of light power and a battery. Citizen invented the first light-powered analog quartz watch in 1976; “this technology, now known as “Eco-Drive,” can generate power from any light source, artificial, natural and even dim light to keep watches running without ever replacing batteries.”
I find it fascinating that any light source can power the watch; it doesn’t have to be solar. The light source doesn’t even have to be that good!
Eco-Drive is designed so that any light source, no matter how dim, will generate the energy needed to power the watch.
When I first received the watch, I posted a picture of it on my social media networks. Interestingly enough, several friends let me know that they also own and enjoy their Eco-Drives. Here’s my friend David’s Eco-Drive collection; he has one watch (not shown) that has been running for over 10 years.
After I mentioned on Facebook that “the box for this [watch] says that the watch will keep working for 6 months even if stored in the dark,” my friend Drew said, “Yes that is what’s great, I’ve left mine in a box for a month at a time and picked up right where I left off. I usually leave them on the window sill to get a good charge. It’s really low maintenance, I’ve had every kind of watch and this one is the simplest and easiest to have.”
