Seiko & Citizen Watch Forum Message Archive

Yep...I think you got it right....I think saving energy (particularly in this day of battery driven quartz/electric watches is a big deal.

Long battery life is an important issue and if the moment of inertia of a watch hand is lowered, that translates to lower energy consumption. It might not seem like a big difference to us but if we remember that the second hand has to move over 31 million times for a 5 year battery life watch AND that the hand has to move very quickly (high accelleration rate) as it jerks from second to second.... then lowering the resistance of the hand to motion even by a little bit is a BIG deal.

I'd design that way even though it might PO some of my customers because it would make a lot more customers happy not to have to take their watch in for battery service so often.