Ricoh REQ 663002-02 inductive charging watch

It's been really sunny recently and so I thought I'd blogg a solar watch today.

The watch I chose is by Ricoh, or as stated on the back the Ricoh Elemex Corp, and as it has a charge light I'd assumed that it was a solar watch which was flat. As it turns out, it's not solar after all...

This watch is part of the Ricoh REQ line of watches. These watches have an Electro Induction Charging System which uses a magnetic field from the charger to induce a current in the watch and charge the battery. The REQ series quotes that this is the world's first Electromagnetic Induction Rechargeable Analogue Quartz Watch. Charging the watch is pretty quick (if I had a charger) with a days power taking 5-10 minutes. The induction system isn't unique (as the Citizen iVirt from 2007 also uses it), but this range is probably first with an analogue watch.

This model is part of the 663002 series and is 66302-02 (-there are models which cover 3 colours of face, and two series mentioned on the Ricoh Elemex website). It is a titanium bodied, 3 hand dial watch with a date window at the 3 o'clock position. Inside is a Lithium battery which will give 12 months of power when fully charged (for 36 hrs).  At the bottom of the dial are two lights to cover charging and low battery. These models seem to have first come out in 2010, and don't seem to be found much outside of Japan.

The movement inside is Japanese and it was assembled in China to a water resistance of 10 bar. There is writing on the front of the watch which says Japan-K-663-04-91, and I guess this mat refer to the movement.

Ricoh Elemex is a Japanese company which started in 1938 with the founders philosophy (by Kiyoshi Ichimura) "Love your neighbour, Love your country, Love your work". The company are a precision manufacturing company who specialise in IT and precision instruments/measuring devices.