Every Seiko Kinetic watch sleeps, wakes and remembers its duties when pulled out of slumber. Initially, the Kinetic discouraged many but nevertheless, mystified more. After some time, people came to accept Seiko’s new approach to flawless power generation; this occurred because of Seiko’s continual improvement to the existing technology. Even today, the experts at Seiko are at bettering the Kinetics further – not just with the form and the looks but also in performance; for example, the 7L22 Kinetic chronograph movement with the caliber 5M’s power generation unit and the geartrain of the 7N quartz caliber.

The main driving forces in a Seiko Kinetic movement are its coil block, oscillating weight and the capacitor/condenser, which is the energy storage. Years of refinement on these three made many suspecting minds finally pull the proverbial trigger on Seiko Kinetic-s, after weighing the pros and cons of owning one. There are currently many models to choose from and many of the earlier owners went for a second. Even some hardcore automatic owners, for the almost automatic feel and sensation of the oscillating weight. A quick flick of the wrist is enough to make you feel the oscillation. It’s the same for other Seiko Kinetics of varying calibers.

Ever wondered how a small flick charges the sleek and designer Automatic mens watches? Here’s how:

The oscillating weight – this one has a high torque load - drives few step-up/multiplier gears in between; these rotate a tiny dynamo at 100,000rpm (mind-boggling!!!) which in turn generates electricity.

But some people had problems even with that. They are the owners of a large number of watches who had to give his every watch some wrist-time. So Seiko released a variation - the Kinetic Direct Drive! This came in the form of the Velatura sports watches, housing the 5D44 caliber and shortly afterwards, the the 5D22. This one doesn’t have the retrograde day display. Now you could thumb-crank it sufficiently and keep the batteries charged while watching the amount you are feeding it.

There’s a power-hand that shows it. This exclusive features do make the Seiko Kinetic (including the DD) watches a designer wear and allures a whole lot of automatic wearers who want to go for quartz but found it less enticing so far.

The sleek and designer Seiko chronograph watches get enough charge if worn for 8 hrs straight, once a week. But this doesn’t go for the typical desk-jockey. The Kinetic Direct Drive is a better option here.

This is the reason Seiko introduced more sportively sleek designs in plain Kinetic than the formal or dress patterned and vice versa with Direct Drive. But nevertheless, both are interesting, hybrid movements that showcase the best in electro-mechanical quartz technology. Almost maintenance free, the sleek and designer watches are here to rule for a long time. A purchase that makes you feel contentment, that is.