Plenty of our loyal customers are surprised to hear about solar watches and automatically assume they are rare or expensive. But solar-powered watches are manufactured by most of the major watch companies. Price tags are in the same range as their mechanical and quartz counterparts.
Benefits of Solar Watches
- Solar watches are better for the environment.
- No battery replacement necessary, which means no cost of replacement, no cost of battery, no disposal of battery necessary.
- No winding.
- Some feature award-winning designs (Citizen’s Eco-Drive technology won the Gold Prize at the Eco Mark Awards in 2014).
- Solar watches continue to evolve as technology advances.
You might think that you’ll need to charge your watch annoyingly often, but that’s simply untrue. Since the advent of solar-powered watches, massive improvements in storage capacity and energy efficiency of solar cells to watches have made them far more practical. You might be shocked to know that an Eco-Drive watch is said to run without any further charging from 45 days to up to 5 years.
Does that number sound unlikely to you? Citizen itself makes the claim that Eco-Drive watches run 45 days to 5 years (when it comes to models that feature power save), even if the watch is locked away with a full battery in a place where there is no light. Most models available boast a 180-day power reserve as well.
Solar watches are designed to run continuously, and they will do so if regularly exposed to bright light. Best of all, solar watches use very little energy which is easily replenished during daily, normal use.
Solar Watch Care and Maintenance
- Recharge your solar watch as often as you can. Set it on your windowsill for 5-6 hours monthly, dial facing the sun.
- During autumnal and winter months, make sure you get that 5-6 hours monthly charge in, because sunlight tends to be weaker. You might also be prone to wearing longer sleeves, which will cover up the watch dial.
- Make sure you don’t charge or leave your solar-powered watch on the dashboard of your car. Just like with your smartphone, your watch will be exposed to extremely high heat levels that can do irreparable damage.
- Mind your leather and urethane bands, which can become discolored due to sun overexposure.
If your solar-powered watch needs repair, or your solar watch band needs replacement, contact My Jewelry Repair today. We repair any type of watch under the sun.