Once rare and novel, watches that run on solar power are shaping up to be the next big thing in horology. In recent years, there has been a surge of watches powered by sunlight entering the market. One no longer has to worry about the consumption and replacement of batteries, or the possibility of pollution when it comes to disposing of used batteries. Instead, these sustainable and self-sufficient watches convert light into energy that can last for months on end.
Power has always been at the heart of revolutions in watchmaking. In mechanical timepieces, power is generated from winding and coiling up a spring to store power. Then came automatic watch movements, which converted the motions and kinetic energy of a person’s wrist into effortless winding. But the biggest revolution in power was battery-powered quartz, which Seiko introduced in 1969 with the Quartz Astron 35SQ, the world’s first quartz watch. With a battery and a quartz crystal that allowed people to tell time more accurately and without having to wind it, this sparked what was known as the quartz crisis—a challenge to the traditions and industry of mechanical watchmaking.
When you think of a solar-powered watch, what immediately comes to mind are chunky, outdoorsy pieces that don’t quite go with elegance and certainly not with an evening outfit. But with the progression of technology since, numerous brands have mastered a way of disguising and designing these watches so they look as elegant and polished as any luxury piece. The photovoltaic element—the part that converts sunlight into electric energy—is now often embedded discretely beneath the dial, allowing the look to shine over the technology.
One of the earliest luxury houses to explore solar-powered watches was Cartier, which shocked the world in 2021 when it revealed the photovoltaic Tank Must SolarBeat. It looks, essentially, the same as a classic Tank watch, and it widened the landscape and propelled the idea that solar technology could be incorporated into luxury designs. Cyrille Vigneron, the CEO of Cartier at the time, said that the decision to create the SolarBeat came as a result of observing clients’ progressive attitudes towards sustainability and recyclability.
The Parisian house spent two years developing the watch to hide its solar cells under the dial. The dial itself is fully micro-perforated to allow light to enter it, while maintaining the visual illusion of a classic dial design. The photovoltaic movement is said to work for up to 16 years without a battery replacement—a far cry from the more usual numbers of eight years for modern high autonomy quartz movements, and around three years for standard quartz movements. When exposed to light and charged fully, Cartier’s watch will run for around 24 months.
Other brands have their own versions of solar-powered watches too. TAG Heuer has its Solargraph line within the Aquaracer collection, combining the sport-chic design with this modern technology. This year, the Swiss brand reintroduced the Aquaracer Professional 100 Solargraph in an au-courant 28mm case size. The Aquaracer’s sporty identity is paired in these new editions with precious details like mother-of-pearl dials and diamond indexes—some proof that solar power, technology and luxury can all coexist elegantly.
Frederique Constant, meanwhile, introduced this year the Classics Moneta Solarmetre, with a timeless and elevated look that highlights the progress in solar-powered watch design. It is the brand’s first manufacture watch to be equipped with a solar-powered movement. The watch is made in three layers: a translucent uppermost textured surface, a layer of light-capturing cells, and its movement at the bottom. The circuit inside stores and manages the energy it captures, promising up to 10 months of autonomy without light.
In a similar fashion, Tiffany & Co. embraced solar power technology with the release of its Rope watch. Craft stands at the forefront of this watch, with a design that pays homage to famed Tiffany designer Jean Schlumberger’s textile motif. The Rope watch comes with either a glossy black or white mother-of-pearl dial, the latter cut thinly enough, yet without compromising its appearance, to allow light to reach its photovoltaic cells underneath. Just two minutes of sunlight is enough to power it for 24 hours.
Tiffany’s watches are crafted in yellow gold, set with a line of diamonds around its rope bezel, and look less like a timekeeper, more an adorned piece of jewellery. Whether sporty, classical or elegant, these transformations show a growing appetite for a new generation of beautiful, low-maintenance watches powered by the sun.
