Fans of watches powered by things other than a traditional mechanical gear train have something new to contend with today: the Accutron Spaceview 2020 and the Accutron DNA. If these watches look familiar, you?re probably already predisposed to interesting quartz and electronic watches, as the open dials bear more than a passing resemblance to the original Accutron. The two watches seen here represent a new generation of electronic movements, using technology that Accutron previewed at Baselworld in 2019. Let?s take closer look at the Spaceview 2020 and Accutron DNA, and the electrostatic technology that keeps them humming. 

The Spaceview 2020, left, and the Accutron DNA, right.

The headline here is definitely the movement, so we?ll start there. Unlike traditional quartz watches which use electromagnetic motors to move the hands across the dial, these new Accutrons use an electrostatic motor to do the same thing. Static is the operative word here, and you need to only imagine the small electrical charge you get when, for example, rubbing a balloon against a wool sweater to grasp the concept behind these movements. The Accutrons use twin turbines (which spin like a rotor, when the watch is worn) connected to electrodes to generate static electricity, which is then stored, and finally released to power a pair of motors. One is of the electrostatic variety, which moves the seconds hands smoothly across the dial without a perceptible tick, and the other is a step mot...