Since green gadgets are the "in" thing nowadays, why not make a fashion statement with the latest energy-saving device you can wear on your wrist? High-end watchmaker Urwerk has come up with a macho-looking watch that winds itself up by using compressed air from wind turbines.
The new UR-202 watch uses miniature wind turbines installed in the device to regulate its self-winding mechanism. A slipping mainspring is used to prevent it from overwinding. As the user moves his arm, the main rotor generates friction as it winds. The constant back and forth movement also tends to wear down the winding rotor through time. The small-scale twin turbines control the velocity of automatic winding and also a 3-position selector switch is used to control the level of air compression. These basically extend the life of the watch’s winding mechanism.
A series of rotating hour blocks built on the watch’s hands tells the time in a distinctive sort of way. The hands’ lengths adjust to mark the minutes. This adds to the cool aesthetic value of this interesting timepiece.
Although it uses wind power in such a tiny detail, the UR-202 is still a welcome innovation for gadgets designed to use wind turbine technology. It is said to be priced at an extremely high amount, but the remarkable idea of using wind turbines in a wristwatch beats the value for it.
