Movements
The majority of the watches sold today have quartz movements. The best way to explain the differences between watch movements is to compare them to mechanical watches which were first introduced in 1910.
Mechanical
Mechanical watches use a balance wheel for time measurement and a mainspring for power. They require manual winding.
Automatic
Automatic watches are self-winding mechanical watches. They have a rotor which includes an oscillating weight that swings backwards and forwards with every movement of the wrist. The oscillations are converted by means of a gearing into a rotary motion that winds the mainspring.
Quartz
Quartz watches use a quartz crystal for time measurement and a battery for power. They require no winding.
Kinetic Quartz
Kinetic quartz is exclusive technology to Seiko. It is a quartz watch without a battery. The Kinetic quartz generates electrical energy to power itself from the natural movement of the wearer's arm and wrist. It stores the energy in a capacitor. The reserve energy lasts 3 to 14 days in a motionless watch.
Solar Quartz
Solar quartz watches use a quartz crystal for time measurement. Any light source is absorbed through the crystal and dial. A solar cell converts the light into energy to power the watch.
