Citizen, the Japanese watch company and competitor to Seiko, has many of its own unique creations that often fly under the radar in the face of Seiko and its ever-growing popularity. One of such inventions was Citizen’s Eco-Drive, used in many of its watches for almost three decades!
Citizen’s Eco-Drive goes back to its creation of the first light-powered analog quartz watch in the world in the mid-1970s. The idea behind creating the Eco-Drive was to produce a battery-change free watch, this was at the height of quartz’s popularity in the 1970s and so was a pretty important issue to solve for these timepieces. Eco-Drive is powered by light, including indoor lighting, and can run for up to 6 months without any charging – the first of these watches was called the Citizen Quartz Crystron Solar Cell and was released in 1976 after making a prototype in 1974. At the time, the Cryston Solar Cell had 4 small photovoltaic panels clearly visible on the dial. This advanced look was updated over time but was likely attractive in the 1970s.
The way that technology works is that the quartz movement is powered by both a rechargeable energy cell that can be charged by any source of light and solar conversion. There is a photovoltaic solar panel under the dial that converts light to energy and the energy is stored in the battery.
1974 Citizen Solar Cell prototype / Credit: WatchNavi
It was in the 1980s, as technology improved, that Citizen was able to create thinner solar cells and introduced the ability to generate power from indoor lighting as well as solar. These advances also let to longer battery life, reaching an 8-day power reserve in 1986. It was only in the 1990s that the brand name ‘Eco-Drive’ emerged when the 6 month run-rate was achieved.
Today, Eco-Drive is extremely popular among Citizen’s watches, and as of 2011 Citizen said that it was used in 80% of the watches in their entire lineup. While maybe not as exciting a story as the Seiko Pogue going to space, it is still worthwhile to note that it was Citizen’s continual effort to improve Eco-Drive technology that got it to where it is today. And along with the Chronomaster it is likely one of Citizen’s most recognizable sub-brands.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
“40 Years of Eco-Drive” Citizen Watches, https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/g/event2016/en.html.
“Our History.” Citizen Watches, https://www.citizenwatches.com.au/pages/our-history.
“Technologies for People.” Citizen Watches, https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/technologies/eco-drive/.
“Citizen Eco Drive watch.” Unique Watch Guide, http://www.uniquewatchguide.com/citizen-eco-drive-watch.html.
“Eco-Drive Is Designed for the Future.” Citizen Watches, https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/baselworld_2011/future.html.