Eco-Drive: Solar-powered Watches
This blog post is a repurposed version of content on the CITIZEN website.
Eco-Drive is a proprietary CITIZEN technology that converts any kind of light, from bright sunshine to dim indoor lighting, into the energy necessary to power a watch.
It runs for over six months off a single full charge.
Battery Replacement? Simply Not Necessary
Eco-Drive makes regular battery replacement unnecessary.
There's no need to worry about your battery running out when you can charge your watch simply by pointing it at the light.
Any Kind Of Light Will Do
Eco-Drive is designed to run on any kind of light, including overhead lighting or desk lamps.
You can go about your life confident that your watch is not going to suddenly stop in the course of your day.
For best results, expose the watch to five or six hours of direct sunlight per month.
Does my Eco-Drive watch need light to keep running?
No, it does not—because Eco-Drive can run for more than six months on a single full charge (please note that some models run for less than six months).
There are now several Eco-Drive models with power save function that have a running time of seven years.
Your watch sleeps in the dark
The power save function is activated when the watch has not been exposed to light for a certain length of time. The hands stop moving to enable the system to save power.
Even when the power save function is in operation, the watch continues to tell the correct time internally. Note: not all models are equipped with the power save function.
Power generation resumes as soon as the watch is exposed to light and the hands start to move again.
Advance notice of power running low
The insufficient charge warning function is activated when the watch is running low on charge.
The second hand starts moving in two-second intervals to alert you to the need to charge the watch. The watch will nonetheless continue to tell the correct time.
As soon as the watch is adequately charged, the second hand will resume moving at normal one-second intervals.
Eco-Drive is available at Low On Time