Kinetic, time to move in or move on?
Take yourself to a Watch Facebook group, Watch Reddit or a Watch Forum, start a new post mentioning the words Seiko and Kinetic, then wait…
It won’t take long: ‘Solar is better’, ‘Kinetic aren’t worth the hassle’, ‘It’ll cost you £££ to change the capacitor’, ‘I had nothing but problems’. If you’re lucky, someone will appear to say something positive about Kinetic watches, but I wouldn’t bank on it.
We are going to explore whether the Kinetic deserves its reputation but remember this: people (particularly online) can be much more inclined to vocalise their complaints rather than their compliments.
Time for some history. It’s the early 80s, Seiko were looking for their next Astron moment, a watch so revolutionary that it sparked a now famed crisis (but that’s a story for another day if you haven’t heard it already). Development was heading towards the fusion of quartz and mechanical (automatic) technology. This presented itself in two distinct flavours. The first, a mechanical watch, with a mainspring, that was constantly regulated by a quartz crystal. The second, a quartz watch that was powered by movement, like an automatic. The former had to be put on ice until the 90s, when integrated circuits became efficient enough to be run from a wrist friendly mainspring, perhaps you have heard of the Spring Drive? The latter however, progressed to be unveiled as the AGM prototype movement in 1986. By 1988 it was commercially launched as the AGS, which was then rebranded as the Kinetic in the 90s.
The concept was straight forward, but the engineering, packaging and execution are where the development focussed once the fundamentals were proven. An oscillating weight like an automatic mechanical watch, its rotation multiplied by 100 via a gear train, spins a rotor at between 10k to 100k rpm, creating a magnetic charge. This charge is then transformed into electricity by a coil block, and the power fed into a capacitor. The capacitor in lieu of the battery in a quartz watch, powered a quartz circuit. Still with me? There you have it; motion became electrical power with a package no bigger than a mechanical automatic.
What did this bring to the table you may ask? Whilst quartz brought in effortlessly achievable accuracy, it also gave rise to a whole new sector of the watch industry: batteries. A quality mechanical watch would keep acceptable time for the best part of a decade and beyond, a quartz would see somewhere in the region of 1-3 years before stopping, rendering the wearer inconvenienced and perhaps late! The AGS/Kinetic watches looked to bridge that gap, quite literally bringing the best of both worlds, with less maintenance and less battery waste; but all was not perfect.
Many Kinetic wearers, myself included, have great things to say about this technology. Many however, not so much. The early Kinetics used an actual capacitor, this provided a power reserve that was often good for weeks rather than months. Over time, this capacitor was phased out in favour of a lithium battery, but Seiko kept the capacitor terminology (they may have slandered batteries a little in their AGS/Kinetic marketing!). These watches were designed to be worn daily, or at least weekly, as part of a one or small watch collection. When worn infrequently, and the cells left to empty, they could be rendered dead, meaning the watch needed a service. This is from where the Kinetic’s reputation for trouble arose.
Even today, Seiko has mostly abandoned the technology in favour of Solar. Solar is more efficient, allows a thinner form factor and even when not being worn, will charge where light is present. Where Solar does lose out to the Kinetic is, the dials must be semi-transparent to allow light through and you don’t have that direct connection between your movement and the watch. The rotor noise on a kinetic is famously noisy yet satisfying. I do wonder if Seiko did this deliberately to emphasise that these were not simply battery powered!
But let’s consider the Kinetic as a misunderstood entity… the key is consistency, with a few tricks along the way. Firstly, the ‘capacitor’ in your Kinetic may need changing now, or likely will do at some point in the future. Do not panic! So many anecdotes appear online of service quotes exceeding £200, but you don’t need to empty your wallet. If you have a steady hand and a small screwdriver set, a capacitor swap is a 10-minute job, with the part costing £20-£30. From that point on, it’s upkeep time - you need to wear it.
Yes, I have seen the Kinetic compared to a Tamagotchi. They do need ‘looking after’ but it’s not a full-time job. If your capacitor is in good condition and you tend to spend your days reasonably active, 1 day a week or every other week per Kinetic watch will normally maintain a medium level of charge. If however, you can commit to spending even more time with the Kinetic, then even better; not only will your capacitor stay topped up fully but you’ll have a trusty companion on your wrist.
Kinetics - the Landmaster, BFK (SKA) and SUN models in particular, were built like tanks. These were not budget quartz watches; they were presented as fully fledged alternatives to their automatic Prospex stablemates. The SBDD models were probably where Kinetic peaked, featuring great design and finishing coupled with Direct Drive technology (meaning the battery could be charged by winding the crown as well as the usual rotor spinning), but they were priced at a premium that led many to leap to a Marine Master, Shogun or similar.
So, it’s 2023, you’re looking for your next Recon spec piece, is Kinetic worth a look in?
The short answer is yes. There are plenty of Kinetic models to choose from but you’re Recon Team… you want the kind of watch that’ll take abuse, be legible in the dark depths and keep good time when the seconds matter.
Any of the field style Kinetics make a great, simple, dependable EDC piece. The real gems however lie in the Kinetic Divers & Landmasters (the later Kinetic Prospex models too). Anything with an SKA, SUN, SBBW, SBCW, SBDW or SBDD reference is a good starting place for your hunt.
If a Kinetic runs, it’s half the battle. You’ll know fairly quickly if you pick up a watch with a capacitor that won’t hold charge, the power reserve indicator will show you how much charge is in the watch when pressed. If it needs it, swap out the capacitor for a new one and you’ll be left with an accurate, sturdy watch that you can then rely on. No worries about needing a battery like a regular quartz when you’re miles away from any civilisation, never mind any watch repairers.
The biggest issue I have found with Kinetics is that one is not enough and the more you’ve got, the more responsibilities you have in keeping them going! But from finding them for sale online, waiting for them to arrive, changing the capacitor carefully if needed and now to ensuring they are worn in regular rotation, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Thanks for reading this far. I implore you to keep your eyes peeled on your marketplace of choice for a Kinetic, give it a whirl, literally. Hear the noisy rotor, behold the accuracy and sleep soundly knowing if the roof falls in overnight, the Kinetic will hold up better than you will!
