The design uses both kinetic and solar power to keep running, and it'll even automatically open shutters to reveal the solar cells when the battery runs below 50 percent.

You can't buy this exact watch. As the "concept" name indicates, it's a technology demonstrator. Ressence does plan a production version of the Type 2 later in 2018, though. And this could represent the future of mechanical watches for the industry at large. Purists may insist on manually winding their watches (and they still can), but these digital elements could make mechanicals more accessible to a generation that has grown up with smartphones. They can enjoy the automatic timekeeping of a smartwatch without having to accept the battery life and style sacrifices that frequently come along for the ride.