What is the difference between a kinetic watch and an automatic watch?

Answer 1

An automatic is a completely mechanical watch, the wearer's movement winds the spring in the watch which then powers the watch, whereas a kinetic uses the movement to add charge to a battery contained within the quartz movement of the watch.

Both systems essentially use movements transfered to power the watch through weights which move in the watch. A kinetic watch is likely to be more accurate than an automatic as it uses a quartz movement, although many modern automatic movements are very accurate to +/- 10 seconds per 24hrs or less. If you do not use an automatic watch for more than 36-48 hrs the movement will usually have stopped as the energy contained within the spring is likely to have been drained over this point, and will then need to be worn / given a gentle shake to get the watch moving again, so you would have to reset the time / date at this point. Some automatic watches now show how much 'power' they have remaining on their face.

An automatic watch is likely to require more regular servicing than a kinetic or quartz watch as there are more moving parts.