Fully Charge Seiko Kinetic in 30 min: Seiko's Secret Device for Charging Kinetic Watches

[@jamesdoherty97]

A very clear demonstration of equipment in use, straight to the point.I wish all posts were this good.

[@DesignReviews]

Thank you!

[@ivormac2247]

I have 3 Seiko Kinetics. I charge them using an Oral-B electric toothbrush charger. Set the watch on the charging post at the 7 baton.

[@bobanderson7313]

Thanks - you may have changed my life. Just placed my neglected Pulsar on my toothbrush charger and it seems to be doing the trick.

[@belina65]

What is "7 baton"???

[@stevean9509]

some of these toothbrush hacks create a lot of heat inside the watch. If you discover the watch is hot after charging do not use that charger. The heat can damage the battery and/or electronics.

[@stevean9509]

The Kinetivations KC1 and the Seiko YT-02 dont create any heat while charging. I'm the guy who developed the KC1 and I also own a YT-02.

[@rickcormier9160]

I recently (July 2024) bought a charger from Amazon for my Seiko Kinetic for under $20.00 that actually charges my watch. It is a magnetic pendulum.

[@marcob.7801]

How about a link Rick???? Please??!! many thx.

[@KRW628]

I have two 5M kinetics which I do not wear enough to keep them charged normally. So i bought the charger (for about $350) four years ago. If the watch is reading at the 5 power level, a 3.5 hour run should bring up to the 30 level. I find I have to charge them about every 4 months.

[@DesignReviews]

That charger costs way too much. More than the watches it charges. :)

[@dougsnider8780]

I have a 1999 seiko sport 100 that I bought brand new, it's been sitting in my safe for 10 years. I took it out and shook it for 20 minutes and it's holding a good charge, I've been wearing it for the last 3 days now and it's still going strong! Not bad for a almost 23 year old watch huh? I still have all the factory packaging and paperwork.

[@DesignReviews]

That's impressive. It's going to be an iconic watch.

[@stevean9509]

The instructions shown during this video listed the 5M4 as requiring 20min for full charge, but that assumed the watch was equipped with a capacitor. If your 5M4 now has a rechargeable battery (likely 99% probability it does IMHO), the YT02 full charge will be 3.5hrs. The capacitors at this point in the lifecycle have all failed in these old Kinetics. Seiko offered an upgrade kit from cap to battery for the 5M4 mid-way through its lifecycle. The reviewer also placed his 7D caliber perpetual watch in the 7L position. It should have been placed in the "5J" position but his YT02 was the older version that does not have the 7D denoted on the charger face. The YT02A shows the 7D on the face and in the instructions.

[@phantomcruizer]

Learned something new today! Thanks 😎

[@DesignReviews]

You're welcome!

[@davidhogg1302]

great channel I just purchased this kinetic charger but it came with the Euro Plug, expensive purchase but couldn't pass on it

[@RC-ox9yx]

Have you made any progress on your charger design?

[@TrueHafiz]

Hi, Can a reachable capacitor be replace with regular lithium battery, If yes will it work for a year or so? thanks

[@DesignReviews]

Absolutely. It will work just like a regular quartz watch. Should easily last 3 years.

[@stevean9509]

No. a regular lithium battery cell will not fit a kinetic watch - you would damage the cell anyway because the watch will attempt to charge a non-rechargeable battery, and the fact the connections for the kinetic cells are mechanically customized and do not conform to the standard way a watch cell is installed.

[@nikosun3045]

@@stevean9509 I understand that a regular lithium battery will not fit a kinetic. But what about a rechargeable one?

[@dns711]

Does anyone know in which crown position a watch with a 7L22 movement would be charged?

[@stevean9509]

7L crown position is shown on the face of the YT02

[@asjohnseesit]

Thanks, does an automatic watch winder also charge the Kinetic?

[@DesignReviews]

It will take a long time. Not practical

[@stevean9509]

@@DesignReviews Actually no. they do not spin fast enough.

[@neilpinkett]

HI, is there a way of making a charging simular device with a frequency generator or something? intersting device none the less.

[@DesignReviews]

It's pretty easy. If I had a few weeks free, I can easily reverse engineer it and put plans for folks to download. Give me a few months and I will make a open source charger.

[@gafriglebit]

@@DesignReviews We the people give you exactly 1 few months

[@stephenmadone1230]

charges via induction so you can use a Braun toothbrush charger or other kinds. I have successfully charged with Braun charger, just by placing the back of the watch aligning the charger to the middle of the two coils in the watch.

[@neilpinkett]

@@stephenmadone1230 I just chucked a cordless tooth brush in the bin...doh

[@GeorgiGeorgiev-ne9ps]

@@DesignReviews Hi. Did you try making it yet?

[@dns711]

Any idea how to charge the battery from a Direct Drive Kinetic? The case back says 5D22. The charger doesn’t list that type of battery.

[@DesignReviews]

A Direct Drive Kinetic can just be hand wound like a regular mechanical watch. Makes charging the battery very easy.

[@dns711]

@@DesignReviews that's why I traded my Kinetic Tuna and bought the Direct Drive. No matter how much I wind it, I can't get it fully charged.

[@DesignReviews]

Huh! What scale marker does it go up to? There are 18 marks or you can read it as D, W, M. Btw, on a kinetic charger this will charge as a 5M.

[@dns711]

@@DesignReviews I couldn't get it past one week by hand winding. I just put the crown on the 5J and in 45 minutes the watch now indicates one month of power reserve.

[@stevean9509]

5D is the same crown position as the 5J. If you own a 5D22 Dive watch, the YT-02 will not charge it. Not enough EMF. The KC1 charger will charge the 5D22 Diver.

[@dizzy1846]

what is the name of the seiko watch you are going to charge

[@DesignReviews]

Its the 5M43-OB69 from the mid 90s. This was the greatest of all Kinetic watches from the 90s with Sapphlex crystal, special titanium and full lume dial. I have 5 of these as they are increasing in price now.

[@mrtumbi2974]

Can I charge seiko astron on this charger

[@DesignReviews]

No. The astron is a solar watch that needs light to charge.

[@sevensanders5724]

Does this work with other kinetic watch? I have a tissot kinetic

[@DesignReviews]

Yes. The Tissot is probably using the ETA AutoQuartz 205 movement. Works just like the Seiko kinetic.

[@stevean9509]

No. not compatible.

[@stevean9509]

I looked into the ETA 205 and it cannot be charged externally. It uses torroidal charging coil inside the watch (the rotor spins a magnet inside the torriod to chrage the watch - very cool design but very expensive to manufacture). External mag fields cannot intersect/excite a torriod properly

[@sundarAKintelart]

Thank you

[@DesignReviews]

You're welcome

[@dbzsuperfighterz4649]

Do you kinetic watches?? I need one

[@DesignReviews]

Do I sell/fix/?? What are you looking for?

[@dbzsuperfighterz4649]

@@DesignReviews I want to buy

[@DesignReviews]

@DBZ SuPer FiGhteRz I have quite a few, but I am away from my watches for the next few months.

[@dbzsuperfighterz4649]

@@DesignReviews what's your location??

[@DesignReviews]

PM me. I don't share that on a public forum.

[@tuancafetc]

oh my good 😲😲😲😲

[@MrPhotodoc]

I'll just get a new battery for 20 bucks.

[@DesignReviews]

True. And you can make it $5 by putting a regular lithium cell instead of the rechargeable kind. Unless you have lots of Kinetics like I do. Still a tough watch for collectors due to the charge running out and killing the battery.

[@mustafabhatti5893]

Good 👍

[@DesignReviews]

You're welcome! 👍🏽

[@advelvelasco4769]

😮

[@Grimm44]

This cost as much as the watch

[@DesignReviews]

Haha! Actually costs more than the watch. Last I checked it was $370 which is crazy.

[@maximhollandnederlandthene7640]

Kinetic watches condensators sucks, its done within 10 years. 😒

[@DesignReviews]

The capacitor? I have Kinetics from the early 1990s (when it was called AGS) and the capacitors work fine. Some of the Panasonic capacitors from the mid-90s was a bad batch, and it gave everything a bad name. Every Kinetic I have still has it's original battery so I have had good luck.

[@geovannyalfaroporras7562]

Todos son así para cargar los kenetic

[@cxmyqpte]

to expensive

[@DesignReviews]

I agree. It's crazy how expensive it's become. I am going to upload a video that establishes charge times on a Braun toothbrush charger that aligns with the charging on the official charger.

[@cxmyqpte]

@@DesignReviews i use a cheap wisdom toothbrush charger works well and charges my Seiko 5M62 OAKOup to 30 sec in less than 2 hours positioned at number 10

[@shelterrockisland]

Absolutely the worst least collectible line of watches (Kinetic) - this is an abomination for any collector unless you wear them daily. Once the battery(capacitor) is exhausted there is virtually no way to revive it outside of hacks that work some of the time. Seiko actually had a charger they sold primarily in Japan and then discontinued because of price point and lack of interest - sell them or store them and forget them as quickly as reasonably possible. They are not collectible and no sane watch collector would pay $1 USD for any.

[@DesignReviews]

I have lots of Seiko/GS in all movements (hand wound, automatic, electric, quartz, spring drive), and I actually like Kinetic watches as they represent a specific time period in Seikos development when they chased needless complexity. They were on the high of the Quartz revolution and the fusion of the automatic with the quartz was quite the achievement, instead of just putting a solar cell. As watches became disposable, the kinetics suffered likewise p. Also, a lot of the designs of the 90s are fairly banal so that also didn't help. Having said that nothing comes close to my Seiko Perpetual Kinetic with it's 4 yr power reserve and it's 0.4mm ultrasonic motor. I have tested mine at 3+ years and it was still keeping great time. I wish I had let it run till 4 years but curiousity got the better of me. I have never considered myself a collector as I just buy watches I like regardless of their investment value. Most of my watches would count as poor investments but I don't really mind. I make up the loss many times over on the stock market. :)

[@shelterrockisland]

@@DesignReviews LOL - let me know what you invest in maybe I can make some serious money too ... as for the watch collection I actually wear all of my watches and I don't see them as an investment really - it's just annoying to dress up pick a watch and then spend half an hour shaking it to then find out it runs for 30 minutes - just ridiculous!

[@DesignReviews]

@@shelterrockisland oh I do share your frustration. For anyone with multiple watches, Kinetics are effectively unwearable, even with the ridiculously overpriced charger. I have been meaning to make a open source copy of the charger whenever I get some time (pretty easy hardware project). I should also make a video one of these days on just how bad watches are as investments- and just how much joy they are as possessions when you wear them. I think the pandemic boom in the luxury market made everyone lose their minds. Some of the values are just absurd, but you can't win against stupidity.

[@shelterrockisland]

@@DesignReviews very well put ... your videos are VERY VERY helpful please keep making them ...

[@MrPhotodoc]

@@DesignReviews Any induction charge should work.