Thermally Powered Mechanical Wristwatch

Raghu Mani writes "Theremally powered quartz wristwatches - which use minor temperature variations to generate electricity - have been around for a few years. Now here is something a lot more radical - a thermally powered mechanical watch. Invented by an American - Steven Phillips - it uses small temperature variations to wind the mainspring of the watch. A patent has been awarded for this - check out this link. A small article on the technology can be found here and the guy's own website is budapestwatchco.com. I doubt if any of us will be buying one of those watches anytime soon, though - just check out those prices ;-)."

Comments

Memory metals??

[t0qer]

Here's a link,
Here's a link,
why don't I just

link the google search page?

Anyone remember memory metals? They were sort of a greeting card fad for a
while..You would mail a loved one what looked like an unbent paper clip, with
instructions to dip it into hot coffee. Upon hitting the hot coffee the metal
would bend itself into a message. Really neat stuff if you ever got to play with
it.

I'll stick with my Seiko Kinetic, thanks

[frankie]

Basically it derives energy from the temperature change when the watch is on top of your arm (flush against the skin == hotter) and when it's flopped to the side (exposed to air == cooler). In other words, it still needs motion to operate, albeit indirectly.

Hence, my trusty kinetic watch is effectively equivalent but a lot more affordable.