It was the technology behind the Kinetic that grabbed my interest.
It's combines the functions of an automatic watch and a battery-powered quartz but in this case the rotor drives a tiny generator which charges the battery, to put it in simple terms.
This watch has the 5M42 calibre and is a second-hand unit with stainless-steel case and bracelet.
I like the dial; to me it is attractive without being fussy, has clear and well-defined hour indices and easy-to-see hands.
The design could almost be from the 1980's, yet it was manufactured in 1997. The original capacitor has since been replaced with a Lithium Ion battery.
One thing I detest about modern watch-wearing fashion is the trend towards the "diver" style (most of which will probably never see a shower, let alone an ocean) and are of such a large diameter that they could be used as garbage-bin lids.
My Seiko Kinetic does not fall into that category, otherwise I would have passed it by; this is the closest that I will ever come to owning one of those ugly creations.
Your Seiko story is the same as mine. I started with Seiko Kinetics, which led me to the 60's and 70's mechanical watches. I also agree that the size and design of new watches are too large and cumbersome to wear,overstated. There is an elegance in design and sophistication in engineering in the pure mechanicals that is not present in the newer watches. I think the 60's-70's Seiko dress and busiiness models are classics.
ReplyDeletethanks for this post.
Rob,
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay in responding; I often overlook checking the blog for a few weeks at a time.
Many thanks for your comments.
Great Blog..! very nice collection of vintage rare Seiko watches from early 70s and 80s. Love to read about. i am also a fan of Seiko watches and i bought many Vintage Seiko Type II Quartz watches and many Seiko silverwave quartz and Seiko Sports Kinetic watches soon i will add it on my site forsale.
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