The Watch Site banner

Your thoughts on Seiko Kinetics, please

7589 Views 22 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  Tellucas
This topic may have been covered before. I've read a few things about Seiko kinetic watches but would like some feed back here. What do you all think about the Seiko kinetic movement? I own mostly automatic watches and am currently wearing my Seiko Ananta Double Retrograde Automatic. I am thinking about rounding out my Seiko watch collection with a kinetic movement. I don't want to spend more than a couple of hundred dollars for a kinetic as I am currently saving my money to buy a Grand Seiko automatic. So, are the kinetic movements any good? Is the 5M84 a good movement? Are they reliable? Are they durable meaning will the kinetic movement last a lifetime? Your thoughts please. I'll worry about getting a Spring Drive watch after I get my hands on a Grand Seiko automatic. Thank you in advance.
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
There are a lot of threads on this board and others with folks' thoughts on Kinetics - some love them, some hate them. Just do a quick search for any thread that discusses any aspect of Kinetics - usually general opinions come out even in the most technically-oriented threads.

Operationally, you can expect the same performance as a quartz watch (that's all they really are - a quartz movement with a tiny generator integrated into the circuitry). Personally, I own two Kinetics - one with a 5M62 and one with a 5M65 - and have found them to be reliable and accurate.

The major sticking point seems to be that to get one fully charged and keep it there, you have to wear the watch very frequently (i.e., every day, or at least every other). For this reason (and because anyone on this site likely owns multiple watches!), solutions on the internet range from buying one of Seiko's own Kinetic induction chargers (read: $$$), to mickey-mousing one out of an old Sonicare charger, to (of course) wearing it all the time. I'm not too OCD about keeping mine fully charged - they usually hover somewhere around the 7-days-to-1-month charge indicator, which is fine with me. Occasionally wearing one on a jog doesn't hurt, either.

Give the other threads on this site a read, and why not buy a used one online (or in the SCTP) and give it a test drive?

Cheers,
TW
See less See more
My Kinetic is a perpetual model and has the TRS (Time Relay System) which means the watch suspends hand movement after 2 days of inactivity but continues to keep time inside the circuitry. When you finally move it again, the hands spin around to the correct time, to the second. Not only a great way to get long charge life but fun to watch too !

With TRS the charge purportedly lasts 6 months or more.
My Kinetic is a perpetual model and has the TRS (Time Relay System) which means the watch suspends hand movement after 2 days of inactivity but continues to keep time inside the circuitry. When you finally move it again, the hands spin around to the correct time, to the second. Not only a great way to get long charge life but fun to watch too !

With TRS the charge purportedly lasts 6 months or more.
Wow that's impressive engineering from the Japs yet again :)
Personally, I enjoy my Kinetics as much as my Automatics and Quartz Watches. I wouldn't own a Kinetic if I did not like them ;)
Wow that's impressive engineering from the Japs yet again :)
Similar "impressive engineering" present in the Citizen Eco-Drives with power save modes 1 and 2. PS1 stops the second hand when watch deprived of light. PS2 stops the hour and minute hands when watch is light-deprived for a longer period. Correct time is resumed when watch is again exposed to light.
Man, wish my Kinetic watches had this TRS. I love them as-is, but that would be amazing!
Similar "impressive engineering" present in the Citizen Eco-Drives with power save modes 1 and 2. PS1 stops the second hand when watch deprived of light. PS2 stops the hour and minute hands when watch is light-deprived for a longer period. Correct time is resumed when watch is again exposed to light.
I saw my first one of these in the flesh today. Some italian dude I know sells expensive watches. For instance he had a £4000GBP Rolex Sub in his pocket. On his wrist? A Citizen Eco-Drive and I loved it :) I'm going to have to expand my collection I think to include at least one of those!
I saw my first one of these in the flesh today. Some italian dude I know sells expensive watches. For instance he had a £4000GBP Rolex Sub in his pocket. On his wrist? A Citizen Eco-Drive and I loved it :) I'm going to have to expand my collection I think to include at least one of those!
Decent price Tony did you buy it ?
Decent price Tony did you buy it ?
The Rolex? Hate them. Every bugger in the pubs here owns one ;)

The Citizen? No I should have asked as he does deal in watches but he said it was his personal watch and he seemed to like it. I've been looking on fleabuy and have not found the same watch yet though! He will be at the Birmingham fair on Sunday so I might ask him there if I go which is all depending on whether the weather plays ball as I don't fancy 6 hours of soaking on my bike.....
I saw my first one of these in the flesh today. Some italian dude I know sells expensive watches. For instance he had a £4000GBP Rolex Sub in his pocket. On his wrist? A Citizen Eco-Drive and I loved it :) I'm going to have to expand my collection I think to include at least one of those!
You need an Eco Drive Tony!;);) Geez, ain't I a stinker!

Cheers!
Mike
I had a few Kinetics in the past(the older AGS models). Paid too much for them and had no luck with them, so away they went.(I may have had too high expectations for them). Recently I picked up another, which grew into 3. These are still the older 5m movements, but I'm finding that I like them alot and these are my daily drivers for work. Even though two of them have weak capacitors, they are quite reliable while wearing them. On a totally unrelated subject(sorry to hijack the thread), I never had any luck with Eco Drives either, however, I just picked one up and this one is a good one.

Cheers!
Mike
Wrist shot of said Kinetic. June 23rd, 9:35 pm, still light out. Love the longest days.

Attachments

See less See more
Here is my work watch...Spot the Custom Work...
See less See more
Im quite taken by this new one thats about to come out, modular case....
See less See more
  • Like
Reactions: 1
Thank you all for your input........I think I'll pick up both a Seiko kinetic and a Citizen Eco-Drive :)

<hand salute>
Here is my work watch...Spot the Custom Work...
Sweet, David! Mine says Hi and thank you!



Wearing her today. Just about to post it in today's roll call.

Cheers!
Mike
See less See more
Thank you all for your input........I think I'll pick up both a Seiko kinetic and a Citizen Eco-Drive :)

<hand salute>
You never know until you take a chance. As I said, my first go-round with both types of watches didn't go too well. This time, I'm rather pleased. I think I'm changing my mind. I like them now.

Cheers!
Mike
I use to hate them because it takes so much time and effort to charge it. The solution than was the expensive Seiko kinetic charger.
But that is until I found the alternative kinetic charger, the Braun tooth brush charger.
Love em. Have far too many and its like painting the Forth Bridge keeping them charged. My charger is on virtually all teh time (with a small fan arranged to keep everything nice and cool)

I am encouraged that Seiko are sticking with this technology as I my opinion, they are very under-appreciated and will become collectable
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top