CH709781B1 - Cage circle intended to be mounted in a watchband. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a casing ring intended to be mounted in a watch middle comprising on its inner wall two bearing surfaces, the casing ring comprising two housings opening into the lateral face of the casing ring, and in the upper or lower face of the casing ring. It comprises a locking piece that can pivot about a vertical axis of rotation passing through said upper or lower opening from a first position in which the locking piece is housed in the housing, to a second position in which the locking piece is protruding and rests against a bearing surface of the inner wall of the middle part so as to maintain said casing ring in said middle part. According to the invention a locking piece is clipped into each housing and pivots about the vertical axis of rotation. The invention also relates to a watch equipped with such a casing ring.

Description

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The subject of the present invention is a casing ring intended to be mounted in a watch middle, as well as a watch case and a timepiece equipped with such a circle. Casing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Usually, the casing ring is secured to the watch case by means of flanges and / or screws. However, such methods of assembly have a number of disadvantages. Indeed, the thickness of the flanges and screw heads can be inconvenient and cause extra thickness of the parts. In addition, the size of the screws requires specific tools and some experience during assembly.

Thus, it has already been proposed to assemble a casing ring in a watch case without the need to use additional means such as screws or flanges.

[0004] EP 1 312 989 discloses such a device for assembling a casing ring to a watch case. More specifically, this document describes a watch case having frustoconical housings machined in the inner wall of the watch case and a casing ring having at least two frustoconical chambers open on the rear and side faces of the circle. The frustoconical chambers are able to receive locking pieces that can move in rotation from a free position in which they are entirely in these chambers to a locking position in which they are partially housed in the chambers and partially in the corresponding housings of the box.

The assembly device described above has several disadvantages. It should be mentioned first of all that the locking pieces are removable, which implies a careful assembly of the casing ring once the locking pieces are in place, the casing ring having to remain flat to prevent one or more blocking parts are dislodged. It will be mentioned that the blocking parts are small which implies a little easy handling of the latter during assembly of the watch. Finally, it will be observed that the case of the watch and the casing ring require complex machining because of the shape of the locking pieces. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0006] One of the objectives of the invention is to overcome the various drawbacks of these known techniques.

More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide a casing ring that does not require complex manipulations to be performed by the operator during assembly of the watch.

The invention also aims, at least in a particular embodiment, to provide a device, which is simple to implement and inexpensive.

These objectives, as well as others which will appear more clearly later, are achieved according to the invention with the aid of a casing ring in a watch middle comprising on its inner wall at least one surface support, said casing ring comprising at least one housing opening on the one hand in the lateral face of said casing ring by a lateral opening, and on the other hand in the upper or lower face of the casing ring by an upper or lower opening, said casing ring comprising at least one locking piece of complementary shape to said housing, pivotable about an axis of vertical rotation passing through said upper or lower opening from a first position, said retracted position , wherein said locking piece is housed at least partially in said housing, to a second position, said locking position, wherein said locking piece is projecting and bears against said bearing surface of the inner wall of said middle part so as to maintain said casing ring in said middle part.

According to the invention, said at least one locking piece isclipped into said at least one housing and pivots about said vertical axis of rotation.

According to optional features of the invention, taken alone or in combination: - said locking member comprises a pin integral with the locking piece; said housing comprises a clipping aperture adapted to cooperate with said pin of said locking piece so as to laterally clip said locking piece through the lateral opening and said clipping aperture successively comprises an inlet having a bottleneck; forming a retainer, and a receiving zone configured to receive said pin in which said pin is retained and is pivotable; said pin of said locking piece has a groove adapted to cooperate with a screwdriver; said clipping aperture, said pin and said upper or lower opening are arranged coaxially along said vertical axis of rotation so that the groove of said pin is accessible through said upper or lower opening; said locking piece has an upper face and a lower face parallel to a plane orthogonal to the vertical axis, a rear face and a front face perpendicular to the upper and lower faces, and two lateral faces perpendicular to the upper and lower faces as well as front and rear faces, said locking piece comprising a groove opening on its front and side faces, the groove being configured to cooperate with said bearing surface of said middle part; said groove extends along the front face between the upper and lower faces, and has a U-shaped profile; said casing ring comprises a plurality of housings and locking pieces angularly distributed around said casing ring so as to ensure the axial and radial positioning relative to the middle part; said casing ring and said locking pieces are made of a plastics material.

The invention also relates to a watch case equipped with a casing ring according to the invention, and comprising a movement surmounted by a dial and mounted in the casing ring itself mounted in the box. , an ice integral with a bezel, a middle part and a bottom, said middle part having a peripheral shoulder on its inner wall, said shoulder being intended to cooperate with said locking pieces.

The invention also relates to a timepiece equipped with a casing ring according to the invention.

Thus, the object of the present invention, through its different functional and structural aspects described above, ensures a reliable and simple assembly of a casing ring to the middle part of the watch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other features and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a particular embodiment of the invention, given as a simple illustrative and nonlimiting example, and appended figures, among which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the casing ring according to the invention; fig. 2 is a sectional view along the line 11-11 of FIG. 1 of the casing ring according to the invention in the locking position; figs. 3a and 3b are respectively perspective views of a casing ring according to the invention in the retracted position, and in the locking position; figs. 4a and 4b are respectively a perspective view of a locking piece of a casing ring according to the invention, and a sectional view along the line IV-IV of FIG. 1 of a housing of a casing ring according to the invention; fig. 5 is an exploded view of a watch case equipped with a casing ring according to the invention; fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view along the axis V of a housing of a casing ring according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0016] A casing ring 10 according to an example embodiment will now be described in the following with reference to FIGS. 1,2, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b and 5.

As previously mentioned, the general principle of the invention is based on the implementation of a casing ring 10 in a middle part of a watch, the watch middle part comprising at least one bearing surface 31 on its inner wall, and the casing ring 10 comprising at least one housing 11 opening on the one hand in the lateral face 12 of said casing ring 10 by a lateral opening 110, and on the other hand in the upper face 13 or lower of the casing ring 10 by an upper opening 111 or lower.

The casing ring comprises at least one locking piece 20 of substantially parallelepipedal shape and complementary to the housing 11, configured to pivot about a vertical axis of rotation V through the upper opening 111 or lower since a first position, said retracted position, wherein the locking piece 20 rests in the housing 11, to a second position, said locking position, wherein the locking piece 20 is projecting and engages in the recess 31 of the wall internal part of the middle part 30 so as to maintain the casing ring 10 in the middle part 30.

The locking piece 20 has an upper face and a lower face parallel to a plane P orthogonal to the vertical axis V, the upper face facing the upper opening 111 of the casing ring 10, a rear face 22 and a front face perpendicular to the upper and lower faces, the locking piece 20 being inserted into the housing 11 by the rear face 22, and two side faces perpendicular to the upper and lower faces and to the front and rear faces 22. According to an alternative of the invention, not illustrated in the figures, the casing ring 10 has a single locking piece 20, and implicitly a single housing 11, and a lug serving as a fixed locking piece and cooperating with the 30 of the watch case so as to fix on one side the casing ring 10 to the middle part 30. The casing ring is then permanently attached to the middle part by making assert the locking piece 20 in the locked position.

According to the invention, the locking piece 20 is intended to be clipped laterally in a housing 11 of the casing ring 10, through the lateral opening 110.

The bearing surface or surfaces 31 formed on the inner wall of the watch middle part 30 may be, for example, in the form of a rectangular or oblong housing, so that the shape recesses 31 corresponds to the shape of the portion of the locking piece 20 housed in the recess 31 corresponding.

One can also imagine that the bearing surface 31 formed on the inner wall of the middle part 30 is in the form of a tongue extending over all or part of the inner surface of the watch middle part 30.

According to another embodiment, not shown, the watch middle part 30 may comprise a peripheral shoulder, or local, intended to serve as a bearing surface for the locking pieces 20.

As can be seen in FIG. 4a, the locking piece 20 is of substantially rectangular shape, the rear face 22 having rounded edges so as to facilitate its rotation within the housing 11 of the casing ring 10.

According to a variant of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 6, the locking piece 20 comprises a groove 24 opening on the front face and on each of the lateral faces of the locking piece 20. According to this variant, the groove 24 extends in a plane P orthogonal to the axis V, over the width of the piece 20 and has a U-shaped profile.

The groove 24 of the locking piece 20 is configured to cooperate with at least one rib 310 acting as a bearing surface, the rib being formed on the inner wall of the middle part 30 and having an upper face 311 and a lower face 312 extending perpendicular to the inner wall of the middle part 30.

In the locking position, the upper wall 241 and the lower wall 242 of the groove 24 respectively bear on the upper faces 311 and lower 312 of the rib 310 of the middle part 30. Such an arrangement allows to block and position easily the casing ring 10 correctly within the middle part 30.

The middle part may also have, for example, three ribs 310 distributed angularly on the inner wall of the middle part 30, or alternatively a peripheral rib 310.

Advantageously, a pin 21 of cylindrical shape is disposed near the rear face 22 and extends vertically from one of its large faces. The pin is clipped into the housing 11 at a clipping opening 113 of complementary shape to that of the pin 21. The pin 21 also has a groove 23 on its upper face so that it can insert a tool such as a screwdriver to be able to rotate the locking piece 20. This groove 23 could be provided on the large face opposite to that carrying the pin 21 so that the groove 23 is accessible when the casing ring 10 is mounted in the middle size 30 from the bottom of the box.

In this example, the locking piece 20 and the pin 21 form a single element that can be made of a plastic material, or even a metal material. It will be understood here that other materials could have been envisaged by those skilled in the art within the context of the present invention.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the casing ring 10 comprises a housing 11 machined by milling, for example, in the casing ring 10, the housing 11 having a rectangular lateral opening 110 at the lateral face 12 of the circle, and an opening upper 111 of circular shape at the upper face 13 of the circle. Preferably, the casing ring 10 comprises at least two housings 11 and two corresponding locking pieces 20, each of the locking pieces 20 cooperating with a respective recess 31 pre-machined in the inner wall of the middle part 30. According to the meaning of the mounting the casing ring 10, a lower opening may be provided instead of the upper opening 111.

During machining of the housing 11 in the casing ring 10, a bridge 114 is formed at the upper or lower face, so as to maintain the locking piece 20 vertically in the housing 11. Thus during the passage in the locking position the locking piece 20 is held vertically in the housing 11 without the pin 21 can be dislodged from the clipping opening 113.

An indentation 101, visible in FIG. 5, is also formed in the casing ring 10, so as to introduce the crown in the movement 16 during assembly of the watch.

The casing ring 10 also comprises at least one positioning lug 115, at its base, intended to cooperate with the middle part 30 so as to properly position the casing ring 10 in the caseband 30. According to a Another embodiment, not illustrated in the figures, the positioning tab 115 extends on the periphery of the casing ring 10.

In the embodiment illustrated in the figures, the upper opening 111 of the housing 11 is slightly off-center towards one of the edges of the housing 11.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the casing ring 10 comprises several housings 11 and locking pieces 20, for example three, and the middle part 30 a number of bearing surfaces 31 corresponding to the number of locking piece 20 so as to firmly hold the casing ring 10.

According to the previous embodiment, the housing 11 and the locking pieces 20 are angularly distributed around the casing ring 10 so as to ensure the correct axial and radial positioning of the casing ring 10 relative to the middle part. 30.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the casing ring 10 may be made of plastic, for example by injection, so as to reduce manufacturing costs.

From the front, and as illustrated in FIG. 4b, the housing 11 has a first space 112 for receiving the locking piece 20, the first space 112 having dimensions slightly greater than those of the body of the locking piece 20 so that the locking piece 20 can rotate without friction in the housing 11.

The housing 11 comprises a second space, said clipping opening 113, for receiving the pin 21 of the locking piece. The clipping aperture 113 has an inlet forming a bottleneck slightly smaller in size than the diameter of the peg 21 so as to force the peg 21 into a receiving zone adjoining the entrance, the landing zone. receiving being circular in shape and of diameter slightly greater than that of the pin 21 so as to maintain the locking piece 20 in the housing 11.

Advantageously, the clipping opening 113, and more specifically the receiving area of the clipping opening 113 is arranged coaxially with the circular opening 111 so that the groove 23 of the pin 21 is accessible via the opening circular 111, the circular opening 111 having a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the clipping opening 113.

When clipped, the locking piece 20 can pivot from a first position, said retracted position, wherein the locking piece 20 rests in the housing 11, to a second position, said locking position, in which the locking piece 20 is protruding and cooperates with a bearing surface 31 of the inner wall of the middle part 30 so as to maintain the casing ring 10 in the middle part 30.

As can be seen in FIGS. 3a and 3b, the length of the housing 11 is slightly greater than the length of the locking piece 20, and the length of the locking piece 20 is greater than the depth of the housing 11 so that a portion of the part 20 is protruding and can cooperate with a bearing surface of the middle watch.

As shown in FIG. 2, the casing ring 10 is equipped with locking pieces 20 previously clipped, these locking pieces 20 for positioning the ring 10 relative to the box 30 by being housed in a recess 31 of the middle part 30.

FIG. 5 illustrates a watch case comprising a caseband 30, a bottom 14 removably assembled to the middle part 30, the casing ring 10 of the invention being insertable into the middle part 30. The casing ring 10 serves to maintain the movement 16 of the watch, and is held inside the middle part 30 by means of the locking pieces 20.

The movement 16 is slid from the top, in the illustrated example, into the casing ring 10 until it comes into contact with a shoulder 116 of the inner surface of the casing ring 10. The 16-circle casement movement assembly 10 is slid into the middle part 30 until it comes into abutment with the dial 15, or the bottom 14 according to the mounting direction. Advantageously according to the invention, the locking pieces 20 present on the casing ring 10 make it possible to secure the casing ring 10 to the middle part 30.

As can be seen, the watch comprises a ring 32 which is mounted on the movement 16 passing successively through the hole of the middle part 30, the notch 101 of the casing ring 10 and the hole of the movement 16 to be solidarized.

The watch case also includes a flange 18 mounted between the dial 15 and the ice 19 and bearing on the middle part 30 so as to partially the dial 15, and a seal 17 fixing the ice 19 on the middle part 30, and thus closes the upper part of the watch case.

The lower part of the watch case is closed by fixing the bottom 14 so as to press the whole 16-circle casing movement 10 against the middle part 30.

The assembly of the casing ring 10 on the watch box 30 is carried out as follows.

At first the operator clips the locking pieces 20 in each of the housings 11 of the casing ring by introducing the pin 21 into force in each of the clipping openings 113 so that the groove 23 presents on the pin 21 is visible through the circular opening 111. Once the clipping performed, the operator positions the locking pieces 20 in the retracted position manually or by means of a screwdriver.

The operator then introduces the casing ring 10 equipped with locking pieces 20 in the watch case 30 until its lower face, or upper, bears against the dial 15 or the bottom 14 of the watch. the middle part 30 according to the mounting direction. Then using a screwdriver, the operator rotates the locking pieces 20 through the pin 21 by a quarter of a turn so as to pass the locking pieces 20 in the locking position. Thus, a portion of each of the locking pieces 20 cooperates with a bearing surface 31 of the watch case 30, which has the effect of securing the casing ring 10 to the middle part 30. The movement 16 of the The watch may be arranged in the casing ring 10 before or after securing the casing ring 10 to the middle part 30 according to the chosen assembly order.

According to one embodiment of the invention, illustrated in FIGS. 3a and 3b, the casing ring 10 may have on its upper face 13 indications, such as "open" and "close" accompanied by an arrow indicating the direction of rotation for example, to the operator in order to indicate in which direction to pivot the locking piece 20 to lock or unlock the casing ring 10 to the middle part 30.

The invention also relates to a timepiece equipped with a casing ring as described above, the timepiece may be a mechanical watch as well as an electronic watch.

With these different aspects of the invention, there is a casing ring to be mounted in a watchband easy to handle and install for an operator, and does not require the manipulation of screws or bridle.

Of course, other embodiments could have been envisaged by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the claims below.

Nomenclature [0057] 10. Encagging circle 101. Notch of the casing ring 11. Housing 110. Lateral opening 111. Upper opening 112. First space of housing 113. Clipping opening 114. Holding bridge 115. Positioning tab 116. Shoulder of the casing ring 12. Side face 13. Top face 14. Bottom 15. Dial 16. Movement 17. Seal 18. Top 19. Ice 20. Blocking piece 21. Pawn 22. Back side of the coin blocking 23. Groove 24. Groove 241. Upper wall of the groove 242. Lower wall of the groove 30. Middle face 31. Bearing surface 310. Rib 311. Upper face of rib 312. Lower face of rib 32. Crown V. Vertical axis of rotation P. Orthogonal plane to vertical axis

Claims (11)

claims 1. Cage ring (10) intended to be mounted in a middle part (30) of watch comprising on its inner wall at least one bearing surface (31), said casing ring (10) comprising at least one housing (11) opening on the one hand in the lateral face (12) of said casing ring (10) by a lateral opening (110), and on the other hand in the upper face (13) or lower of the casing ring (10) by an upper opening (111) or lower, said casing ring comprising at least one locking piece (20), of complementary shape to said housing (11), pivotable about a vertical axis of rotation (V ) passing through said upper opening (111) or lower from a first position, said retracted position, wherein said locking piece (20) is housed at least partially in said housing (11), to a second position, said locking position in which said blocking piece (20) is and bears against one of the bearing surfaces (31) of the inner wall of said middle part (30) so as to maintain said casing ring (10) in said middle part (30), characterized in that said at least one locking piece (20) is clipped into said at least one housing (11) and pivots about said vertical axis of rotation (V). The casing ring (10) according to claim 1, wherein said locking piece (20) comprises a pin (21) integral with the locking piece (20), and wherein said housing (11) comprises an opening clipping device (113) adapted to cooperate with said pin (21) of said locking piece (20) so as to laterally clip said locking piece (20) through the lateral opening (110). The casing ring (10) according to claim 2, wherein said clipping aperture (113) comprises successively an inlet having a bottleneck forming a retainer, and a receiving area configured to receive said peg (21). wherein said pin (21) is retained and is pivotable. 4. casing ring (10) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said pin (21) of said locking piece (20) has a groove (23) adapted to cooperate with a screwdriver. The casing ring (10) according to claim 4, wherein said clipping aperture (113), said pin (21) and said top (111) or lower aperture are arranged coaxially along said vertical axis of rotation (V). so that the groove (23) of said pin (21) is accessible through said upper opening (111) or lower. The casing ring (10) according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said locking piece (20) has an upper face and a lower face parallel to a plane (P) orthogonal to the vertical axis ( V), a rear face (22) and a front face perpendicular to the upper and lower faces, and two lateral faces perpendicular to the upper and lower faces as well as the front and rear faces (22), said locking piece comprising a groove ( 24) opening on its front and side faces, the groove (24) being configured to cooperate with said bearing surface (31) of said middle part (30). The casing ring (10) according to claim 6, wherein said groove (24) extends along the front face between the upper and lower faces, and has a U-shaped profile. The casing ring (10) according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said casing ring (10) comprises a plurality of housings (11) and locking pieces (20) distributed angularly around said casing ring. (10) so as to ensure the axial and radial positioning relative to the middle part (30). The casing ring (10) according to one of claims 1 to 8, wherein said casing ring (10) and said locking pieces (20) are made of a plastics material. 10. A watch case equipped with a casing ring (10) according to claims 1 to 9, comprising a movement (16) surmounted by a dial (15) and mounted in said casing ring (10) itself. even mounted in a middle (30), an ice (19) integral with a seal (17) and a bottom (14), said middle part (30) having a peripheral shoulder on its inner wall, said shoulder being intended to cooperate with said locking pieces (20). 11. Timepiece equipped with a casing ring (10) according to one of claims 1 to 9.