This can be fully charged and sat in your kit bag, and is ready to go when you are without the need to wind it up and with no concerns over if it needs servicing for accuracy.Ĭompare this to my Automatic version featuring the 4R36 movement. They make excellent second watches for a specific purpose, for instance, diving. Yes, they are very accurate and over long periods of time, which is another big bonus of these movements. How about accuracy? Well, the V157 movement in the Seiko street series is accurate to 15 seconds a month. There is a wealth of videos and instructions available on how to do this, and at the cost of around £20 for a new battery, it’s possibly more cost-effective to maintain it. When it comes time to change these, it’s also something you may be able to do yourself, unlike servicing a mechanical movement. So ten years of worry-free accurate timekeeping is what you can expect from these movements. This, coupled with wear throughout the year, has meant I’ve never come to them to find they have died.īut of course, a battery, even a rechargeable one, does have a finite life span, and Seiko says this is around ten years. I make it a habit to get any of my solar-powered watches out at least one bright sunny day a year and leave them in direct sunlight for the day to charge. In actual-world usage, I have gone 2-3 months with my solar-powered Seiko tuna sitting in a watch box in the cupboard only to get it out and find all I need to adjust is the date. So then the burning question most people have is how long does a charged watch last? Well, Seiko say a single charge can last up to 6 months! So you don’t need to become obsessed with walking around holding your wrist aloft to the sun for fear of it stopping as soon as the sun goes down. Regardless though, charging to some degree will take place. So shining a small torch at the watch will impart considerably less charge than wearing it outside during a sunny summer day. Now it’s important to note that not all light is the same, and although it will still convert into electrical energy, the differences can be huge. This gives the wearer the ability to constantly top up the charge on their watch whenever it is exposed to light. It then converts this into electricity which is stored in a rechargeable battery and powers the watch. Unlike a traditional mechanical movement which requires winding or movement to turn a rotor to then convert this into energy to power a watch, the solar movement through the use of a solar cell captures the light coming in through the watch face. Let’s briefly look at how Seiko's solar movement works and some of the pro’s and con’s of a solar-powered Seiko watch. After all, good for me might be entirely inappropriate for your needs. Maybe you work in a low light environment, or this is a second or one of perhaps multiple watches and would be stored away for days or weeks between wears.Īll these things play into an individual's view of what they need and if something is “good”. I guess this is where a simple question can be genuinely that simple or maybe a little more complex.Įveryone is different, and maybe this is the first foray into solar watches, or perhaps you have been collecting watches but usually lean more towards mechanical movements? So what’s not to like or good about that? It requires minimal maintenance and has a battery life of approximately ten years. The most popular question seems to be, aside from the noticeable aesthetic differences, is the SRPF81K1 worth the extra money in automatic form? Essentially is the Solar movement any good as the SRPF81K1 is also available in a solar form SUT403P1 at quite a bit less in terms of price.įirst off, my stock response to this question when I get asked on Instagram is yes, the solar movement from Seiko, In my experience, has been very solid, accurate and dependable. Since I purchased the Safari Series Seiko Tuna SRPF81K1, I have had several questions about how this compares to the older model I have, the SNE537P1. This is at no extra cost to you and enables me to keep writing reviews of watches and products I genuinely think you will enjoy or find useful. This article may contain affiliate links which means if you choose to purchase a product using the link, I may get a small commission.
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