Watchmaker finds new way to display time

(courtesy of Seiko Watch Corp.)

Seiko Watch Corp. has developed a revolutionary new display system that it has incorporated into the world's first Active Matrix EPD watch.

Three models of the watch are being released, each benefiting from detailed graphics and a clear, high-resolution screen that looks as clear as a top-end television screen.

With a resolution of 300 dpi and the ability to be seen at very oblique angles, the new watch "demonstrates the future of digital time," the company said in a statement.

EPD stands for electrophoretic display and is the method of using electronic ink - one of Seiko's proprietary materials - in the display of the watch.

The principal components of electronic ink are millions of tiny microcapsules, each about the diameter of a human hair. Each microcapsule contains negatively charged white particles and positively charged black particles suspended in a clear liquid.

When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule, where they become visible to the user and making the surface of the screen appear white at that spot. By reversing the process, the black particles can be induced to appear at the top of the capsule.

In addition to having a revolutionary display system, the watch receives a time signal from the world's atomic clocks via radio wave, so that the usual accuracy of up to 15 seconds a month is improved whenever it is in range of one of the transmitters.

The time signal it receives from the atomic clocks makes the watch accurate to within one second in every 30 million years.

Other Japanese watch manufacturers have also incorporated radio-controlled correction technology into their timepieces, including such household names as Citizen and Casio. And with the consumer base in China booming, Citizen was instrumental in constructing a new 250-meter radio tower in China's Heinan Province, which began emitting standardized time signals in June 2007.

Seiko's new watch is powered by a self-recharging solar battery, which will never need to be replaced and is so energy-efficient that it can run for up to nine months without being exposed to more light.

JR