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Thermally Powered Mechanical Wristwatch

Posted by michael on from the crack-open-the-piggy-bank dept.

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 ;-)."

5 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. A good patent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Clever stuff like this DESERVES patents, not one click shopping and silly little algorythms.

    Luckily I live in a country with a sane patent system!

  2. $109,000.00 by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny
    Wow...

    I'm reeling from the thought that a watch can be worth more than my whole house.

    Better not forget it in your pants come laundry day...

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  3. Prices aren't so out of line by shoppa · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The prices asked (a few $10000) aren't too far out of line for what is essentially a custom-built watch. I don't think that the self-winding technology is setting the price, just the low production quantities.

    For comparison, the Pulsar, the first digital watch the on the market, cost $2100. A couple years later digital watches were under $20 from Texas Instruments, and just a couple of years after that TI was out of the watch business because they couldn't compete against $4 imports.

    This isn't saying that self-winding watches will take off in the same way; it's just comparing the prices of mass-production stuff versus very low rate production.

  4. Memory metals?? by t0qer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.


  5. I'll stick with my Seiko Kinetic, thanks by frankie · · Score: 4, Interesting
    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.