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I stumbled across this indiegogo page for a new kind of smartwatch.

It promised to that you never have to charge it because it will be powered by your body heat.

Now i'm wondering, can you really generating enough electrical power by this for charging a smartwatch?

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  • I am afraid that it's impossible to know for a product that's not on the market yet. As you don't seem to be doubtful of the principles (we can certainly get energy out of a temperature differential), there's no way of answering this meaningfully. We simply do not know what the power requirements of the watch are. – Sklivvz Dec 21 '16 at 10:50
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    It partly depends what you call a smartwatch. [According to a review](https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/14/matrix-powerwatch-hands-on/), this item tells the time and records how much energy it is converting (presumed proportional to your calorific use) but little more. There is big difference between the energy consumption of a basic quartz watch (replace the small battery every year or two) and a smartwatch (recharge every day) – Henry Dec 21 '16 at 10:53
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    Simply as a matter of physics, not dependably. You can only generate power from temperature differences, so if you are wearing your watch outside when it's 98.6F, you can't generate power. – jamesqf Dec 21 '16 at 18:39
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    It isn't inherently impossible. [Researchers at North Carolina State](https://news.ncsu.edu/2016/09/wearable-teg-heat-harvesting-2016/) have demonstrated a system that generates 6 µW/cm² from body heat, several times what you would need to run a simple watch. (Seiko sells an electromechanical watch that consumes only 0.71 µW -- no light, of course.) – Michael Lorton Dec 21 '16 at 20:17

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