EP1779743A1

EP1779743A1 - Wristwatch strap

Info

Publication number: EP1779743A1
Application number: EP05708097A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Encarna Duran Vera; Alexander Friedrich Piltz
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-08-03
Filing date: 2005-02-24
Publication date: 2007-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2025-02-24
Also published as: ATE448706T1; EP1779743B1; ES1058315Y; ES1058315U; DE602005017795D1; WO2006027393A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a bracelet watch of the type that comprises a largely-decorative element and time display means. The invention is essentially characterised in that it consists of an annular or tubular body or frame comprising an outer surface containing a minimum of twelve independent spheres which operate in an alternative manner for periods of one hour. All of the spheres are equipped with minute indicators which are actuated with a single electronically-controlled supervisor circuit. According to the invention, only one of the twelve mechanisms is ever moving at one time, such as to indicate the minutes corresponding to said hour, while the eleven remaining motion works are at rest awaiting activation.

Description

The object of the present invention, as stated in the title piece of this descriptive specification, consists of a bracelet for use indistinctly both in watchmaking and in jewellery.
There are basically three types of personal watches on the market: pendant watches, pocket watches and wrist watches.
Wrist watches are usually incorporated by a watch face coupled in some way to a bracelet the purpose of which is to be fastened around the wearer's wrist.
The watch face can be of the analogue type (that is, with indicator hands typically of hours, minutes and seconds) or the digital type (that is, with an alphanumeric display or viewer), with the corresponding pushbuttons and/or commands for setting the current time and date as well as other possible auxiliary functions.
Furthermore, the bracelet to which the face is coupled can be stiff or flexible, with or without buckles for its fastening on the wrist; the stiff bracelets are preferably metallic whilst the flexible ones can be constituted by links connected to each other or by a single annular oval piece (or two / if they are fitted with a buckle) made of some flexible material such as leather or rubber.
At the present time the watch as a mechanical instrument has far surpassed its original mission of monitoring the passing of time, acquiring a new social function as a personal symbol and on many occasions is a mark of distinction of the individual wearing it, frequently becoming a piece of jewellery that allows the time to be read.
These watches with a marked character of jewellery, have a clear formal limitation in relation with the habitual formal configuration which any watch has in order to be able to read the time. This formal limitation substantially reduces the expressive possibilities of jewellers and other designers that, regardless of the individuality of their creations, end up presenting a face on which the time can be read by means of two or three hands, or an alphanumeric screen.
The present invention is an improvement on current designs by allowing the time to be expressed in a manner different to that conventionally encountered, opening a new field of possibilities for the development of new designs in jewellery, so that the final result thereof is notably removed from that which conceptually is considered a watch, thus enhancing the jewellery aspect.
The novel model object of the present specification consists of a bracelet, in principle stiff and in a single piece (although versions can be conceived that are flexible or articulated, in several pieces, with or without buckles) on the surface of which a minimum of twelve independent faces similar to those of a watch are distributed, each fitted with an indicator of minutes driven by means of an electronic mechanism, and coordinated with each other by means of a single electronic control circuit.
Each of the twelve faces is related to and linked to a specific hour of the twelve hours that form a half-day. Each face incorporates some type of indicator that allows the user to know what the hour is that said face represents.
Each hour face in principle has one single minute hand, although optionally it could also have a second hand; this minute hand will serve to mark the passing minutes during the interval corresponding to that specific hour. This minute hand can be replaced by an alphanumeric screen for displaying said minutes.
The bracelet watch object of this specification also has the means necessary to carry out the setting of the current time.
The operation of the bracelet watch is very simple and ingenious and it can be considered divided into two phases: that of setting the current time and that of normal operation.
The normal operation consists of the synchronized and alternate activation of the minute hands of each of the twelve faces, in such a way that during the time that the face corresponding to the current hour is active, its minute hand completes a full rotation in the course of one hour and as soon as it reaches the 12 o'clock position (which would indicate the end of one hour and the beginning of the next), the following face would be activated immediately starting its minute hand, and so forth.
Thus, the novel invention has twelve independent minute hands but coordinated with each other in such a way that always only one of the twelve, that corresponding to the hour in course, is in movement marking the minutes corresponding to said hour, whilst the other eleven minute hands remain at rest and in the 12 o'clock position, until their turn arrives. Therefore, to read the time, one need only locate the active face with which we will know the hour, and the position of its hand, with which we will know the minute.
As regards the setting phase, the device object of this invention has at least one pushbutton which once activated, accelerates the normal operation of the bracelet watch extraordinarily, the twelve minute hands of the twelve faces carrying out a complete rotation in record time, allowing the user to quickly take control of the watch face corresponding to the current hour and to set its corresponding minute hand to the current minute, after which it would continue with the normal operation described in the previous paragraphs.
The synchronization of the twelve faces is carried out through control electronics which govern the twelve machines of the faces. This operation can be performed in two different ways:

Pulse driven: The pulses are the electrical signals that the watch electronics applies to the electric stepping motor to make it advance one unit. The strategy consists in using a single synchronization electronics which generates the watch movement pulses and delivers them to each of the 12 machines in the opportune moment. That is: the cycle would begin by sending all the pulses to the first machine until completing 1 hour, at which point the pulses would be shifted to the second machine, and so forth.
Power driven: This strategy consists in activating the power supply solely on that machine which should be working at a given time. To know when is the appropriate moment in which to cut off the supply to a machine and activate it on another, a supervisor circuit is used to count in an unequivocal manner the watch pulses that each machine generates, and on reaching those necessary to complete its rotation, it switches the power supply to the next machine.

Optionally, the bracelet watch can have other controls such as on, off, erase, etc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to illustrate all that has been explained up to here, the present descriptive specification is accompanied with, some drawings as an integral part thereof, by way of example of embodiment which merely illustrate and do not restrict the practical possibilities of the invention.
The example shown corresponds to a bracelet with rectangular faces and with the minutes marked by a hand.
In said drawings, figure 1 corresponds to a view in perspective of the invention.
Figure 2 corresponds to an operating diagram of the invention according to a system of governing the faces by power supply.

DESCRIPTION OF A PRACTICAL EMBODIMENT

The object of the present specification consists of a bracelet-watch which is formed by a ring-shaped chassis (1), on the surface of which are mounted twelve watch faces (2), located equidistantly from each other. Each face incorporates a reference (3), in the example Roman numerals, which relates the face to a certain hour, as well as a single minute hand (4) which performs a rotation every 60 minutes driven by clockwork machinery which includes a stepping motor (5) and a pulse generator (6).
All the machines are fed by the same power supply unit (8) and to coordinate the alternate operation of all the faces, the bracelet (1) incorporates a supervisor circuit (7) which counts in an unequivocal manner the pulses generated by the pulse generator (6) of each machine, and on reaching those necessary to complete its rotation, carries out the switching of power to the following machine.
The materials that are used in the production of the different elements that comprise the object of the present invention are independent of said object, as well as the forms, dimensions and accessories that it can have, which can be replaced by others technically equivalent, provided they do not affect the essential nature of the same nor depart from the scope defined in the section of claims.
Having established the expressed concept, the claims notice is appended below, summarizing therein the innovations it is wished to claim.

Claims

- "Bracelet-watch" of the type which being in large measure an adornment incorporates means to determine the time, characterized essentially in that it is constituted by a body or chassis of annular or tubular configuration, on the external surface of which is distributed a minimum of twelve independent faces with alternate operation in periods of one hour, each equipped with a minute indicator driven by means of an electronic mechanism, and coordinated with each other by means of a single supervisor circuit of electronic control, in such a way that there is always only one of the twelve mechanisms in movement marking the minutes corresponding to said hour, whilst the other eleven minute hands remain at rest awaiting their corresponding turn to be activated.
- "Bracelet-watch", according to the preceding claim, characterized in that each of the faces refers and is linked to one hour by means of some type of indicator or reference, which allows the user to know the hour said face represents.
- "Bracelet-watch" according to preceding claims, characterized in that each hour face basically has a minute hand driven by an electronic mechanism of clockwork.
- "Bracelet-watch" according to claim 3 characterized in that each face can incorporate besides the minute hand, a second hand.
- "Bracelet-watch" according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that each hour face has an alphanumeric screen operated by an electronic mechanism of clockwork.
- "Bracelet-watch" according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that all the machines are fed by the same power supply, the power being supplied to them through the supervisor circuit which counts the pulses generated by the pulse generator of each machine, and on reaching those necessary to complete its rotation, it performs the switching of power to the next machine.
- Bracelet-watch according to claims 1, 2, 3 and 4, characterized in that the supervisor circuit includes a single pulse generator, which pulses are distributed and applied to each of the machines which have no independent pulse generator, said distribution being made in an alternate manner and in blocks of one hour.