CA1150065A - Wrist-watch of reduced thickness - Google Patents
Wrist-watch of reduced thicknessInfo
- Publication number
- CA1150065A CA1150065A CA000350678A CA350678A CA1150065A CA 1150065 A CA1150065 A CA 1150065A CA 000350678 A CA000350678 A CA 000350678A CA 350678 A CA350678 A CA 350678A CA 1150065 A CA1150065 A CA 1150065A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- watch
- wrist
- discs
- case
- disc
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G04—HOROLOGY
- G04C—ELECTROMECHANICAL CLOCKS OR WATCHES
- G04C3/00—Electromechanical clocks or watches independent of other time-pieces and in which the movement is maintained by electric means
- G04C3/008—Mounting, assembling of components
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G04—HOROLOGY
- G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
- G04B33/00—Calibers
- G04B33/06—Calibers of extremely flat shape
Abstract
WRIST-WATCH OF REDUCED THICKNESS
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The invention provides a construction for an electronic wrist-watch adapted to enable a greatly reduced thickness thereof. The overall thickness is constituted by the super-position of the case back, at least two time indicating discs and the crystal.. The remaining elements such as the motor, battery and gear train are placed outside the periphery of the discs.
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The invention provides a construction for an electronic wrist-watch adapted to enable a greatly reduced thickness thereof. The overall thickness is constituted by the super-position of the case back, at least two time indicating discs and the crystal.. The remaining elements such as the motor, battery and gear train are placed outside the periphery of the discs.
Description
fi~3 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention has as its object to provide a wrist-watch of reduced thickness comprising a watch case, a crystal and at least two time indicating discs such discs coupled together by a gear train itself driven by an electric motor controlled by an electronic circuit.
A mechanical wrist-watch~with the same type of display has been previously known from the prior art. Swiss patent No. 307 045 describes a mechanical wrist-watch in which the barrel drives an hours disc and a minutes disc through the intermediate of the usual motion work. In this form the bar-rel is coaxially mounted with the indicator discs and the motion work as well as the final train are found at the ex-terior o~ the indicating discs and within two diametrically opposed wings arranged between the bxacelet attaching lugs.
In addition to the fact that the purpose sought in the above-cited patent was not that of obtaining a reduced thickness watch but rather to produce an aspecl of mystery in giving to the watch hands the impression of being suspended, it will be appreciated that the space employed by the barrel renders it unsuitable for showing the reduced thickness over-all and that only methods employing elements of the most modern techniques may be used to displace the motor element beyond the periphery of the indicating discs. Moreover neither of the Swiss patents Nos. 312 519 and 312 520 which were patents of addition to the above previously mentioned patent suggest solutions to the problem which the present inventon proposes to solve.
Other propositions have been made for replacing the hands by indicating discs. The German laid open applications DEOS 22 04 907 and DEOS 25 48 559 each describes a clock pro-vided with transparent discs. Figure 1 of the first mentioned shows that no means has been employed to reduce the thick-ness of the clock, the disc driving system requiring an im-;5 portant amount of space between the discs. In the second ofthe above-mentioned publications the purpose is to give the impression that the hands are not driven by any mechanism.
If this display appears to require little thickness its driving mechanism to the contrary is lodged in a socket having a thickness clearly greater than the clock and forming a support therefor.
Extra flat watch movements have already been proposed.
French patent application No. 2 341 886 describes such a movement having manual or automatic winding and for which the thickness does not exceed 1,5 or 2 mm, and where the moving parts suspended from the bottom plate are pivoted in cantilever. This relatively complex system requires expen-sive elements, notably ball bearings.
In the classic type of wrist-watch driven however bY
a quartz controlled oscillator with an electric motor ~nd an analog type display, at least 9 el.ements are superposed in arriving at the overall thickness of the watch. These are the case back, the bottom plate, the minute wheel, the motion work (dial train), the hour wheel, the dial, the min-utes and hours hands and finally the crystal. It is the pur-pose of the present invention to reduce as far as possible the number of these elements juxtaposed one over the other in order to obtain a watch of overall reduced thickness. It is another purpose of the present invention to use electro-nic elements to obtain the rnost flexible arrangement of said elements with respect to one another in order to be able to reduce greatly the overall thickness of the watch.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The wrist-watch in accordance with the invention is characterized in that the overall thickness is constituted by superposition of the back of the case, the time indicating discs and the crystal, there have being sufficient play arranged on all sides of said discs to permit free movement ~ILS~6S
thereof. The remaining principal watch elements such~as the motor, gear train and electronic circuit are located in por-tions of the case extending beyond the diameter of the indi-cating discs, said portions having a thickness no greater than the overall thickness.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a plan view of the watch bottom plate to a greatly enlarged scale, Figure 2 is a cross section of the watch to a still greater scale, the various elements having been disposed so as to render the mechanism more readily understandable, Figures 3a and 3b represent in a cross section the gear train as employed to drive the hours indicator as well as the minutes indica-tor.
Figure 1 and 2 clearly show how the watch is arranged in accordance with the invention. The case is comprised of a case back 1 and a cover 2. The case back comprises at the same time the bottom plate of the watch which supports all the various components either in beds or on studs. A metallic hours indicator disc 4 and a transparent minutes indicator disc 5 are arranged to pivot around a first central stud 3. On each of these discs there is impressed a guide mark representing respectively an hours hand 7 and a minutes hand 6. The cover 2 of the watch comprises a crystal 8 through which may appear the discs with their guide marks and below which a dial is engraved or impressed. Two diametri-cally opposed extensions project on either hand of the indi-cator discs. The left extension carries an electric motor 9 and the gear train 10 which is arranged to pivot on studs 22 and is arranged and adapted to drive the discs 5 and 4 by means of their peripheral teeth 11 and 12. A roller guide 18 located proximate the drive wheels maintains the teeth of the wheels at the level of the disc teeth. The right hand extension carries an energy source 13 (dry cell), a quartz oscillator 14, trimmer 15 and the electronic circuit 16.
As clearly shown in figure 2 the overall thickness of the watch is made up by the superposition of the four elements, namely the case back 1, indicator discs 4 and 5 and crystal 8 whereas in Swiss patent No. 307 045 as pre-viously cited this thickness comes from at least 6 elements.
The same figure 2 shows as well that the extensions containing the various other elements included in the watch and situated beyond the indicator discs comprise a case which does not exceed the overall thickness. It must be here re-called that sufficient play must be arranged on all sides of the indicating discs in order that they may move freely.
Although the invention employs a known arrangement for dis-playing of the hours and the minutes it employs this to greater profit in order to achieve in connection with the use of modern electronic elements a result until now quite unknown, that is to say, a reduction of great magnitude in the thickness of the watch. The con~;truction disclosed permits effectively to obtain a thickness of the order of 1,5 mm including watchcase such being hitherto unknown.
Figure 3a shows a development of how the hours disc 4 may be driven from pinion 19 as fixed to the axis of motor g to the hour wheel 20. Incorporated into the gear train is also to be found a minutes wheel 21 which drives the minutes disc 5 as shown in figure 3b.
In a variant of the foregoing the case back may be ins-cribed with the dial. In this case the two indicator discs are both transparent and may be impressed with the hours marker and minutes marker as already described in the pre-ceding.
In a further variant of the invention the watch may ~S~6`t~
comprise in addition to the hours and minutes discs as pre-viously described a further disc indicating the seconds.
This invention has as its object to provide a wrist-watch of reduced thickness comprising a watch case, a crystal and at least two time indicating discs such discs coupled together by a gear train itself driven by an electric motor controlled by an electronic circuit.
A mechanical wrist-watch~with the same type of display has been previously known from the prior art. Swiss patent No. 307 045 describes a mechanical wrist-watch in which the barrel drives an hours disc and a minutes disc through the intermediate of the usual motion work. In this form the bar-rel is coaxially mounted with the indicator discs and the motion work as well as the final train are found at the ex-terior o~ the indicating discs and within two diametrically opposed wings arranged between the bxacelet attaching lugs.
In addition to the fact that the purpose sought in the above-cited patent was not that of obtaining a reduced thickness watch but rather to produce an aspecl of mystery in giving to the watch hands the impression of being suspended, it will be appreciated that the space employed by the barrel renders it unsuitable for showing the reduced thickness over-all and that only methods employing elements of the most modern techniques may be used to displace the motor element beyond the periphery of the indicating discs. Moreover neither of the Swiss patents Nos. 312 519 and 312 520 which were patents of addition to the above previously mentioned patent suggest solutions to the problem which the present inventon proposes to solve.
Other propositions have been made for replacing the hands by indicating discs. The German laid open applications DEOS 22 04 907 and DEOS 25 48 559 each describes a clock pro-vided with transparent discs. Figure 1 of the first mentioned shows that no means has been employed to reduce the thick-ness of the clock, the disc driving system requiring an im-;5 portant amount of space between the discs. In the second ofthe above-mentioned publications the purpose is to give the impression that the hands are not driven by any mechanism.
If this display appears to require little thickness its driving mechanism to the contrary is lodged in a socket having a thickness clearly greater than the clock and forming a support therefor.
Extra flat watch movements have already been proposed.
French patent application No. 2 341 886 describes such a movement having manual or automatic winding and for which the thickness does not exceed 1,5 or 2 mm, and where the moving parts suspended from the bottom plate are pivoted in cantilever. This relatively complex system requires expen-sive elements, notably ball bearings.
In the classic type of wrist-watch driven however bY
a quartz controlled oscillator with an electric motor ~nd an analog type display, at least 9 el.ements are superposed in arriving at the overall thickness of the watch. These are the case back, the bottom plate, the minute wheel, the motion work (dial train), the hour wheel, the dial, the min-utes and hours hands and finally the crystal. It is the pur-pose of the present invention to reduce as far as possible the number of these elements juxtaposed one over the other in order to obtain a watch of overall reduced thickness. It is another purpose of the present invention to use electro-nic elements to obtain the rnost flexible arrangement of said elements with respect to one another in order to be able to reduce greatly the overall thickness of the watch.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The wrist-watch in accordance with the invention is characterized in that the overall thickness is constituted by superposition of the back of the case, the time indicating discs and the crystal, there have being sufficient play arranged on all sides of said discs to permit free movement ~ILS~6S
thereof. The remaining principal watch elements such~as the motor, gear train and electronic circuit are located in por-tions of the case extending beyond the diameter of the indi-cating discs, said portions having a thickness no greater than the overall thickness.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a plan view of the watch bottom plate to a greatly enlarged scale, Figure 2 is a cross section of the watch to a still greater scale, the various elements having been disposed so as to render the mechanism more readily understandable, Figures 3a and 3b represent in a cross section the gear train as employed to drive the hours indicator as well as the minutes indica-tor.
Figure 1 and 2 clearly show how the watch is arranged in accordance with the invention. The case is comprised of a case back 1 and a cover 2. The case back comprises at the same time the bottom plate of the watch which supports all the various components either in beds or on studs. A metallic hours indicator disc 4 and a transparent minutes indicator disc 5 are arranged to pivot around a first central stud 3. On each of these discs there is impressed a guide mark representing respectively an hours hand 7 and a minutes hand 6. The cover 2 of the watch comprises a crystal 8 through which may appear the discs with their guide marks and below which a dial is engraved or impressed. Two diametri-cally opposed extensions project on either hand of the indi-cator discs. The left extension carries an electric motor 9 and the gear train 10 which is arranged to pivot on studs 22 and is arranged and adapted to drive the discs 5 and 4 by means of their peripheral teeth 11 and 12. A roller guide 18 located proximate the drive wheels maintains the teeth of the wheels at the level of the disc teeth. The right hand extension carries an energy source 13 (dry cell), a quartz oscillator 14, trimmer 15 and the electronic circuit 16.
As clearly shown in figure 2 the overall thickness of the watch is made up by the superposition of the four elements, namely the case back 1, indicator discs 4 and 5 and crystal 8 whereas in Swiss patent No. 307 045 as pre-viously cited this thickness comes from at least 6 elements.
The same figure 2 shows as well that the extensions containing the various other elements included in the watch and situated beyond the indicator discs comprise a case which does not exceed the overall thickness. It must be here re-called that sufficient play must be arranged on all sides of the indicating discs in order that they may move freely.
Although the invention employs a known arrangement for dis-playing of the hours and the minutes it employs this to greater profit in order to achieve in connection with the use of modern electronic elements a result until now quite unknown, that is to say, a reduction of great magnitude in the thickness of the watch. The con~;truction disclosed permits effectively to obtain a thickness of the order of 1,5 mm including watchcase such being hitherto unknown.
Figure 3a shows a development of how the hours disc 4 may be driven from pinion 19 as fixed to the axis of motor g to the hour wheel 20. Incorporated into the gear train is also to be found a minutes wheel 21 which drives the minutes disc 5 as shown in figure 3b.
In a variant of the foregoing the case back may be ins-cribed with the dial. In this case the two indicator discs are both transparent and may be impressed with the hours marker and minutes marker as already described in the pre-ceding.
In a further variant of the invention the watch may ~S~6`t~
comprise in addition to the hours and minutes discs as pre-viously described a further disc indicating the seconds.
Claims (8)
1. Wrist-watch of a type including a case for holding working parts thereof to be mounted on a person's wrist, said wrist-watch comprising a case of reduced overall thickness, said case including a crystal, at least two time indicating discs mounted in the case coupled together through a gear train driven by an electric motor controlled by an electronic circuit wherein the overall thickness is constituted by superposition of a back wall of the case, the time indicating discs and the crystal, there being only sufficient play between these elements, arranged on all sides of said discs, to permit free movement of the discs, with remaining principal watch elements including the motor, gear train and electronic circuit being located in portions of the case extending beyond the diameters of the indicating discs r said portions having a thickness no greater than the said overall thickness.
2. Wrist-watch as set forth in claim 1 comprising an hours indicating disc and a minutes indicating disc.
3. Wrist-watch as set forth in claim 1 comprising an hours indicating disc, a minutes indicating disc and a seconds in-dicating disc.
4. Wrist-watch as set forth in claim 1 wherein said por-tions of the case are in the form of two diametrically opposite extensions, one of which incorporates the gear train as arranged to couple the discs together via peripheral teeth on said discs and the electric motor, the other of which incorporates the electronic control circuit and an energy source.
5. Wrist-watch as set forth in claim 1 wherein the case back is equipped with studs arranged and adapted to provide bearing support for pivoting of the discs and members of the gear train, beds arranged and adapted to receive various remianing watch elements and a cover member provided with a crystal and adapted to fit onto the case back.
6. Wrist-watch as set forth in claim 2 wherein the hours indicating disc comprises a metallic disc located proximate the case back provided with a guide mark representing an hours hand, the minutes indicating disc comprises a transparent disc superposed over the hours disc and pro-vided with a guide mark representing a minutes hand and the crystal is provided on its interior face with a dial having engraved or impressed marks thereon.
7. Wrist-watch as set forth in claim 2 wherein the case back incorporates an interior dial with markings thereon and the superposed discs are transparent and provided with guide marks representing respectively an hours hand and a minutes hand.
8. Wrist-watch as set forth in claim 1 wherein the overall thickness is less than 1,6 mm.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR7911797A FR2455309A1 (en) | 1979-04-27 | 1979-04-27 | Electronically driven flat wrist watch - has only housing, dials and glass cover vertically stacked, with other parts mounted outside dial disc dia. |
| FR79/11797 | 1979-04-27 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1150065A true CA1150065A (en) | 1983-07-19 |
Family
ID=9225264
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000350678A Expired CA1150065A (en) | 1979-04-27 | 1980-04-25 | Wrist-watch of reduced thickness |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS56673A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1150065A (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2455309A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4376996A (en) * | 1981-04-27 | 1983-03-15 | Timex Corporation | Thin stepping motor watch |
| US4737941A (en) * | 1986-05-09 | 1988-04-12 | Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. | Watch with hand in form of circular film and provided with electrostatic shielding device |
| CH705910A1 (en) * | 2011-12-16 | 2013-06-28 | Ali & Co Geneve Sa | reversible mysterious watch. |
Family Cites Families (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR1085177A (en) * | 1953-01-23 | 1955-01-28 | Mysterious wristwatch | |
| CH307045A (en) * | 1953-07-17 | 1955-05-15 | Stern Charles | Mysterious wristwatch. |
| JPS4867767U (en) * | 1971-11-29 | 1973-08-28 | ||
| JPS5330350B2 (en) * | 1972-09-25 | 1978-08-26 | ||
| JPS51140763U (en) * | 1975-05-02 | 1976-11-12 | ||
| CH610178B (en) * | 1976-02-18 | Bouchet Lassale Sa | WATCH MOVEMENT. |
-
1979
- 1979-04-27 FR FR7911797A patent/FR2455309A1/en active Granted
-
1980
- 1980-04-25 CA CA000350678A patent/CA1150065A/en not_active Expired
- 1980-04-26 JP JP5611780A patent/JPS56673A/en active Granted
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| FR2455309A1 (en) | 1980-11-21 |
| FR2455309B1 (en) | 1982-11-19 |
| JPS6133474B2 (en) | 1986-08-02 |
| JPS56673A (en) | 1981-01-07 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |