How Do Citizen Eco-Drive Watches Work?
Solar Eco-Drive All current model Citizen Eco-Drive watches use light to generate power. Light passes through the crystal and is focused on a specially designed ceramic watch face. The watch face passes the light through to a solar cell where the light is converted in to electrical power and stored in special titanium lithium-ion battery. This type of battery doesn’t suffer from degradation of the batter by repeated charge and discharge cycles. According to Citizen, the battery will still maintain 80 percent of a charge after 20 years of continuous use. Battery life from a fully charged battery varies by model. Some models will run normally for a month, others will run normally for years. Some Eco-Drive watches go in to a hibernation mode when stored in the dark for a long period of time. In hibernation mode, the watch’s hands stop moving, but the internal quartz timepiece continues to keep track of time. When the watch is exposed to light again, the watch “wakes up” and moves the hand
