US3733803A

US3733803A - Device for correcting time displayed on electronic timepiece

Info

Publication number: US3733803A
Application number: US00265013A
Authority: US
Inventors: M Hiraga; M Yoshida
Original assignee: Citizen Watch Co Ltd
Current assignee: Citizen Watch Co Ltd
Priority date: 1971-06-23
Filing date: 1972-06-21
Publication date: 1973-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 1990-05-22
Also published as: CH558560A; CH932672A4; JPS5638917B1

Abstract

A device for correcting the time displayed on an electronic timepiece having a standard oscillator, a frequency divider bank, a time display unit, a reversible driver and an external actuating member for correcting the time display from the exterior of the timepiece. In the device, means, including an onoff switch, for applying a correcting signal at a variable frequency is connected to the driver through a normal-reverse switch, and these means are arranged for interlocking operation with the external actuating member so that the time display can be corrected at a rapid and controlled rate in response to the manipulation of the external actuating member.

Description

O United States Patent 1 [111 3,733,803 Hiraga et al. [4 1 May 22, 1973 [S4] DEVICE FOR CORRECTING TIME 3,243,600 3/1966 Fatz ..328/44 I Y D E E R NIC 3,530,663 9/1970 Marti ....58/23 R g g gg g 0N L CT 0 3,540,207 11/1970 Keeler ....58/23 R 7 3,564,838 2/l971 Fellrath et al. .58/23 A [75] Inventors: Michio I-Iiraga, Hoya-shi; Makoto 3,668,852 6/1972 Fusco et a1. ..58/85.5

Yoshida, Tokorazawa-shi, both of Japan Primary ExaminerRichard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Edith C. Simmons Jackmon [73] Asslgnee: Cmzeu watch Tokyo Att0rneyS. Delvalle Goldsmith, Aaron M. Scharf,

Japan Paul B. West et a]. [22] Filed: June 21,1972 211 Appl. No.: 265,013 [57] ABSTRACT A device for correcting the time displayed on an electronic timepiece having a standard oscillator, a [30] Foreign Application Pnomy Dam frequency divider bank, a time display unit, a reversi- I June 23, 1971 Japan ..46/44847 ble driver and an external actuating member for correcting the time display from the exterior of the [52] US. Cl ..58/23 R, 58/34, 58/50, timepiece. In the device, means, including an onoff 58/85.5 switch, for applying a correcting signal at a variable [51] Int. Cl. ..G04c 3/00 frequency is connected to the driver through a nor- [58] Field of Search ..5 8/23 R, 34, 35, mal-reverse switch, and these means are arranged for 58/50 R, 85.5; 235/92 T; 307/222 R, 222 C; interlocking operation with the external actuating 328/44, 48 member so that the time display can be corrected at a rapid and controlled rate in response to the manipula- [56] References Cited tion of the external actuating member.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures 3,323,067 5/1967 Eckl ..307/222 R DISPLAY l 7 REVERSIBLE DRIVER 7b 69 r7Cl DIVIDER F REQLENCY BANK PAIENTELIIIIZZ I875 F I G. I

DISPLAY REVERSIBLE DRIVER FREQUENCY DIVIDER BANK STANDARD OSCILLATOR SHEET 1 OF 4 FIG. 2

IHZ

STANDARD OSCILLATOR PATENTEU HAY 2 21973 SHEET 3 [IF 4 DEVICE FOR CORRECTING TIME DISPLAYED ON ELECTRONIC TIMEPIECE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a device for correcting the time displayed on a timepiece of the kind in which such display is attained by electronic display means such as liquid crystals or light emitting diodes.

2. Description of the Prior Art A conventional time resetting means used in an electronic watch such as PULSAR disclosed in timely TOPICS of Hamilton Watch Company, published on May 6, 1970 is provided with a pair of actuating push buttons. In this watch, one of the actuating push buttons is depressed to adjust the hours quickly without disturbing the minutes or seconds, and the other actuating push button is depressed to automatically set the seconds reading at zero while quickly adjusting the minutes to the desired setting. However, due to the fact that a signal at a frequency of 2 Hz is used for the quick correction of the minutes and hours, a slight delay in detaching the finger from the push button would result in an advance of the setting beyond the desired setting, and thus, exact adjustment of the time with proper timing is considerably difficult. Further, in such an electronic watch, a period of time as long as about 30 seconds is required for the correction of a total of 59 minutes.

In another conventional means for resetting the time display in a timepiece disclosed in a publication, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,576,099, a slide actuator is moved to one of a pair of horizontally spaced positions representing the units and tens places of the minutes display for adjusting or correcting the time display at that position. However, in this timepiece, there is no position for correcting the display of hours and such display is corrected by adjusting the time display at the tens place of the minutes display. Thus, this conventional time display correcting means has a defect similar to that described with regard to the first conventional means in that a period of time as long as 30 seconds is required for the correction of a total of hours.

In an attempt to overcome the defect above described and to minimize the period of time required for the correction, means has been proposed in which a plurality of push buttons or actuating knobs are provided at respective places of the time display. However, this means is defective especially when used in a wrist watch of small size in that difficulty is encountered in the arrangement and manipulation of the push buttons or actuating knobs and the increase in the number of slide contact portions between the watch casing and the buttons or knobs tends to reduce the reliability of the waterproof structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved time correcting device which is free from the defects of the conventional means and is capable of easily resetting or correcting the time display within a short period of time and without any mental tension by mere manipulation of a single external actuating member.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a device for correcting the time displayed on an electronic timepiece comprising a time display unit, an oscillator producing a signal at a standard oscillation frequency, a frequency divider bank connected to said oscillator for dividing the frequency of the standard signal to provide a frequency suitable for driving the timepiece, a reversible drive for controlling said time display unit in response to the application of the timekeeping signal from said frequency divider bank through an on-off switch, and an external actuating member for correcting the time displayed on said time display unit from the exterior of the timepiece, wherein means is provided for applying a time display correcting signal at a variable frequency and is connected to said reversible driver through normal-reverse switching means, and said external actuating member is arranged for interlocking operation with all of said time display correcting signal applying means and said normalreverse switching means for suitably selecting the frequency of the time display correcting signal appearing from said time display correcting signal applying means, and, at the same time, switching over said normal-reverse switching means, thereby controlling the rate of correction of the time display in both the normal and reverse directions.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the frequency divider bank shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view when viewed from the front face of the watch to show the arrangement of the components of the first embodiment assembled within the watch casing, with portions of the watch casing and time display unit being removed to illustrate the internal structure.

FIG. 4a is an enlarged plan view partly in section of parts of the watch when viewed from the front side of the movement to show the relation between the external actuating member and the time display correcting signal applying means, normal-reverse switching means and on-off switching means in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4b is an exploded view of the individual elements shown in FIG. 4a.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 isa graph showing the relation between the frequency of the output signal of the time display cor recting signal applying means and the rotating angle of the external actuating member in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic views showing two different forms of the variable constant means in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. Referring to FIG. 1, a standard oscillator 1 is of the commonly known type which generates a timing signal at a standard oscillation frequency generally employed in an electronic timepiece. This standard oscillator 1 may be a crystal oscillator, a tuning fork oscillator or the like. The signal generated by the standard oscillator 1 is applied to a frequency divider bank 2 which divides the high-frequency signal supplied from the standard oscillator 1 into a plurality of signals including a timekeeping signal at a frequency of l to 2 Hz. The frequency divider bank 2 may be an array ofa plurality of flip-flop 2a as shown in FIG. 2. Signals at frequencies of 1 Hz, 2 Hz, 8 Hz, 64 Hz, 512 Hz and 4,096 I-Iz appear respectively on output leads 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f and 2g extending from the frequency divider bank 2 to be connected to a time display correcting signal applying means 3. In the present embodiment, the correcting signal applying means 3 is in the form of a rotary switch which is arranged to be controlled in interlocking relation with the manipulation of an external actuating member 4. Terminals 3a to 3f and 3a to 3]" of the rotary switch 3 are connected to the output leads 2b to 2g of the frequency divider bank 2, respectively. More precisely, the

terminals

3a and 3a are connected to the output lead 2b, the

terminals

3b and 3b to the output lead 2c, the terminals 3c and 30' to the output lead 2d, the

terminals

3d and 3d to the output lead 2e, the

terminals

3e and 3e to the output lead 2f, and the terminals 3f and 3 to the output lead 2g. Another terminal 3h of the rotary switch 3 is not connected to anyone of these output leads andis electrically isolated. A movable arm or wiper of the rotary switch 3 is connected by a lead 3g to an on-ofi switching means 5 which may be a conventional on-off switch. The on-side terminal 50 of the on-off switching means 5 is connected by a lead 6g to a movable arm or wiper of a normal-reverse switching means 6which may be a rotary switch similar to the switch 3.

The normal-reverse switching means 6 includes a terminal 6a corresponding to the terminals 3a to 3f, a terminal 6a corresponding to the terminals 3a to 3f, and a terminal 6h corresponding to the terminal 3h. The terminal 6a of the normal-reverse switching means 6 is connected to a count-down input lead 7a leading to a reversible driver 7. The terminal 6a of the normalreverse switching means 6 is also connected to a countup input lead 7b leading to the reversible driver 7. The output lead 2b of the frequency divider bank 2 is connected through a timekeeping switch 8 to the count-up input lead 7b leading to the reversible driver 7. The time-keeping switch 8 and the on-off switching means 5 are arranged to be simultaneously switched over in interlocking relation with the manipulation of the external actuating member 4 in a manner as will be described in detail later. The rotary switches constituting the correcting signal applying means 3 and normalreverse switching means 6 are also arranged for interlocking operation with the manipulation of the external actuating member 4 in a manner as will be described in detail later.

The reversible driver 7 includes, for example, decimal and senary reversible counters well known in the art and a decoder well known in the art for controlling a time display unit 9. The output of the reversible driver 7 is applied to the time display unit 9. The time display unit 9 is of well-known construction as partly shown in FIG. 3 in which it will be seen that the time display unit 9 includes a liquid crystal material enclosed between a pair of spaced electrode plates so as to display any desired pattern, desirably numerals in response to the application of a voltage across the electrodes. Alternatively, the time display unit 9 may consist of an array of light emitting diodes arranged in a desired pattern.

FIG. 3 is a plan view when viewed from the front face of the watch to show the arrangement of the components of the first embodiment assembled within a watch casing 10, with portions of the watch casing and time display unit being removed to illustrate the internal structure. Referring to FIG. 3, a base plate 11 of electrical insulator is fixed to the casing 10 by any suitable means known in the art and a wiring for interconnection between the watch components is printed on the base plate 11. A dry cell 12 is replaceably mounted on the base plate 11 by a cell supporting plate 12a in the manner well known in the art. The standard oscillator l is herein in the form of a crystal oscillator, and the frequency divider bank 2 of intergrated circuitry is suitably packaged. The correcting signal applying means 3,is mounted together with the frequency divider bank 2 on a mounting plate 13 of electrical insulator securely fixed to the base plate 1 1. The external actuating member 4 extends fluid-tight into the casing 10 through a lateral opening on the side face of the casing 10. The reversible driver 7 is fixedly mounted on the base plate 1 1. A time display power supply 14 supplies a high voltage to the time display unit 9 which is fitted fluid-tight in an opening in the front or upper face of the casing The practical structure of the external actuating member 4, correcting signal applying means 3, on-off switching means 5, normal-reverse switching menas 6 and timekeeping switch 8 and the relation among these means will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4a and 4b. Referring to FIGS. 4a and 4b, the terminals or

electrodes

6a, 6a and 6h and necessary leads of the normal-reverse switching means 6 are printed on one face of a mounting plate 25 of electrical insulator which is securely fixed to the base plate 11. The terminals or electrodes 3a to 3f, 3a to 3], and 3h and necessary leads of the correcting signal applying means 3 are printed on one face of the mounting plate 13 of electrical insulator. These two mounting

plates

13 and 25 are disposed in suitably spaced relation with their electrode carrying faces facing each other. The frequency divider bank 2 is soldered to the above-described face of the mounting plate 13 in such a manner that its output leads 2b to 2g are connected to the respective electrodes 3a to 3f and 3a to 3] of the correcting signal applying means 3 and its inputleads 2h and 2i are connected to respective output terminals 1a and lb of the standard oscillator 1 as shown in FIGS. 3, 4a and 4b. The stem 4a of the external actuating member 4 is rotably and axially movably supported in

lateral openings

13a and 1 la formed in the mounting plate 13 and in the thick wall portion of the base plate 11 respectively. A setting lever 15 is pivoted to the base plate 11 by a pivot pin 15a and a projection 15b at the inner end thereof is received in an annular groove 4b formed on the stem 4a.

A setting lever spring 16 is fixed to the base plate 11 by a known screw means and is provided with a pair of resilient arms 16a and 16b. The former resilient arm 16a engages the pivot pin 15a at its bifurcated end for normally urging the setting lever 15 toward the base plate 11. The latter resilient arm 16b is formed with a cylindrical portion pair of spaced recesses 16d and l6e selectively engageable with a positioning pin c fixed to the setting lever 15 and normally urges the setting lever 15 toward the base plate 11. The stem 4a of the external actuating mem ber 4 is formed with a squareshaped portion 4e on which a rotor 17 of electrical insulator having a corresponding square-shaped bore 17a extending through its 17b is mounted for sliding movement in the axial direction thereof. A pair of

springs

18 and 19 of conductive metal are fixed in spaced apart relation to the rotor 17. A resilient arm carrying a contact 18a is connected to the spring 18 so that an electrical connection can be established between these two

springs

18 and 19 when the contact 180 is brought into contact with the base portion 19a of the spring 19 by the resiliency of the resilient arm connected to the spring 18. A collar 20 of electrical insulator is freely axially movably mounted on the cylindrical portion 17b of the rotor 17. One end of the collar 20 is flanged as shown by 20a for disengageably engaging the contact 18a and the other end of the collar 20 is engageable with a shoulder portion 4c of the stem 4a of the external actuating member 4. When the contact 18a is engaged and urged by the flange portion 20a of the collar 20, the contact 18a is disengaged from the base portion 19a of the spring 19. The contact 18a, the base portion 19a of the spring 19, and the collar 20 constitute the on-off switching means 5. The conductive spring 19 is selectively engageable with the

electrodes

6a, 6a and 61: on the mounting plate and cooperates with these electrodes to constitute the normal-reverse switching means 6. The conductive spring 18 is selectively engageable with the electrodes 3a to 3f and 3a to 3f on the mounting plate 13 and cooperates with these electrodes to constitute the means 3 for applying a signal at a variable frequency.

A resilient contact strip 21 is fixed at one end thereof to the mounting plate 13 by a rivet 22 and is soldered at that portion to be electrically connected to the output lead 2b of the frequency divider bank 2. The other or free end 21a of the resilient contact strip 21 is disposed opposite to a contact 23 fixed to a suitable portion of the base plate 11 and is normally urged away from the contact 23 by the resiliency of the contact strip 21 when no external force is imparted thereto. A piece 21b of electrical insulator is fixed to a portion near the free end 210 of the contact strip 21 and is disengageably engaged by the inner end 4d of the stem 4a of the external actuating member 4. The contact strip 21 cooperates with the contact 23 to constitute the timekeeping switch 8. The electrode 6a on the mounting plate 25 is electrically connected to the count-up input lead 7b leading to the reversible driver 7, and the electrode 6a is electrically connected to the countdown input lead 7a leading to the reversible driver 7.

The operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will now be described. FIG. 4a shows the state in which the stem 4a of the external actuating member 4 is advanced most inwardly toward the center of the watch. In this state, the positioning pin 150 on the setting lever 15 engages the recess 16d of the resilient arm 16b of the setting lever spring 16 to maintain the stem 4a in the position shown, and the inner end 4d of the stem 4a is pressed against the piece 21b of electrical insulator on the contact strip 21 so that the free end 21a of the contact strip 21 is brought into contact with the contact 23 to set the timekeeping switch 8 in the closed position as shown in FIG. 1. On the other hand, the on-off switching means 5 in FIG. 1 is in the off position due to the fact that when the shoulder 40 of the stem 4a is pressed against the collar 20, the flange portion 20a is pressed against the resilient arm to bend it thereby disengaging the contact 18a from the base portion 190 of the spring 19. In the position shown in FIG. 1, the signal generated by the standard oscillator l is converted into a signal at 1 Hz by the frequency divider bank 2 to appear on the output lead 2b. The signal at 1 Hz passes through the timekeeping switch 8, which is now on, and is applied to the reversible driver 7 by the count-up input lead 7b so that the time can be properly displayed by this timekeeping signal. This condition is called herein the timekeeping condition.

When the stem 40 of the external actuating member 4 is retracted from the position shown in FIG. 4a, the inner end 4d of the stem 4a is disengaged from the piece 21b of electrical insulator on the contact strip 21 which therefore springs back by its own resiliency to the floating position in which the free end 21a thereof is disengaged from the contact 23, and the timekeeping switch 8 is now turned off. At the same time, the shoulder 4c of the stem 4a of the external actuating member 4 is disengaged from the collar 20 and the contact is brought into contact with the base portion 19a of the spring 19 by the resiliency of the arm carrying the contact 18, so that the on-off switching means 5 is now urged to its on position. In this position, the signal generated by the standard osicllator 1 can be applied to the reversible driver 7 through the frequency divider bank 2, correcting signal applying means 3, on-off switching means 5 and normal-reverse switching means 6 in FIG. 1. On the other hand, no signal is applied to the reversible driver 7 byway of the path established formerly in the timekeeping condition due to the fact that the tim ekeeping switch 8 is now in the off position. This condition is called herein the resetting or correcting condition. When the external actuating member 4 is rotated in either direction in the correcting condition, the rotor 17 is rotated in unitary relation with the stem 4a so that the conductive spring 18 makes sliding contact with successive ones of the electrodes 3a to 3f, 3a to 3 or 3h, While the conductive spring 19 makes sliding contact with the

electrode

6a, 6a or 6h. Thus, the correct ing signal at one of the frequencies previously described is selected by the correcting signal applying means 3 depending on the position of the conductive spring 18 engaging one of the electrodes 3a to 3for 3a to 3f, and this correcting signal is applied to the reversible driver 7 through the normal-reverse switching means 6 to increase or decrease the count depending on the position of the conductive spring 19 engaging one of the

electrodes

6a and 6a.

In the neutral position of the external actuating member 4, the

conductive springs

18 and 19 are in contact with the

respective electrodes

3h and 6h. When the external actuating member 4 is turned clockwise in FIGS. 1 and 4b from the neutral position above described, the electrodes 3a to 3f are successively engaged by the conductive spring 18 so that the frequency of the correcting signal is successively increased form 1 Hz to 2 Hz, 8 Hz, and so on. At the same time, the electrode 6a is engaged by the conductive spring 19 so that the correcting signal is applied to the reversible driver 7 by way of the count-up input lead 7b and the time displayed on the time display unit 9 is successively changed or increased in the normal direction. The rate of correction can be freely selected by suitably adjusting the angular position of rotation of the external actuating member 4 depending on the amount of the time display to be corrected. When, on the other hand, the external actuating member 4 is turned counterclockwise in FIGS. 1 and 4b, the electrodes 30 to 3fare successively engaged by the conductive spring 18 and the electrode 6a is engaged by the conductive spring 19. In this case, the correcting signal at the frequency corresponding to the angular position of rotation of the external actuating member 4 is applied to the reversible driver 7 by way of the count-down input lead 7a so that the time displayed on the time display unit 9 is successively changed or decreased in the reverse direction.

The external actuating member 4 may be advanced inwardly toward the center of the watch at whatever angular position of rotation thereof during the correction of the time display, so that the watch can be placed in the timekeeping condition again and starts to present an accurate time display.

It will be understood from the above description that the time display can be very efficiently and accurately reset or corrected by freely selecting the direction and rate of correction of the time display. The device according to one embodiment of the present invention is very convenient in that a single external actuating member can carry out all the operations including the switch-over of the resetting elements to the correcting position and the selection of the direction and rate of correction of the time display. Further, the device according to the present invention can be effectively utilized for the quick resetting of any other displays such as the date and the day of the week in addition to the seconds, minutes and hours.

FIG. shows another embodiment of the present invention. in FIG. 5, like reference numerals plus 100 are used to denote like parts appearing in FIG. 1. A power supply 31 is connected to an oscillator 32 through an on-off switching means 105, and the output of the oscillator 32 is selectively applied to a reversible driver 107 by way of a normal-reverse switching means 106 and a pair of a count-up input lead 107!) and a count-down input lead 1070.

The oscillator 32 may be a known oscillator such as a CR oscillator or LC oscillator and includes therein a variable constant means 33 which varies the oscillation frequency of the oscillator 32. The variable constant means 33 and the normal-reverse switching means 106 are controlled in interlocking relation with the rotation of an external actuating member (not shown) as in the case of the first embodiment. A timekeeping switch 108 and the on-off switching means 105 are also controlled for interlocking relation with the advancing and retracting movement of the external actuating member.

The operation of the device shown in FIG. 5 is substantially similar to that of the first embodiment except that the rate of correction of the time display can be continuously varied in the former.

FIG. 6 shows the relation between the rotating angle of the external actuating member (not shown in FIG. 5) and the correcting output frequency of the oscillator 32. In FIG. 6, the horizontal axis represents the rotating angle of the external actuating member and the vertical axis represents the correcting output frequency of the oscillator 32.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show two different forms of the variable constant means 33. FIG. 7 shows schematically the structure of a conventional variable resistor. In such a resistor, the resistance across terminals A and B is given by and it is apparent that this resistance is maximum at the center of the resistor.

FIG. 8 shows schematcally the structure of a variable capacitor which is composed of a movable element 40 rotatable around a pin 41 and a stationary element 42 fixed to a pin 43. It is apparent that the capacitance of the capacitor is maximum when the movable element 40 is rotated through from the illustrated position. As is commonly known, a variable constant means having a single movable element can only vary the frequency over a range of the order of 10 It is apparent, however, that a variable constant means having a plurality of movable elements can vary the frequency over a wider range of the order of 10.

While a mechanical switch means has been employed to constitute the correcting signal applying means 3 by way of example, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that similar operation can be carried out by employing an electronic circuit in place of the mechanical switch means.

We claim:

1. A device for correcting the time displayed on an electronic timepiece comprising a time display unit, an oscillator producing a signal at a standard oscillation frequency, a frequency divider bank connected to said oscillator for dividing the frequency of the standard signal to provide a frequency suitable for driving the timepiece, a reversible driver for controlling said time display unit in response to the application of the timekeeping signal from said frequency divider bank through an on-off switch, and an external actuating member for correcting the time displayed on said time display unit from the exterior of the timepiece, wherein means is provided for applying a time display correcting signal at a variable frequency and is connected to said reversible driver through normal-reverse switching means, and said external actuating member is arranged for interlocking operation with all of said time display correcting signal applying means and said normalreverse switching means for suitably selecting the frequency of the time display correcting signal appearing from said time display correcting signal applying means, and, at the same time, switching over said normal-reverse switching means, thereby controlling the rate of correction of the time display in both the normal and reverse directions.

2. A device as claimed in claim I, in which said time display correcting signal applying means comprises a selective switch having a plurality of terminals connected to a plurality of output terminals of said frequency divider bank.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said time display correcting signal applying means comprises an oscillator including a variable constant means controlled by said external actuating member.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said external actuating member is selectively placed in one of a timekeeping position and a correcting position depending on the advancing or retracting movement thereof, and said on-off switching means making interlocking I operation with said external actuating member is in the off and on positions respectively when said external actuating member is in the timekeeping and correcting positions;

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which, when said external actuating member in the correcting position is angle of said external actuating member.

Claims

1. A device for correcting the time displayed on an electronic timepiece comprising a time display unit, an oscillator producing a signal at a standard oscillation frequency, a frequency divider bank connected to said oscillator for dividing the frequency of the standard signal to provide a frequency suitable for driving the timepiece, a reversible driver for controlling said time display unit in response to the application of the timekeeping signal from said frequency divider bank through an on-off switch, and an external actuating member for correcting the time displayed on said time display unit from the exterior of the timepiece, wherein means is provided for applying a time display correcting signal at a variable frequency and is connected to said reversible driver through normal-reverse switching means, and said external actuating member is arranged for interlocking operation with all of said time display correcting signal applying means and said normal-reverse switching means for suitably selecting the frequency of the time display correcting signal appearing from said time display correcting signal applying means, and, at the same time, switching over said normal-reverse switching means, thereby controlling the rate of correction of the time display in both the normal and reverse directions.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said time display correcting signal applying means comprises a selective switch having a plurality of terminals connected to a plurality of output terminals of said frequency divider bank.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said external actuating member is selectively placed in one of a timekeeping position and a correcting position depending on the advancing or retracting movement thereof, and said on-off switching means making interlocking operation with said external actuating member is in the off and on positions respectively when said external actuating member is in the timekeeping and correcting positions.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which, when said external actuating member in the correcting position is rotated in either direction from the correcting position in which the frequency of the output of said time display correcting signal applying means is lowest, said normal-reverse switching means is switched over depending on the direction of rotation of said external actuating member, and the frequency of the output of said time display cor-recting signal applying means is successively increased with the increase in the rotating angle of said external actuating member.