zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Hi Scott,

: I know exactly what you mean. Here's my
: perspective: When Citizen debuted the
: Eco-drive technology, I thought I found the
: holy grail of watches. And I did,
: actually... these watches are AMAZING. Solar
: powered quartz drive with no changing of
: batteries for a lifetime. Forget automatics
: and Seiko kinetics (auto winder mechanics
: charge a battery that runs a quartz
: movement).

Off typic but I have to agree with you on the Citizen Eco-Drive. I have one for my daily wear and it is great. Got one for the wife also. Truely "set it and forget it".

I also have a Seiko Kinetic that has their "Auto Relay" technology and that's really slick also. If there's no movement for a long enough time and the charge almost runs out, it goes into a hibernation mode and when you pick it up in 4 years, the dials catch up to the current time just like the Citizen Eco-Drive does. Auto Relay is a slick automatic/quartz/Eco-Drive hybrid.

With that said, they also have some real down-sides. Citizen doesn't make a watch with a Sapphire crystal and only a few from Seiko have it. Also, both Citizen and Seiko have hit or miss styling.

I still prefer automatic watches just as I prefer manual transmissions in cars. I can't tell you exactly why, I just feel like it's a "real" watch just like I feel like a manual in a car makes it more "real". Maybe it's the feeling of being more connected to the watch or to the car, I don't know.

Anyway, back to Scott's question. By all means, get an auto!