Solar-powered watches

Watch technology is ever-evolving giving consumers an array of options and making it easier for people to maintain their time pieces. Thanks to innovative watch companies, people no longer have to spend a hundred dollars or more to service their watch every few years.

Instead of winding your watch daily, moving your wrist or even using a small battery to power your watch, Citizen uses the power of light.

Citizen's Eco Drive watches use a solar conversion panel and energy cell to power the quartz watches instead of a battery like most comparable brands. Eco Drives can convert both sunlight and artificial light to energy, so the supply is limitless and doesn't cost a dime. With other watch brands, you'll have to replace the battery every one to three years with battery costs averaging $8 to $25 depending on who installs it.

With normal wear, an Eco Drive owner can expect his or her watch to last a lifetime. Of course, the watch needs to be in light on a regular basis and one should avoid submerging the watch in water if it is not a dive watch.

However, one does not have to wear the watch every day for it to keep a charge. In fact, an Eco Drive watch can keep time for up to 180 days on a full charge, so putting it in a jewelry box or drawer for a month shouldn't be a problem. If the watch happens to be off when it is removed from the drawer, simply pulling the stem out and placing the watch under a lamp for 24 to 48 hours will allow the watch to regain a charge. Pulling the stem out allows the watch to charge without trying to run at the same time. Once it is fully charged, the time can be set and the watch is wearable.

In addition to being hassle-free, Eco Drive watches are more earth-friendly than other brands. The Eco Drive cells do not contain any of the chemicals used in ordinary watch batteries and there is no need to dispose of used cells since the Eco Drive cell doesn't need to be replaced.