A Seiko Kinetic watch SKA017P

Titanium case and strap, nice and ordinary with no gold plate - perfect for me. But Seiko UK say its not available here.

Would someone be willing to grab me one in the US and ship it across? Paypal to cover all costs.

Cheers,

Philip

I would, if I could find somebody selling it! Neither PrincetonWatches nor WristWatch.com seem to have that model. Don't know how it differs (the gold accents, maybe?), but I've had an SKA016P on my wrist for a few years now, and it's great. Here's a guy on eBay from Miami who will sell the 016P internationally, FYI.

Yes its the same watch without the gold. I find all titanium a bit more to my liking.

Theres one on eBay here

I'm wary of eBay as there are fakes about.

Yeah, that's the same seller. Looks pretty legit, but I know what you mean about eBay and knock-offs.

I have two seikos a kinetic auto relay and a kinetic perpetual calendar. Can anyone provide some insight as to how long these things usually last? They are both around 3 or 4 years old.

I was told 10-12 years, at which time, the "energy cell" may be factory replaceable.

I had to replace the cell on my kinetic at about 6 years. (Is it a capacitor? The jeweler refused to consider that it might be a rechargeable battery, since "it doesn't use batteries!")

Other than that 2 month journey, it has worked flawlessley, keeping time to within about 2 seconds per month.

-jk

Is it a capacitor? The jeweler refused to consider that it might be a rechargeable battery, since "it doesn't use batteries!"

Isn't the line between Capacitor and Battery pretty fuzzy anyway?

Isn't the line between Capacitor and Battery pretty fuzzy anyway?

Conceptually, yes. But you try to explain to a jeweler who speaks marketing how any such electrical storage must work.

-jk

Tony,

Functionally, in some cases, perhaps. Physically, no.

A battery holds its charge via a chemical reaction of one type or another. A capacitor holds its charge by mounting two charged plates in close proximity with a dielectric material (one that resists electron flow) between the two plates. One of the two plates is then crammed full with lots & lots of electrons (the more electrons on the plate the greater the voltage potential between the two plates). The electrons want to get to the positive plate and so will do work in a circuit to get to the other plate.

The big upside to capacitors is that they can supply all of their power essentially instantly, whereas batteries' output rate is limited by the speed at which the chemical reactions can take place (and the battery case can deal with any gasses or heat generated). It is this ability to discharge a lot of electrons rapidly that makes capacitors so potentially (pun intended, thank you) dangerous - think Loren's TV capacitor discharge story.

Capacitors do, however, tend to leak electrons from between the plates, making them less suitable for long term power storage. There are exceptions to this rule, but they're mighty costly options when compared to batteries which can maintain their charge stable for upwards of 10 years (depending on the specific chemistry & storage conditions).

Charging capacitors is a more efficient business as you don't have as much loss, so that makes me think they may be used in watches (as the work gathered from a motion mechanism must be in very small increments to begin with).

That being said, I'm not a jewler so have no idea whether the watch in question was a battery or a capacitor.

-Zeke

ps - If you already knew all this Tony, I apologize.

I knew some of that, but that was a very cool description and filled in a lot of holes in my knowledge. Thanks!