EP1353244A1 - Timepiece with oblong shaped case - Google Patents

Abstract

The oval wrist watch has an offset circular watch movement (5) and a disc indicating the phases of the moon (16). The disc is driven in a stepping mode by the watch movement via a pivot element (35). The wrist watch comprises an ovoid casing which accommodates a circular watch movement (5) which is offset from the center along the major axis of the ovoid. At the other end of this major axis there is a disc indicating the phases of the moon (16) and an indicator showing the reserve of energy for operating the watch. The lunar disc is driven in a stepping mode by the watch movement via a pivot element (35) have a point (43) which engages external teeth (44) on the disc. The pivot element extends along the side of the body of the watch, where there is also an actuator (P) which may be used to correct the display, without any interference between the two actions.

Description

The present invention relates to a watch comprising a shaped box elongated containing an elongated dial, a clockwork movement, organs hour indicators associated with a lap of hours on the dial, an indicator additional located outside the said hour tower near one end of the dial, and means for correcting the additional indicator, the additional indicator comprising a toothed disc driven step by step by a rocker of control periodically actuated by the clockwork movement via a cam mechanism.

In elongated wristwatches, it is known to take advantage of this shape to juxtapose on the dial a classic hour wheel, in front of which turn an hour hand and a minute hand, and an indicator additional which can be for example a small second, an indicator of chronograph, date, moon phases, etc. For example, Swiss Patent No 167 847 describes a wristwatch of this kind, in which a watch movement traditional is supplemented by an additional plate bearing the cogs necessary to display in an off-center manner, on the one hand, the hour and the minute, and on the other hand the second by a so-called small second hand. Movement timepiece provided in this case has an elongated shape and its outlet axis is at center of the watch.

In Swiss Patent No. 218,931, a timepiece is described under the shape of an on-board chronometer which has two sets of hands to indicate respectively the civil time and the sidereal time on two similar dials, juxtaposed in a rectangular box. A common watch movement directly results in the display of civil time. The sidereal time display is driven from the seconds wheel of this movement, via a cascade of five mobile intermediate distributed in the length of the box and ensuring the ratio of suitable fixed transmission. Such a construction cannot be used in a shows, because of its size and the juxtaposition of two hour turns relatively large.

In the present invention, it is sought to take advantage of the elongated shape of the housing not only for juxtaposing different indicators in the direction of the larger dimension of the case and the dial, but also to distribute advantageously in the box the mechanisms driving these indicators.

In particular in the case of an additional indicator driven step by step as in the case of a date indicator or a phase indicator moon, a particular problem lies in the realization of correction means allowing a user to correct the additional indicator without interfering with the step-by-step drive mechanism that connects it to the watch movement. A classic solution consists in incorporating into this drive mechanism a system with ratchet to prevent damage to this mechanism when it is engaged when a correction is made. The disadvantage of this solution is require additional elements which complicate construction. Another solution is to train the additional indicator from the movement of watchmaking by means of a rocker which pivots and on which the correction means works by rotating the scale in the same direction as the drive, which avoids that one is interfering with the other. Swiss Patent No. 519,191 describes a construction of this kind, in which a date indicator control rocker swivels around the center of the watch movement, the correction means being formed by the usual control rod of the watch, which can function as a push and act on the scale using an additional lever. However, this construction has a substantial disadvantage in that the has a large size and covers a large part of the surface of the watch movement. In addition, the arrangement of the control rod under the The shape of a push rod represents an additional complication.

An object of the present invention is to avoid the aforementioned drawbacks, thanks to an advantageous arrangement of the additional indicator and its means training and correction in an elongated watch case. A goal additional consists of providing the watch with a box whose shape matches a aesthetically available to the various indicators.

To this end, a watch of the kind indicated in the preamble is provided, characterized in that said toothing of the disc of the additional indicator is a external toothing driven by a beak of the rocker, in that the rocker comprises a first arm, which cooperates with the watch movement, a second arm provided of said spout, and a pivot axis located between the first and second arms, in this that at least the second arm of the control lever extends substantially along an edge of the box and in that the correction means comprise a pusher disposed in said edge of the box and arranged to rotate the rocker by pressure on his second arm.

Thus, the second arm of the scale can advantageously extend between the disc of the additional indicator and said edge of the box where the pusher is located correction. This pusher can act directly by pressure on an element of this arm of the rocker, which simplifies the construction and tends to momentarily decouple the cam drive mechanism, without applying any harmful force to it. We can therefore carry out the correction at any time.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the case and the dial have an ovoid shape, and the clock movement has a shape that is substantially circular and is housed in the end of the largest radius of the ovoid box.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a watch comprising a elongated box containing an elongated dial, a clockwork movement, time-indicator devices associated with a lap of hours on the dial, a additional indicator placed outside of said hour circle near a end of the dial and driven by the clockwork movement via a mechanism control, and in which the box and the dial have an ovoid shape, having a end of larger radius and one end of smaller radius, and the movement clockwork is substantially circular and disposed in an off-center position in direction of the end of the largest radius, the additional indicator being arranged at near the other end of the box, and the control mechanism the additional indicator comprises a rocker extending near an edge of the box.

• la figure 1 est une vue en plan de la face supérieure de la montre, comportant des organes classiques d'indication de l'heure, un indicateur de phases de lune et un indicateur de réserve de marche,
• la figure 2 représente le mécanisme d'entraínement de l'indicateur de phases de lune,
• la figure 3 représente la platine du mouvement d'horlogerie et le mécanisme d'entraínement de l'indicateur de réserve de marche, et
• la figure 4 est une vue en coupe suivant la ligne IV-IV de la figure 2.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description of a preferred embodiment of a wrist watch of substantially oval shape, presented by way of nonlimiting example with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

• FIG. 1 is a plan view of the upper face of the watch, comprising conventional time indication members, a moon phase indicator and a power reserve indicator,
• FIG. 2 represents the drive mechanism of the moon phase indicator,
• FIG. 3 represents the plate of the clockwork movement and the drive mechanism of the power reserve indicator, and
• FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line IV-IV of FIG. 2.

Watch 1 shown in the drawings has a box 2 in shape substantially oval, or more precisely ovoid, the upper end 3 of which has a radius smaller than the radius of the lower end 4, the radius of the latter being determined by the radius of a conventional circular clockwork movement 5 of which the outline is shown in Figures 2 and 3. The dial 6 of the watch has a shape similar to that of box 2. In its lower part there are conventional timekeeping devices, including a 7 hour hand and a minute hand 8 which revolves around the center 9 of the movement 5 in front of a hour turn 10, and a small second hand 11 offset from the center 9 and turning in front of a specific graduation 12. Movement 5 is here a caliber automatic current, preferably of the applicant's type 7866 NL. It is conventionally controlled by means of a directed control rod radially with respect to the movement and provided with a control ring 13. Due to the ovoid shape of the box, the control rod does not occupy the traditional position "at 3 o'clock" of the 10 hour lap, but a position substantially "at 4 o'clock", so that movement 5 is rotated 30 ° by compared to its usual position and that the small second 11 is "at 7 o'clock" on the hour turn 10. The longitudinal axis of the box 2 and the dial 6 is parallel to the direction of the bracelet, the ends 14 and 15 of which are respectively attached to ends 3 and 4 of the box.

Two additional indicators are arranged on the side of the upper end 3 of the watch. It is a moon phase indicator, formed by a disc 16 appearing in a window 17 of the dial 6, and of a reserve indicator of step, formed by a needle 18 moving in a circular sector in front of a scale 19 to indicate the tension of the barrel spring of movement 5, between a state L (low) and state H (high). The axis 20 of the needle 18 is located very close to the upper end of the dial. So the two additional indicators are in the small end of the ovoid shape, so in a space that is not occupied by the clockwork movement 5, nor by the time indicator bodies 7 to 12.

We will now describe, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, the elements of the moon phase indicator and its control mechanism. These elements are mounted on a mechanism board 22 which has an ovoid shape adapted to that of box 2 and which is fixed by screws 23 to the circular plate 24 of the movement 5. In a classic way, this movement includes a second mobile in the center 26 mounted in a barrel 27, a gear train 28, a roadway blind 30 carrying the minute hand 8, and a barrel 31 carrying the hour hand 7 and secured to an hour wheel 32 which meshes with a control wheel 33 going around in twenty-four hours. The wheel 33 is mounted on the board mechanism 22 on the side of the dial 6 and provided with a pin 34 for actuating a times a day a control lever 35 which advances the disc 16 by one step moon phase indicator.

The flip-flop 35 is formed by a simple flat piece forming a lever for two arms 36 and 37, between which is the pivot axis 38 of the rocker, materialized by a tube 39 fixed in the board 22 and in which a screw is engaged retaining 40. A spring 41 tends to keep the rocker 35 in a position of rest, in which its first arm 36 bears against a stop 42, while a beak 43 disposed at the end of its second arm 37 is out of grip of a outer teeth 44 to fifty-nine teeth of the disc 16 of the moon phases. This disc is rotatably mounted on the mechanism board 22, around a axis 45 defined by a screw, and it is held in position by a jumper 46 urged by a spring 47 for engaging in the toothing 44.

The end of the first arm 36 of the control lever 35 has a V-shaped cam surface 49 against which the pin 34 of the wheel 33 can slide by pushing the arm 36 outwards, so that the rocker 35 pivots in clockwise around its axis 38 and that its beak 43 engages obliquely in the toothing 44 for advancing the disc 16 one step, until the jumper 46 has crossed the next tooth. This is done once a day and as a result, disc 16 completes one revolution in fifty-nine days, or approximately two lunations. Note that thanks to the V shape of the cam surface 49, the action of the pin 34 is the same regardless of the direction of rotation of the wheel 33. This makes it possible to dispense with a return wheel between the hour wheel 32 and the wheel 33.

Thanks to the fact that the control lever 35, at least as far as its second arm 37, extends substantially along an edge 50 of the board 22, therefore along a corresponding edge 51 of the box 2, a device for correcting the moon phase indicator can be achieved in a very simple way, under the form of a pusher 52 sliding in the middle of the case 2 and acting, when the user presses it, in the direction of the arrow P shown in FIG. 2 against a pin 53 fixed to the second arm 37 of the rocker. This action has exactly the same effect as that of the pin 34, that is to say that the rocker 35 pivots in the clockwise and move disc 16 forward. As a result, this action does not interfere with the cam mechanism formed by the pin 34 and the surface of cam 49, even when these are engaged.

Note that the simple and elongated shape of the control lever 35, as well as the arrangement of its two arms and means of correction along the edge 51 of the watch case, take up very little space and occupy a lateral space available next to the clockwork movement 5 and disc 16 of the indicator moon phases. In particular, the first arm 36 extends substantially between the wheel control 33 and the edge of the box, and the second arm 37 extends between the disc 16 and the edge of the box. The flip-flop 35 constitutes a transmission member which "spans" the interval between the respective locations of the clockwork movement and of the moon phase indicator. This arrangement of the rocker also has the advantage not to encroach on the space necessary for the power reserve indicator. We also note that the axis 45 of the disc 16 is located outside the periphery of the movement of watchmaking, so that the means for supporting this disc could be placed next to the movement, if necessary.

The elements of the mechanism driving the needle 18 of the reserve indicator steps will be described with reference to Figure 3, where these elements are shown in transparency to facilitate the reading of the drawing. As such a mechanism is well known in principle, it will be described here in a summary manner. It comprises a differential gear constituted by a planetary gear 56 of which the two inputs are coupled by respective gears to a cover of the barrel 57 and to the shaft 58 of the barrel, these two elements being connected by the barrel spring which drives the movement 5. The output of the planetary gear 56 drives a wheel toothed 59, frictionally coupled to an auxiliary wheel 60 secured to a finger 61 which can pivot between two stops 62 and 63 fixed to the mechanism board 22. The wheel auxiliary 60 engages on a toothing 64 of a rake 65 pivoting about an axis 66 and integral with a first toothed sector 67 centered on the axis 66. Sector 67 meshes with a second toothed sector 68 integral with the needle 18 and pivoting about the axis 20 of it. The two stops 62 and 63 determine the two extreme positions of the hand 18, corresponding to the maximum and minimum values of the power reserve of the watch. These two positions also correspond to the two positions of the rake 65 shown in solid and broken lines respectively figure 3.

The rake 65 and the toothed sectors 67 and 68 are mounted between the plank mechanism 22 and a bridge 70 fixed to this board by screws 71 and 72. We note that the drive mechanism of the power reserve indicator occupies a space which is not occupied by the drive mechanism of the indicator moon phases. This advantageous arrangement also results from the ovoid shape of the watch and the fact that these indicators are not superimposed on the movement 5. In addition, as the two additional indicators are found in outside the 10 hour lap, they can be larger than if they were to be at inside of it.

Although the ovoid shape of the watch described above is particularly advantageous in the context of the present invention, the latter is not limited to such a shape, but can be applied in any elongated watch, for example example elliptical, rectangular or barrel-shaped. With this in mind, it is also possible to arrange the basic clockwork movement 5 and the hour turn 10 at center of the box, for example to place two additional indicators respectively in the upper part and in the lower part of the dial, benefiting of the advantages described above.

Claims (10)

Watch comprising an elongated case (2) containing an elongated dial (6), a clockwork movement (5), time indicator members (7, 8) associated with an hour turn (10) on the dial, an additional indicator (16) disposed outside said hour circle near one end of the dial, and means for correcting (52, 53) the additional indicator, the additional indicator comprising a toothed disc (16) driven step by step by a control lever (35) actuated periodically by the clockwork movement via a cam mechanism (33, 34, 49),
characterized in that the toothing (44) of the disc (16) of the additional indicator is an external toothing driven by a spout (43) of the rocker (35), in that the rocker comprises a first arm (36), which cooperates with the watch movement, a second arm (37) provided with said spout, and a pivot axis (38) situated between the first and the second arm, in that at least the second arm (37) of the control rocker extends substantially along an edge (51) of the box (2) and in that the correction means comprise a pusher (52) disposed in said edge of the box and arranged to pivot the rocker by pressing on his second arm (37). Watch according to claim 1, characterized in that the second arm (37) of the rocker extends between the disc (16) of the additional indicator and said edge (51) of the box. Watch according to claim 1, characterized in that said cam mechanism comprises a cam surface (49) arranged on one side of the first arm (36) of the rocker and a control wheel (33) driven continuously by the movement of clock (5) and provided with a pin (34) arranged to push said cam surface against the force of a spring (41). Watch according to claim 3, characterized in that the first arm (36) of the rocker extends substantially between said control wheel (33) and said edge (51) of the box. Watch according to claim 1, characterized in that the additional indicator is a date or moon phase indicator and appears in a window (17) formed in the dial (6) outside the hour circle (10). Watch according to claim 1, characterized in that the axis of the disc (16) of the additional indicator and the correction means (52, 53) are located outside the periphery of the clockwork movement (5). Watch according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the case (2) and the dial (6) have an ovoid shape. Watch according to claim 7, characterized in that the clockwork movement (5) has a substantially circular shape and is housed in the end (4) of larger radius of the ovoid box. Watch comprising an elongated case (2) containing an elongated dial (6), a clockwork movement (5), time indicator members (7, 8) associated with an hour turn (10) on the dial, an additional indicator (16) placed outside said hour turn near one end of the dial and driven by the clockwork movement via a control mechanism,
characterized in that the box (2) and the dial (6) have an ovoid shape, having one end (4) of larger radius and one end (3) of smaller radius, and in that the clockwork movement (5) is substantially circular and disposed in an off-center position towards the end (4) of larger radius, the additional indicator (16) being disposed near the other end (3) of the box, and in that the control mechanism of the additional indicator comprises a rocker (35) extending near an edge (51) of the box. Watch according to claim 9, characterized in that said lever (35) is associated with a correction pusher (52) mounted in said edge (51) of the box.

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