EP2597537B1 - Calendar mechanism programme wheel - Google Patents

Description

Technical area

The present invention relates to the program wheel of a perpetual calendar mechanism.

State of the art

We have known for a long time mechanisms of annual calendar, that is to say, to automatically perform the incrementation of the display of the date taking into account the months of less than 31 days without requiring manual intervention for correction , as well as mechanisms of perpetual calendar, that is to say taking into account also leap years for the incrementation of the date on the last day of February.

The usual perpetual calendar mechanisms use cams of 12 or 48, depending on whether the latter performs one revolution respectively every year or every 4 years, with notches of different depths for months having less than 31 days. In the case of a cam of 12, the February notch also contains a Maltese cross indexed every year and which determines a lower depth for leap years. On the cams used in these date display mechanisms acts the beak of a lever, recalled by a spring, to determine the advance of the date indicator at the end of the month depending on the depth in which the latter is engaged. This results on the one hand in a relatively complex construction with a large number of parts, and does not present elsewhere by a very safe operation, for example in case of shocks. Moreover, this cam system only makes it possible to synchronize a date wheel and the basic movement in a given direction, such as so that the date values can only be incremented and not decremented during a time setting operation.

In order to overcome these disadvantages, the solution disclosed in the document CH680630 proposes for example a perpetual calendar mechanism comprising a program wheel driven by protruding teeth of a 24-hour wheel, and on which is arranged a gear train so that it is always driven by the number of steps corresponding to the differential. between the number of days of the month and 31. This mechanism is devoid of any lever, rocker and spring except for a jumper for indexing the date wheel; however, the gear system is very complex with many satellite mobiles, provided with long teeth for catch-up indexing, and arranged eccentrically on the program wheel. As a result, not only is there a large overall height requirement on the plate, but also very high production costs, in particular due to the very precise positioning required for the axes in order to guarantee a reliable gearing with the 24-hour wheel.

The document EP1351104 offers an alternative to the previous solution, aimed at reducing the number of components on the program wheel. The disclosed calendar mechanism proposes for this purpose a program wheel provided with movable elements with retractable teeth, sliding between active and inactive positions. This device effectively reduces the overall thickness of the program wheel; however, the sliding movable elements have very particular shapes and must be placed precisely between abutments and shoulders of complex geometric shapes. Furthermore, the control device always comprises many satellite mobiles with teeth of unequal lengths acting as cam surfaces on the sliding elements. Thus both the reliability of the gear is questioned and the wear of the various parts of the control device is accentuated because of the many guide surfaces for the sliding elements.

The document FR752359 also describes a calendar mechanism for a mechanical or electromechanical watch using month program wheels and coaxial dates. The catch-up indexing is done using the month program wheel which includes respectively several notches for the month of February and a notch for each month of 30 days, as well as an additional program wheel to manage the leap years. The calendar program wheel comprises a finger driven by a cam actuated by a motor device, which gives a pulse at regular intervals, for example every evening at midnight, and the triggering of the catching mechanism is performed by three levers provided with rollers at their ends and cooperating each respectively with one of the program wheels. This mechanism is relatively complex and consumes a lot of energy, whether the latter is provided in electrical or mechanical form.

The document US2146981 otherwise describes another calendar mechanism including a program wheel of months and coaxial dates. Retrofit indexing at the end of the month of less than 31 days is obtained using a wheel with indentations of different lengths for the month of February and the other months of 30 days, and another mobile of the leap years performs possibly missing indexing the ^28th to the ^29th calendar. The drive train drive and the indexing of the display mechanism involve many pawls, which also makes such a solution very energy-hungry.

There is therefore a need for perpetual calendar mechanisms, free from these limitations of the prior art.

Brief summary of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide an alternative solution, of simplified construction, to the usual calendar mechanisms, the time adjustment and date can be synchronized in both directions.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a solution that minimizes the energy losses during the various indexing operations, and in particular the catch-up indexing at the end of the months of less than 31 days.

These aims are achieved in particular by means of a calendar mechanism comprising a program wheel device 100, according to claim 1.

An advantage of the proposed solution is to minimize the number of elements required for the program wheel, and to simplify the arrangement of the different mobiles acting during the different indexing catch-up date. The assembly of the program wheel is also facilitated by the fact that many mobiles that compose it are coaxial.

Another advantage of the proposed solution is to guarantee a better gear safety and a better durability thanks to the limited wear of the mobiles used during the respective indexing operations.

An additional advantage of the proposed solution is to use only satellite mobiles of simple geometry, all the teeth are identical. It is thus possible to dispense with satellite wheels with long complex teeth to be machined.

Another advantage of the proposed solution is to be able to easily change each of the parts of the retrofit train arranged on the mobile program for the automatic indexing of the date in the months of less than 31 days in a modular way, plane gear plan gear.

Brief description of the figures

• La figure 1A illustre une vue en coupe partielle du mécanisme de calendrier selon une variante préférentielle de l'invention;
• La figure 1B illustre une vue de dessus partielle du mécanisme de calendrier selon la variante préférentielle de l'invention illustrée à la figure 1A, avec notamment la roue de programme et un mobile satellite;
• La figure 1C illustre une vue de dessus dispositif d'affichage du mécanisme de calendrier selon la variante préférentielle de l'invention illustrée aux figures 1A & 1B;
• La figure 2A illustre une autre vue en coupe du mécanisme de calendrier selon une variante préférentielle de l'invention, montrant notamment le mécanisme de commande de la roue de programme, d'affichage des mois et des années bissextiles;
• La figure 2B illustre la vue de dessus partielle du mécanisme de calendrier selon la variante préférentielle de l'invention illustrée à la figure 2A;
• Les figures 3A et 3B illustrent respectivement une vue en coupe et de dessus d'un mécanisme de commande pour l'affichage des 24 heures et du jour de la semaine associé au mécanisme de calendrier selon une variante préférentielle de l'invention;
• Les figures 4A et 4B illustrent respectivement la vue en coupe et de la figure 3A et une vue de dessus dans un autre plan d'engrenage du mécanisme de commande et d'affichage du jour de semaine;
• Les figures 5A et 5B illustrent respectivement la vue en coupe et en perspective d'un mode de réalisation préférentiel d'une roue de programme et d'une roue d'indexation selon l'invention;
• La figure 6 illustre une vue en perspective du mécanisme de calendrier selon une variante préférentielle de l'invention reprenant les modes de réalisation préférentiels des différents modules illustrés aux figures précédentes;
• Les figures 7A et 7B illustrent les différentes séquences d'indexation, respectivement pour les deux premiers mobiles satellites, et le troisième mobile satellite puis la roue d'indexation journalière, sur leurs plans d'engrenage respectifs pour un mécanisme de calendrier perpétuel selon un mode de réalisation préférentiel illustré à la figure 5 lors d'un 28 février d'une année non bissextile.

Examples of implementation of the invention are indicated in the description and illustrated by the appended figures in which:

• The Figure 1A illustrates a partial sectional view of the calendar mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;
• The Figure 1B illustrates a partial top view of the calendar mechanism according to the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. Figure 1A , including the program wheel and a satellite mobile;
• The figure 1C illustrates a top view display device of the calendar mechanism according to the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. Figures 1A & 1B ;
• The Figure 2A illustrates another sectional view of the calendar mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, showing in particular the control mechanism of the program wheel, display months and leap years;
• The Figure 2B illustrates the partial top view of the calendar mechanism according to the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. Figure 2A ;
• The Figures 3A and 3B respectively illustrate a sectional view and a top view of a control mechanism for displaying the 24 hours and the day of the week associated with the calendar mechanism according to a preferred variant of the invention;
• The Figures 4A and 4B illustrate respectively the sectional view and the figure 3A and a view from above in another gear plane of the weekday control and display mechanism;
• The Figures 5A and 5B respectively illustrate the sectional and perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a program wheel and an indexing wheel according to the invention;
• The figure 6 illustrates a perspective view of the calendar mechanism according to a preferred variant of the invention showing the preferred embodiments of the various modules illustrated in the preceding figures;
• The Figures 7A and 7B illustrate the different indexing sequences, respectively for the first two satellite mobiles, and the third satellite mobile then the daily indexing wheel, on their respective gear planes for a perpetual calendar mechanism according to a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. the figure 5 on February 28 of a non-leap year.

Example (s) of Embodiments of the Invention

The calendar mechanism according to the invention is preferably a perpetual calendar mechanism with display of weekdays, 24 hours, months and leap years. Those skilled in the art will understand, however, that different modules that make up this calendar mechanism may also be used independently of each other for other types of calendar mechanisms, and that the program wheel may also be adapted to simpler mechanisms. such as 30-day annual or monthly calendar mechanisms, adjusting the number of satellite mobiles and the number of gear planes.

The Figures 1A and 1B respectively show a sectional view and from above of the drive train for the display of the date from the movement, while the figure 1C shows a classic date display device. The Figure 1B shows in particular the position of this wheel relative to the housing 0, and allows to explain in particular the operation of the date value adjustment mechanism with the aid of the manual correction actuator 26 for the date.

In what follows, reference is made alternatively to Figures 1A and 1B which can be consulted together for a better understanding of the drive mechanism of the calendar mechanism according to the preferred embodiment illustrated. The hour wheel of the movement 1 meshes with a wheel 24 hours 2, comprising a number of teeth twice higher. On this 24 hour wheel 2 is arranged a daily gear segment 11, which here comprises 7 teeth spaced 15 degrees, so that the passage from one tooth to the other takes place every hour. This daily gear segment of the 24-hour wheel 11 meshes with a first plane A, visible on the figure 3A , with a calendar indexing wheel 12, which comprises 8 teeth in this gear plane. Thus, each day, the 24-hour wheel causes a complete revolution of the calendar indexing wheel 12 during the gearing with the 7 teeth of the gear segment 11, that is to say in the space of 8 hours. When the calendar indexing wheel 12 does not mesh with the toothed gear segment 11, it is otherwise in abutment against a toothless segment of the 24-hour wheel, referenced 11 'on the Figure 1A and thus held in position. The gear segment of the 24-hour wheel 11 and the calendar indexing wheel 12 are thus preferably arranged such that the latter performs a complete rotation between 18 hours and 2 hours in the morning hours each day. indexing with the program wheel of the dates 13 taking place between 20 hours and midnight.

As can be seen on the Figure 1A , the calendar indexing wheel 12 has a plurality of gear sectors 28, 29, 30, 31 distributed over different gear planes B, C, D, E. These sectors will be better visible, especially on the Figure 5B , which illustrates them in perspective. According to the preferred embodiment described, these gear sectors are also consecutive and therefore potentially mesh hourly with the calendar program wheel 13. The Figure 1B shows the gear plan B of the gear sector 29, the second from the top on the Figure 1A with the program wheel 100. The satellite mobile 129 rotating about its axis of rotation 129 'and which also meshes with the indexing tooth 451 of February, the only one of the program mobile of the month of February 45, in solidarity with the program wheel of the months 43 visible on the Figure 2B next. The gear sector 29 is preferably arranged to mesh between 21:00 and 22:00 with the satellite mobile 129, as is explained in detail on the Figures 7A and 7B For a catch of 29 ^th to 30 ^th calendar during the month of February.

The calendar program wheel 13 comprises a homogeneous daily indexing gear 13 'of 31 teeth (that is to say, the height of each tooth and the spacing between each of them is identical) which is elsewhere indexed by a tooth each day by the wheel described above starting from the hour wheel 1, that is to say the 24 hour wheel 2, the daily gear segment 11 of the 24 hour wheel and the daily indexing wheel 12. Indeed, a toothed sector 31 integral in rotation with the daily indexing wheel 12 engages each day, preferably between 23:00 and midnight according to the preferred embodiment illustrated, with a corresponding tooth 131 of the daily indexing teeth 13 'of the date wheel 13. Unlike the toothed sector 31 of the calendar indexing wheel 12, this tooth 131 is never the same each day and corresponds each time to another tooth of the external daily indexing toothing 13 ', since it is defined only relative to the tooth 31 of the calendar indexing wheel 12. The elastic indexing element of the program wheel 14, which is inserted between two consecutive teeth after each jump, allows indexing by single tooth steps. According to the preferred embodiment illustrated, the daily indexing gear 13 'is located on an outer periphery of the calendar program wheel 13; However, one could imagine an alternative embodiment according to which this toothing would be located on an inner face of a date ring.

The other gear sectors 28 and 30 of the calendar indexing wheel 12, visible only on the Figure 1A for questions of readability, are intended to carry out additional catch-ups for months of less than 31 days in collaboration with corresponding satellite mobiles 128, 130 arranged on the program wheel 100, and more precisely the program wheel of the calendars 13. While the satellite mobile 129 meshes with the gear plane B, the other satellite mobiles 128 and 130, whose respective axes of rotation 128 'and 130' are integral with the date wheel 13, respectively mesh with the planes. E and D, as will be seen later, particularly with the help of figures 5 , 6 and 7 For indexation of the ^28th respectively ^29th calendar during the month of February non-leap, and for indexing the 30 ^th to 31 ^th day for the months of less than 31 days. These catch-up indexations preferably take place between 20 and 21 h and 22 and 23 h respectively.

At the bottom of the Figure 1A it can be seen a gear plan G corresponding to that of an intermediate control wheel of the months 42 with the program mobile of the months 43, which is indexed at the end of each month of a twelfth of a turn; to change the value of the month. The intermediate control wheel of the months 42 is the last link of a control wheel for this monthly indexing, starting from the external daily indexing teeth 13 'of the calendar program wheel 13, and is described later in this document. help Figures 2A and 2B . It can also be noted the presence of a fixed wheel 47 ', which allows a Maltese cross 46', also better visible on the Figures 2A and 2B , to perform a quarter turn in each year, during which the motive of program of the months 43 of which it is solidary carries out a complete rotation. The Maltese cross 46 ', which meshes with the gear plane F situated just above the gear plane G, is integral with a mobile indexing leap years 46, comprising three teeth in the gear plane E, clearly visible on the Figure 5B .

At the level of the gear plan C, we can see on the Figures 1A and 1B that the daily indexing gear 13 'meshes, by means of an intermediate wheel of the dates 15 arranged coaxially but free in rotation relative to the intermediate control wheel of the months 42, with a date wheel 16 also provided with 31 teeth, such as the date program wheel 13. The intermediate date wheel 15 is only a reference for all the indexing movements on the calendar program wheel 13, which are integrally replicated on the date wheel 16 ; conversely, all the rotational movements of the date wheel 16, when adjusted using the manual actuator 26 described below, are integrally replicated to the date wheel 13. Thus no elastic indexing element is necessary to index the date wheel 16. In the case where the height space is sufficient in the housing 0, the program wheels of the dates 13 and the dates 16 may be arranged coaxial and superimposed, or even be confused. According to the preferred embodiment described, the dissociation of the program wheels 13 and the calendars 16 makes it possible to functionally isolate the block formed by the calendar program wheel 13, dedicated to the gearing with the movement for the automatic correction of the calendars. for the months of less than 31 days, that formed by the date wheels 16, units 17 and tens 18, mutually coaxial and integral in rotation, which are dedicated to the gear with the date display mobiles illustrated over there figure 1C , and described below.

The unit wheel 17 is divided into 31 equal angular sectors on which are placed 30 teeth and a toothless sector. The unit wheel 17 drives a mobile operating a display disk units 19 every day of the month, except one. The display units disc 20, integral with the actuation of the mobile display units disc 19 is indexed every day from a unit, except when switching on the ^31st of the month to the first of the following month where only the tens display disc 23 is incremented. The actuating wheel of the display disk of the units 19 comprises 10 teeth and is indexed in steps of one-tenth of a revolution thanks to the elastic indexing element of the disk of the units 24, which is inserted between two consecutive teeth. .

The tens display disc 23 is secured to an actuating wheel, that is to say the operating wheel of the display disk of the tens 22, which has the shape of a cross with 4 branches. and is indexed a quarter turn during passage of the ^9th to the ^10th calendar of 19 ^th to 20 ^th calendar of 29 ^th to 30 ^th calendar, and the ^31st to ¹ calendar. The jump of a quarter turn is guaranteed by the elastic indexing element of the display disc tens 24, which is inserted between two adjacent arms of the cross; and the indexing during these date values is guaranteed by long teeth arranged on the tens wheel 18, which is also divided into 31 sectors but comprises only 4 long teeth, 3 of which are arranged at 9 sectors of intervals and the 4 ^th consecutive to ³ for the passage of ^e calendar 31 to the first of the following month.

The gear train for displaying the date, composed of the elements referenced 16 to 24 from the date wheel 16 to the display discs of the units 20 and tens 23, is visible partially on each of the FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C : the Figure 1A shows the entirety of the gear train except the indexing elastic indexing elements 21, and 24 of each actuating wheel 19 and 22 respectively associated with the display disk of the units and the tens 20 and 23, the Figure 1B shows a gear plane located below these display disks units 20 and tens 23, which are therefore only visible on the figure 1C .

The date is set by means of the manual actuator 26 arranged on the housing 0. According to the preferred embodiment described in FIGS. Figures 1A and 1B , the manual actuator for setting the date 26 is a pusher on which it acts by successive pressures, at most 30 to reach the desired day. The adjustment mechanism 25, which makes it possible to transmit the pulses of the pusher to the mobile of the dates 16, has not been represented on the Figure 1B for questions of readability; such mechanisms are, however, known to those skilled in the art. Alternatively, a rod could be used instead of a pusher as a manual actuator 26, in which case the rotation of the rod could cause the mobile of the calendars 16 to rotate in both directions with an adjusting mechanism. appropriate week days 26. According to the preferred embodiment shown, as well as for the alternative solution proposed, it is however not possible to perform such a date adjustment while one of the gear sectors 28, 29, 30 or 31 of the wheel indexing 12 is engaged with the calendar program wheel 13, directly or via the satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130, or between 20 and 24 hours. In Indeed, the direct engagement of the daily indexing wheel 12 with the daily gear segment of the 24-hour wheel 11 would then tend to reflect these indexings on the wheel of hours 1, which is not possible without damaging the normal movement.

The Figures 2A and 2B illustrate sectional and respectively top views of the calendar mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein the control wheels are described for positioning the program wheel of the months 43 in order to position the pivoting retractable teeth adequately, and than the workings to display months and leap years. At the housing 0 are illustrated two other manual actuators, the first referenced 48, at 8 o'clock on the housing for adjusting the months, and the second at 4 o'clock on the housing 0, in the form of a ring 50, by example conventionally arranged on a zipper, one of the axial positions allows the reassembly of the movement and another axial position allows bidirectional adjustment of the hour hand and minutes.

In the central part of the Figure 2A , we discern a mobile on which is arranged a monthly indexing tooth 32, visible on the Figure 2B . This monthly indexing tooth 32 meshes with a monthly indexing mobile 33 of 8 teeth, integral in rotation with a month control wheel 41 of 32 teeth, which meshes in a gear plane G with the intermediate gear wheel. control of the months 42, coaxial but not integral in rotation with the intermediate wheel of the dates 15, and which in turn meshes with the program mobile months 43 of 48 teeth. The monthly indexing wheel 33 performs exactly 1/8 of a turn each month thanks to the indexing elastic element 34 which is inserted between two of its consecutive teeth; the gear ratio between the number of the monthly indexing mobile 33 and the program mobile of the months 43 allows to index it by exactly 1/12 turn every month.

The monthly indexing wheel 33 also meshes with a monthly indexing intermediate wheel 35 of 23 teeth, which in turn meshes with an actuating wheel for displaying the months 36 of 12 teeth. The gear ratio of 8/12 between the monthly indexing wheel 33 and the operating wheel for displaying the months 36 ensures that the latter performs exactly one twelfth of a turn at the end of each month. The actuating wheel of the months 36 is integral in rotation with an annual indexing tooth 37, which is placed on a mobile performing a complete rotation each year. This annual indexing tooth 37 meshes with a leap year actuating wheel 38, provided with 8 teeth, which is moved by 2 teeth, ie 90 degrees during each gearing with the annual indexing tooth 37. The actuation of the leap years 38 is integral in rotation with an intermediate wheel of the leap years 39, provided with 39 teeth and which meshes with a display wheel leap years 40, also comprising 39 teeth, mounted coaxial with the actuating mobile months so that the leap month and leap indicators, typically needles pointing on concentric rings arranged on the dial of a watch, can be arranged rotating around the same barrel to improve the comfort of reading the user. Those skilled in the art will understand that the numbers of teeth indicated for the elements constituting the workings described in the Figures 2A and 2B for the display of the months (elements 33-36), the display of the leap years (elements 37-40) and the control of the position of the program mobile of the months 43 (elements 33, 41, 42, 43) are given by way of example in the context of the preferred embodiment illustrated, with gearing efficiency adequate for the implementation of the invention, but should not be considered as limiting.

On the Figure 2B the indexing mobile of the leap years 46, mounted on the program mobile of the months 43, is clearly visible. The indexing mobile of the leap years 46 is integral with a Maltese cross 46 ', which meshes with the finger of indexing of the leap years 47 ', arranged on a fixed wheel 47 in the plane F. Superimposed with 3 branches of the Maltese cross are arranged 3 teeth 461, 462, and 463 which mesh in the gear plane E to pass the date from 28 to 29 when the year is not leap year.

The month 43 program mobile must be synchronized to the month values displayed and indexed so that the satellite mobiles mesh to make the catch-ups necessarily at the end of the month; this is the reason why the control wheel, formed according to the preferred embodiment illustrated by the elements 15, 16, 32, 33, 41, and 42 makes it possible to retroact from the external indexation toothing 13 'to the program wheel of the month 43. The daily indexing gearing 13 'of the calendar program wheel 13 performs at least 1/31 ^e of revolution every day (ie 1/31 ^e for the normal days while for the last days of the month of less than 31 days, it performs the additional catch-up required one or more 1/31 ^of a turn for the months of 30 days and February) to index the month program wheel 43 of a twelfth of a turn after the end of each month. The indexing of the program wheel of the months 43 takes place, according to the illustrated preferential variant, at the same time as the month display actuating wheel 36 is also indexed by 1/12 ^th of a turn, because the indexing of these two mobiles is caused by the gear with the same element: the monthly indexing tooth 32.

According to the preferred embodiment of calendar mechanism described, the control wheel of the program wheel months, formed elements referenced 15, 16, 32, 33, 41, 42 consists of a first kinematic chain leaving the teeth daily indexing 13 'of the calendar program wheel 13 to the dates mobile 16, which forms the first element of the date display gear (16-24), via the intermediate date wheel 15, while a second kinematic chain starts from the mobile of the dates 16 and the monthly indexing tooth 32 to return to the program wheel of the months 43, arranged coaxially but independent in rotation of the calendar program wheel 13, via the mobile of the monthly indexing 33 and the control wheel of the months 41, integral in rotation, and the intermediate control wheel months 42. The intermediate mobiles 15 and 42, that is to say the wheel inte The dates of month 15 and the intermediate control wheel of months 42 are arranged as a single intermediate wheel comprising two coaxial and independent rotating mobiles, in order to save the maximum space on the plate, for example for other modules. watchmaking. The intermediate month control wheel 42 meshes in the plane G with the program wheel of the months 43, while the intermediate date wheel 15 meshes in the plane C with the daily indexing teeth 13 'of the program wheel of the According to the preferred embodiment illustrated, the intermediate wheels (intermediate wheel dates and intermediate month control wheel 42) rotate in a reverse direction of rotation relative to each other because the intermediate wheel dates 15 meshes directly with the date wheel 16 and therefore rotates in a direction opposite to the latter, while the intermediate wheel months control 42 is driven by the monthly indexing finger 32 integral with the date wheel 16, through the mobile formed references 33, 41 and therefore rotates in the same direction as the date wheel 16.

The months are adjusted by means of the manual actuator 48 arranged on the housing 0. According to the preferred embodiment described in FIGS. figures 2A and 2B , the manual actuator for the adjustment of the days of week 48 is a pusher on which one acts by successive pressures, at most 11 to reach the desired month in the year. According to the preferred embodiment described, the manual actuator 48 serves not only to determine the months, but also the year in the 4-year cycle for the leap years, because there is no actuator dedicated to the setting years. In this case, the maximum number of pulses will be 47 and not 11. In order to overcome this disadvantage, it will be possible, in an alternative embodiment, to provide another manual actuator on the caseband, to act directly on the toothing of the mobile. actuating the display of leap years 38; however in this case it should be ensured during the adjustment that the toothing of the actuating wheel is not engaged with the annual indexing tooth 37, preferably in neither December nor January, this which imposes additional constraints on the moment when this adjustment must be made.

The adjustment mechanism 49, which makes it possible to transmit the pulses of the pusher to the program mobile of the months 43, has not been represented on the Figure 2B for questions of readability; such mechanisms are, however, known to those skilled in the art. Alternatively, a rod could be used instead of a pusher as a manual actuator 48, in which case the rotation of the rod could cause the program wheel of the months 43 to rotate in both directions with a mechanism setting of the appropriate months. According to the preferred embodiment represented, as well as for the alternative solution proposed, it is however not possible to perform such adjustment of the months while the monthly indexing tooth 32 meshes with the monthly indexing wheel 33, that is to say, on the night of the passage of the last calendar of the current month to the ^1st of the following month. Indeed, the gearing of the indexing tooth 32 would rotate the mobile dates of the date 16, which would result in an identical movement of the calendar program wheel 13 whose gear with the teeth 28, 29, 30 , 31 of the indexing mobile 12, between 20h and 24h, would cause the daily gear segment of the wheel 24 hours 11 in rotation. This would tend to reflect these indexings on the wheel hours 1, which is not possible without damaging the normal movement of the movement, as previously if the date setting is between 20h and 24h.

The Figures 3A and 3B represent the 24-hour display mechanism and the day of the week of a variant calendar mechanism preferential of the invention, respectively in section and from above. The Figures 3A and 3B are encircled by the housing 0, to indicate the position of the gear inside the watch. On the housing 0 is arranged the pusher 10 to 9 hours for the correction of the weekdays. We can distinguish on the figure 3A the hours barrel, on which is arranged a wheel hours 1 preferably comprising 35 teeth. The hour wheel 1 meshes with a 24 hour wheel 2, which comprises a number of teeth twice as high. The 24-hour wheel 2, which performs a complete rotation per day, is mounted to rotate with a transmission wheel 3 which meshes with a 24-hour display wheel 4, comprising an identical number of, for example, 46 teeth. the preferred embodiment illustrated here. The mobile display 24 hours 4 is mounted coaxial with a star weekdays 7, 7 branches, and is driven at a rate of once a day by a gear pin 6 coaxial to the wheel of 24 hours 2 in a gear plane shown further to the Figure 4B . The coaxial mounting of the display mobile 24 hours 4 with respect to the star of weekdays 7 allows a better readability of these display parameters, for example through concentric rings.

The Figure 4A is identical to the figure 3A apart from the additional piece, referenced 8, which illustrates the elastic indexing element of the star of the weekdays. Figure 4B shows a top view of the indexing train of the star of the weekdays 7, in a gear plane lower than that of the transmission wheel 3 to the display mobile 24 hours 4. The pin 5, secured of the 24-hour wheel, rotates the gear pin 6 which meshes with the star of the weekdays 7, and causes it to perform a seventh turn every day. The gearing takes place on an area between about 10 and 11 o'clock of the 24-hour wheel 2 on the Figure 4B This means that daily indexing of the weekday takes place in this configuration between around 2 am and 4 am The indexing of the star of the weekdays 7 exactly one seventh of a turn is guaranteed by the elastic indexing element 8 which is positioned between two teeth of the star of the weekdays 7, so that each indexing step corresponds to a seventh of a turn.

The gearing finger of the 24-hour wheel 6 is preferably arranged as an element coaxial with the 24-hour wheel 2 but not integrally rotatably connected to this 24-hour wheel 2, so that the adjustment of the day of the week can be done independently of the calendar mechanism and the time of the day. Indeed, the arrangement of this gear pin 6 on a mobile gear gives a degree of freedom in rotation between a first stop 6 ', against which the pin of the wheel 24 hours 5 is placed when the 24 hour wheel 2 rotates counterclockwise (c' that is, when the hour wheel 1 rotates clockwise during normal operation of the watch), and a second stop 6 "against which the pin of the 24 hour wheel 5 would be placed if the wheel of 24 hours turned in the opposite direction.The magnitude of this degree of freedom, corresponding preferably to an angular sector of 20 to 30 degrees, is determined so that it is possible to rotate the star of the weekdays 7, for example clockwise for the embodiment illustrated by the Figure 4B without disturbing the normal operation of the hour wheel 1 even if the gear pin of the 24 hour wheel 6 is in a geared position with teeth of the star of the weekdays 7, for example in the sector located between about 10 and 11 o'clock of the 24-hour wheel indicated previously on the Figure 4B for the preferred embodiment described. In the case where the gear pin of the 24-hour wheel 6 is positioned between two consecutive teeth of the star of the weekdays 7 at the time of adjustment, it will then simply be turned counterclockwise without opposing resistance to the star of weekdays 7 until reaching the second stop 6 ", nor influence the running of the wheel 24 hours 2. The normal operation of the hour wheel 1 is completely preserved during the setting operation, regardless of the time at which it is performed If this operation is performed while the gear pin of the 24-hour wheel 6 is between two teeth of the star of the weekdays 7, the usual daily gearing will then no longer take place, since the gearing finger of the 24-hour wheel 6 will then be outside the usual gearing sector situated between 10 and 11 o'clock and the first stop 6 ' will be overtaken by pin 5 only later outside this area.

The setting of the day of the week is effected by means of a manual actuator 10 arranged on the housing 0. According to the preferred embodiment described in FIGS. Figures 4A and 4B , the manual actuator for the adjustment of the weekdays 10 is a pusher on which one acts by successive pressures, at most 6 to reach the desired day. The adjustment mechanism 9, which makes it possible to transmit the pulses of the pusher to the star of the weekdays 7, has not been represented on the Figure 4B for questions of readability; such mechanisms are, however, known to those skilled in the art. According to the mode of As a preferred embodiment shown, it is thus possible only to set the day of the week in one direction only.

The fact that the setting of the day of the week never has an impact on the movement of the 24-hour wheel 2 not only guarantees the independence of this setting from the display of hours and minutes, but also relative to the values of the months and the date, determined by the calendar mechanism according to the invention. Indeed, the latter is driven by the movement by a gear segment integral with the 24-hour wheel 2 - as explained later in the light of the following figures - which is never influenced by the setting of the day of the week . Thus the correction of the day of the week is not correlated with the date and month values displayed by the preferred embodiment of the calendar mechanism described according to the invention.

The Figures 5A and 5B respectively illustrate the sectional and perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a program wheel 100 and a daily indexing wheel 12 according to the invention. The daily indexing wheel 12 is driven by the gear movement in the plane A, and the different gear sectors 28, 29, 30 in the gear planes B, D, E make it possible to carry out the catch-up indexings. while the gear sector 31, in the gear plane C, performs normal daily indexing, preferably between 23:00 and midnight. The gear sectors 28, 29, 30 and 31, which each comprise a single tapered tooth according to the variant illustrated, are superimposed on the teeth 28 ", 29", 30 "and 31" of the daily indexing wheel 12 in the plan A. The gear planes F and G relate solely to the program wheel 100 and respectively allow the indexing of the indexing mobile of the leap years 46 by gear of the Maltese Cross 46 'on the finger of a fixed wheel 47, and indexing each month of the program wheel 43 a twelfth of a turn. According to the embodiment described, the gear sector 29 is located in the plane B, the gear sector 30 is located in the plane D and the gear sector 28 in the plane E. Such a configuration of the planes D The gearing is advantageous in order to be able to place the satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 in withdrawal of consecutive teeth from the external indexing gearing 13 'of the calendar program wheel 13, as illustrated in FIG. Figure 5B .

The program wheel of the months 43 is mounted coaxial and solidary in rotation of a program mobile of the months of February 45, in the plan gearbox B, and a program mobile months less than 31 days 44, in the gear plane D, so that no dedicated gear is necessary for each of these two retrofit indexing. The program mobile of the months of February 45 includes a single tooth 451, and the program mobile of the months of less than 31 days 44 includes 5, corresponding respectively to the months of February 441, April 442, June 443, September 444 and November 445. These teeth are placed on the 2 ^nd, 4 ^th, 6 ^th, 9 ^th and 11 ^th twelve angular sectors corresponding to each month; the program mobile of the months of less than 31 days 44 is thus arranged like a motive with 12 teeth of which 7 would have been suppressed, on the sectors corresponding to the months of 31 days. In addition, the February tooth of the program mobile of months less than 31 days 441, and the February 451 program mobile tooth are superimposed and identical, in order to partly facilitate the assembly of the different mobiles. of program by easily verifying the required alignment, and on the other hand to limit machining costs thanks to the similarity of the shape of the teeth used for each retrofit indexing.

On the Figure 5B it is possible to distinguish the three satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 each provided with eight teeth and whose axes of rotation of the satellite mobiles are integral with the calendar program wheel 13. These satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 are all identical and their axes of rotation 128 ', 129', 130 'are located on the one hand between consecutive teeth of the daily indexing gear 13' of the program wheel of the months 13, so that the toothing of the gear sectors 28 , 29, 30 can effectively cause the mobile satellites 128, 129, 120 in either direction and in an angular distance corresponding to a 1/31 ^of a turn of the calendars 31 of the program wheel, and also equidistant from the center of rotation of the calendar program wheel 13. The depth with respect to the tops of the teeth of the indexing teeth 13 'is determined so that it allows a good grip with the teeth of each of the gear sectors 28 , 29, 30. Such a configuration of the axes of rotation 128 ', 129', 130 'on the same circular arc is possible thanks to the fact that the teeth of the mobile programs of months of less than 31 days 44, the mobile program the months of February 45, and the program motive of the leap years 46 are identical and superimposed in the months of February for non-leap years. The satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 meshing with the toothing of these mobiles, integral in rotation with the program wheel of the months 43 to perform catch-up indexing at the end of the month. According to the preferred embodiment described, each of the satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 comprises 8 teeth to improve the efficiency of the gear, such an arrangement of these wheels is possible between the consecutive teeth of the program mobile months if the wheels 128 and 130 are located on either side of the daily gear plane C, on which the gear sector 31 of the daily indexing wheel 12 meshes directly with the external daily indexing gearing 13 'each day, so that the teeth of each satellite mobile 128, 129 and 130 may overlap the axis of rotation of an adjacent mobile. We can see on the Figure 5B that for example the toothing of the satellite mobile 129 overlaps the axes of rotation 128 'and 130' of the satellite mobiles 128 and 130.

The program wheel 100 illustrated in Figures 5A and 5B is for a perpetual calendar mechanism with a first indexing catch in the gear Plan B for indexing the ^29th to the ^30th day in February through the sector gear 29, which cooperates with the satellite dish 129 and the indexing tooth of February 451 to advance the calendar program wheel 13 of a tooth; a second indexing catch meshing with a second gear plane D, for indexing the 30 ^th to 31 ^th day to the months of less than 31 days through the toothed sector 30, which cooperates with the second mobile satellite 130. The third catch-up indexing is not an annual indexation, since it takes place only for the month of February, which includes only 28 days. This indexation is done in a third gearing plan E, by the intermediate tooth sector 28 which cooperates with the third satellite mobile 128. The daily indexing gear 13 'of the calendar program wheel 13 meshes with a fourth gear plane C.

The program mobile of the leap years 46 of the illustrated program wheel comprising three teeth 461, 462, 463 and integral with a Maltese cross 46 'pivotally mounted on the program wheel of the months 43 and which meshes each year with the indexing finger leap years 47 in the gear plane F. In order to facilitate the assembly of the program wheel 100 and the machining of the gear segments of the corresponding daily indexing wheel 12, the teeth of the mobile in leap years 461, 462, 463 are identical are superimposed on the teeth corresponding to the month of February of the program mobile of months less than 31 days 441 and the dent of the program mobile of February 451 in the months of February no leap.

The illustrated program wheel 100 thus covers a total of six gear planes, from B to G. Those skilled in the art will understand, however, that the invention is however equally applicable to an annual calendar mechanism by removing the planes of Gear E and F for leap years.

The figure 6 shows a perspective view of the calendar mechanism according to the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated by the various previous figures. From the hour wheel 1 in the middle of the figure, it is possible to discern the gear train bringing to the program wheel the dates 13 - of which only the upper gear plane B is visible, with the mobile satellite 129 moving around its axis of rotation. rotation 129 ', located slightly below the hollow between the consecutive teeth 29' and 30 'of the daily indexing teeth 13', and the indexing tooth of February 451 - via the wheel of 24 hours 2 and the gear segment 11 of 7 teeth, which meshes with the indexing mobile 12.

On the left of this figure, the transmission wheel of the 24h wheel 3, integral in rotation with the 24-hour wheel 2, meshes with the 24-hour display mobile 4, rotating around the same barrel as the star. weekdays 7, arranged in a lower plane. The gear pin of the 24-hour wheel 6, which rotates the star of the weekdays 7, and the elastic indexing element of the star of the weekdays 8 are, however, also hidden on this Fig.

During each gearing with one of the gear sectors 28, 29, 30, 31 of the indexing wheel 12 of the calendar, on which are also referenced the teeth 28 ", 29", 30 "and 31" superimposed in the gear plane A, the date program wheel 13 carries 1/31 ^e of turn. The date mobile 16 is rotated at the same angle by means of the intermediate wheel of the dates 15. Above the date wheel 16 there is the wheel of the units 17 and the wheel of the tens 18, which can be clearly seen. 4 long teeth arranged at the 9 ^th, 19 ^th, 29 ^th and 31 ^th tooth of the tens wheel 18, the tooth 31 ^e of the units wheel 17 being recessed. The date display mechanism has not been shown for readability issues.

The gear train for displaying the date is not represented either in its entirety on the figure 6 , since the respective display disks and the indexing elements (references 20-24, visible on the figure 1C ) and the monthly indexing tooth 32, which is coaxial and integral in rotation with the date wheel, is hidden beneath the date wheel 16. However, it is possible to distinguish the monthly indexing wheel 33, which on the one hand enables the wheel of control of the months 41, with which it is integral in rotation, to actuate the rotation of the program wheel of the months 43, whose teeth are barely visible under that of daily indexing 13 'of the date wheel, by the intermediate of the intermediate wheel control months 42, and which meshes with the other hand for the display of months.

At the top of the figure 6 it is possible to distinguish the intermediate indexing wheel 35, which meshes with an actuating wheel for displaying the months 36, hidden beneath the monthly indexing tooth 37 with which it is coaxial and integral in rotation. The monthly indexing tooth 37 performs a complete revolution in one year and meshes with the operating mobile of the display of the leap years 38, coaxial and fixed in rotation with an intermediate wheel leap years 39, which meshes with the wheel displaying leap years 40 of equal number of teeth. The display wheel leap years 40 is arranged coaxial with the mobile operation of the display months to allow better readability to the user of the watch.

The Figure 7A illustrates the first two indexing sequences for a perpetual calendar mechanism according to the preferred embodiment illustrated in the figures on a February 28 of a non-leap year. For such a day, the calendar mechanism must catch up to 3 date values, which it does through the gears in the respective planes E, B and D; the figure shows the first catch in the plane E, 20 hours, and the ^2nd catch in the plane B, to 21 hours.

The top figure shows the daily indexing segment 11 as well as the position of the different teeth 28 ", 29", 30 ", 31" superimposed in the gear plane A to the gear segments 28, 29, 30, and 31 in their respective gear plans E, B, D, C on February 28 at 8 pm. At this time, the gear segment 28 of the daily indexing wheel 12, located under the tooth 28 "of the daily indexing wheel in the gear plane A, meshes with the mobile plane E satellite 128, pivotally mounted about an axis of rotation 128 'integral with the date program wheel 13. According to the preferred embodiment illustrated, the axis of rotation 128' of the retractable tooth pivoting 128 is located slightly below the hollow between the consecutive teeth 28 'and 29' of the daily indexing teeth 13 '. The mobile satellite 128 also meshes with the tooth 462 of ^2nd mobile indexing leap years 46, integral with the Maltese cross 46 ', indexed once a year through the finger fixed indexing leap year 47, itself integral with a fixed wheel 47. According to the preferred embodiment illustrated, the fixed wheel 47 is coaxial with the program mobile months 43 and the date program wheel 13 '.

Thanks to the above arrangement and the cooperation of the toothing of the satellite wheel 128 with the tooth 462 of the leap year indexing mobile 46 and the toothing of the gear segment 28, which may preferably comprise one or two teeth, the date program wheel 13 is driven by a 31 ^th turn in the direction of rotation S1, identical to that of the wheel 24 hours 2, here for example according to this view of the Figure 7A Clockwise clockwise. The elastic indexing element of the calendar program wheel 14 makes it possible to index the daily indexing gearing 13 ', which then meshes with the date display gear (see references 15 to 24 illustrated on the others). figures), in steps of exactly 1/31 ^of a turn in the direction S1.

By following down arrow S, indicating the direction of the sequence of indexing sequences for the end of February from the top of the Figure 7A a second illustration showing a sectional view of the program wheels of the dates 13 and months 43 according to the gear plane, B, in which the gear segment 29 of the daily indexing wheel 12 is superposed. to the tooth 29 "of the daily indexing wheel in the gear plane A, meshes with the pivoting retractable tooth 129 of the calendar program wheel 13, pivotally mounted about its axis of rotation 129 ', integral with the calendar program wheel 13. According to the preferred embodiment illustrated, the axis of rotation 129 'of the satellite mobile 129 is located slightly below the hollow between the consecutive teeth 29' and 30 'of the daily indexing teeth 13 ". This sequence takes place at 21 hours, while the 24 hour wheel 2 shifted the daily gear segment of the 24 hour wheel 11 of a tooth and caused the rotation of the daily indexing wheel 12 of a eighth of a turn to mesh on the tooth 29 ", consecutive to the tooth 28". It can be seen that the indexing tooth of February 451 in plane B is superimposed and identical to the indexing tooth of leap years 462, illustrated above at the top Figure 7A in the gear plane E, and this arrangement allows, thanks to the cooperation of the toothing of the satellite wheel 129 with the indexing tooth 451 of the month of February and with the toothing of the gear segment 29, which may comprise preferably one or two teeth, and preferably the same number of teeth as the gear segment 28, the rotation of the daily indexing mobile 13 'of a 31 ^th of a turn in the same direction S1. The elastic indexing element of the calendar program wheel 14 makes it possible to index the rotation of the daily indexing mobile 13 'again to exactly 1/31 ^e of revolution in the direction S1; the direction of rotation S2 opposite to the direction of rotation S1 corresponds to that of the program wheel months 43 whose program mobile of February 45 is integral in rotation. The indexing of the 43 month program wheel did however place in the preferred embodiment described, that passage of the 31 ^th of the month at ¹ of the following month.

The third and last retrofit indexing, which takes place in the gear plane D, is illustrated by the Figure 7B showing a sectional view of the program wheels of the dates 13 and the months 43 according to the gear plane D, in which the gear segment 30 of the daily indexing wheel 12, superimposed on the tooth 30 "in the plane gear A, meshes with the satellite mobile 130 of the calendar program wheel 13, pivotally mounted about the axis of rotation 130 ', integral with the date program wheel 13. According to the preferred embodiment illustrated, the axis of rotation 130 'is situated slightly below the hollow between the consecutive teeth 30' and 31 'of the daily indexing teeth 13', and on the same circular arc relative to the center of rotation of the wheel of the program of the dates 13 that the axes of rotation 128 'and 129' This sequence takes place at 22 hours, while the 24 hour wheel 2 has further shifted the daily gear segment of the wheel 24 hours 11 of a tooth and caused the rotation of the indexing wheel j 12 eighth of a turn to mesh on the tooth 30 ", consecutive to the tooth 29" on the daily indexing wheel 12. Similar to the previous illustrations of the Figure 7A in the gear planes B and E, the indexing tooth 441 is superimposed and identical in the plane D to the teeth 462 and 451 in the planes E and B, respectively, and this arrangement in the plane D makes it possible to drive in rotation the mobile indexing daily 13 'of a 31 ^th of a turn in the same direction S1 through the cooperation of the toothing of the satellite wheel 130 with on the one hand the tooth 441 indexing mobile 44 months of less than 31 days for here in the month of February, and secondly with the toothing of the gear segment 29, which can preferably comprise one or two teeth, and preferably the same number of teeth as the other gear segments 28 and 29. The other four teeth 442, 443, 444, and 445, identical to tooth 441, respectively correspond to the tooth indexing for retrofitting the 30 ^th to 31 ^th calendars during the months of April, June, September and November, similar to 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. for the last days of the month.

The elastic indexing element of the calendar program wheel 14 makes it possible to index the rotation of the daily indexing device 13 'again in steps of exactly 1/31 ^e of revolution in the direction of rotation S1 for this last catch-up indexation. The direction of rotation S2, opposite to the direction of rotation S1, corresponds to that of the program wheel of months 43 whose program mobile of the month of less than 31 days 44 is also integral in rotation, as the motive of the months. February 45. the index of the 43 month program wheel did however place in the preferred embodiment described, that passage of the 31 ^th of the month at ¹ of the following month.

As can be seen in particular on the various illustrations of the Figure 7A , all the satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 preferably have an identical geometric shape, which considerably simplifies the manufacture of the calendar program wheel 13, on the one hand, and the manufacture of spare parts, which do not require the machining of dedicated elements for each type of date adjustment. The simple and homogeneous geometrical shape for each of the satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 jointly allows the use of indexing mobiles (the mobiles for the month of February 45 and the months of less than 31 days 44) with equally homogeneous teeth, as already discussed previously, in each catch indexing plane (B, D, E). Thus the complexity of the whole proposed timing mechanism is greatly reduced compared to the usual mechanisms. The satellite mobiles 128, 129, 130 preferably comprise 8 teeth and meshing with gear segments 28, 29, 30 in their respective gearing plane E, B, D. According to a preferred embodiment illustrated, the segments of FIG. gear 28, 29, and 30 each comprise only one tooth, sufficiently tapered to mesh with the toothing of each satellite mobile 128, 129, 130, and also superimposed on a tooth 28 ", 29", 30 "of the wheel This solution facilitates the machining of the gear segments 28, 29, 30. In order to improve the gear safety, it would be possible, in a alternative embodiment, a ^2nd gear tooth in each sector; in this case the two teeth of the gear sector would be located on either side of the corresponding tooth 28 ", 29" and 30 "of the daily indexing wheel 12 and not exactly below it, even if the segment As a whole, gearing generally remains superimposed on the teeth 28 ", 29" and 30 "of the daily indexing wheel 12.

On the Figures 7A and 7B , Only one tooth ^era of teeth of daily indexing 13 'and the 28 ^th and 30 ^th, respectively referenced 1', 28 ', 29', 30 'are referenced among the 31 teeth of the program wheel of dates 13, in addition to the tooth 131 cooperating with the gear segment 31, superimposed on the tooth 31 "of the day indicator wheel 12, for indexing the ^31st calendar the first of the following month in the example describes the transition from February 28 to March ¹ for a non-leap year. in the embodiment illustrated preferred embodiment, the sector gear 31 is different from other gear dedicated to catching sectors (referenced 28, 29, 30) it has exactly the same shape as the tooth 31 "of the daily indexing wheel 12 to which it is superimposed, while the other gear segments each have a tapered tooth to mesh with the satellite mobiles, whose tooth is thinner.

The illustration at the bottom of the Figure 7B , illustrates the last indexing sequence of the month, which follows the three previous catch-up indexes for February 28 of a non-leap year, but which also occurs every other day of the year from 11 pm to midnight. There is the same S arrow down, indicating the direction of the sequence of indexing sequences, that on the Figure 7A previous for the last indexation of the month.

This illustration shows a calendar program wheel 13 in the gear plane, C, located just above the plane D according to the preferred variant illustrated in particular on the Figures 1A / B and 2A / B, and wherein the gear segment 31 of the daily indexing wheel 12 meshes with a tooth 131 of the daily indexing gear 13 'of the calendar program wheel 13. This sequence has at 23 o'clock, while the 24-hour wheel 2 again shifted the daily gear segment of the 24-hour wheel 11 from one tooth to the top of the Figure 7B and caused the rotation of the daily indexing wheel 12 one eighth of a turn to engage the tooth 31 ", subsequent to the tooth 30" in the plane A on the daily indexing wheel 12.

Once the date has been indexed on the first of March at midnight, while the daily indexing wheel 12 has performed an additional eighth of a turn, the tooth gear sector 31 no longer meshes with the daily indexing mobile 13 . The daily indexing wheel 12, which preferably contains 8 teeth in the gear plane A with the daily gear segment 11, whose teeth 28 ", 29", 30 "and 31" superimposed on the gear sectors 28, 29, 30 and 31 in the respective gear planes E, B, D, C with the calendar program wheel 13, will continue to mesh with the remaining teeth of the gear segment 11 without this having any effect. influence on the movement of the calendar program wheel 13. The daily indexing teeth 13 'will therefore no longer be rotated past this time; however, the control gear (references 15, 16, 32, 33, 41, 42) previously described, in particular using the Figure 2B , Will further index the month moving part 43 of a twelfth of a revolution in the direction S2 opposite to the direction S1, upon each passage of the 31 ^th to ¹ calendar of the next month. In order not to draw too much energy on the movement at each change of month, it would be possible in an alternative embodiment to dissociate the types of monthly indexing teeth associated with the display of the months and the feedback on the According to the proposed embodiment, these monthly indexing teeth are combined because the indexing tooth referenced month 32 causes both the indexing of the operating wheel of the display of the months 36. and the months program mobile. In an alternative embodiment, it could be imagined that a second indexing tooth meshes in the plane G with a month control wheel 41 which is not integral in rotation with the monthly indexing wheel 33, so that this tooth can be shifted angularly by a few calendars values, for example between the 10 ^th and 20 ^th calendar of the month, and thus indexing month program of the mobile does not take place simultaneously with that of the displaying the current month so as not to require a very large torque for simultaneous indexing at the end of the month while ensuring the proper positioning of the schedule mobile 43 when the retractable teeth must be placed in the active position, that is to say say long enough before the last calendar of the month. On the other hand, the daily indexing wheel 12, which will have performed a complete revolution after gearing with the 7 teeth of the toothed gear segment 11, will be held in position until the next gear this sector toothed by the surface of the sector not toothed 11 ', visible on all the illustrations of Figures 7A and 7B , which blocks it in rotation.

The reliability of the gear proposed by the timing mechanism according to the invention is improved over mechanisms using complex cam surfaces and / or motions with several components in translation for retractable teeth. Furthermore, the construction is simplified by the use of satellite mobiles all identical for each of the date catch-ups and several coaxial program mobiles and fixed in rotation and with similar teeth in their respective gear plane.

Moreover, it may be noted that neither the daily indexing wheel 12 nor the calendar program wheel 13 have long teeth, which facilitates their machining. The tooth sectors used for catching, preferably identical, can be mounted and positioned modulairement in their respective gear plane. Their depth and the number of teeth, doubled on each gear sector 28, 29, 30 relative to the corresponding tooth 28 ", 29", 30 "superimposed in the gear plane A of the daily indexing wheel 12, allows a good gear safety, while the angular difference between each of the gear sectors guarantees the unit incrementation of the calendar program wheel 13.

As can be seen from the Figures 7A and 7B , the catch of missing dates at the end of the month less than 31 days is performed by the calendar mechanism according to the invention in a range of 4 hours at most, namely from 20 to 24 hours, sequentially every hour. first in each of the 3 catch-up gear planes E, B, D and finally in the normal daily indexing plane C while the daily indexing wheel 12 is driven by the gear sector of the wheel 24 11 hours. All satellite mobiles are driven by the same clockwork wheel, and more exactly the same piece (ie the daily indexing wheel 12), so that there is no need for a dedicated wheel for each correction, which simplifies the construction of the proposed timing mechanism compared to conventional mechanisms. The number of teeth of the daily indexing wheel 12, set at 8 according to the preferred embodiment chosen, has been determined to rotate at an angle sufficient to index the date program wheel 13, on which are mounted mobile satellites 128, 129, 130, a 31 ^th round, parallel with a depth adequate gear. Moreover, the fact that the daily indexing wheel 12 makes exactly one complete revolution each day makes it possible to repeat a similar movement starting from the same position in daily cycles. Disassociating the gear planes B, D, E for all retrofits at the end of the month and that of the daily indexing C allows a modular replacement, preferably gear plane by gear plane, for each of the parts of the program wheel 100 and the wheel of daily indexing 12. This possibility offered by the calendar mechanism according to the invention is very advantageous because the gear plane C will for example be used every day, while the plane B only once every year, the plane D 5 times a year, and plan E once a year, three out of four years in non-leap years.

The calendar mechanism makes it possible to always synchronize the display of the date with respect to the movement, and this in both directions, so that a time adjustment, conventionally by actuation in rotation of a ring arranged on the housing 0, will be transmitted to the hour wheel 1 and therefore to the calendar mechanism. This can be advantageous when traveling to a destination where the time zone is later than the region of origin, for example the west coast of the United States, at -9 hours from Europe. The user of a watch equipped with a calendar mechanism according to the invention will simply need to set the time of his watch at -9h so that the date is automatically adjusted in the opposite direction, for example from March 1 ^st to 28 or 29 February, without requiring any manipulation of dedicated date setting. The use of the watch is only made more convenient compared to the watches provided with a usual calendar mechanism, for which no synchronization is provided with the movement during a setting in the opposite direction of the march .

Claims (11)

1. Program wheel device (100) for a perpetual calendar mechanism, wherein the program wheel (100) comprises:

   - a day program wheel (13) that is arranged to be driven by a clock movement and to actuate a wheel train for display of the days of the month (16-24), wherein said day program wheel (13) is fitted to perform a complete rotation every month, and

   - a month program gear (43) fitted to perform a complete rotation every year,

   - a homogeneous day indexing tooth system (13') with 31 teeth indexed by pitch by one tooth each day,
   wherein the day program wheel (13) and the month program gear (43) are mounted coaxially, wherein the program wheel is characterized in that a first planet gear (129) meshing in a first meshing level (B) for indexing from the 29th to the 30th day in the month of February, a second planet gear (130) meshing in a second meshing level (D) for indexing from the 30th to the 31 st day for months of less than 31 days, and a third planet gear (128) meshing in a third meshing level (E) for indexing from the 28th to the 29th day in the month of February for leap years are mounted on said day program wheel (13), wherein the day indexing tooth system (13') meshes in a fourth meshing level (C).
2. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that said day program wheel (13) comprises a homogeneous day indexing tooth system (13') with 31 teeth arranged to be indexed by pitch of one tooth each day by a drive wheel train (1, 2, 11, 12) actuated by said clock movement, wherein the external day indexing tooth system (13') is additionally arranged to operate a control wheel train (15, 16, 32, 33, 41, 42) in order to index the month program gear (43) by a twelfth of a rotation each month.
3. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the month program gear (43) is mounted coaxially and rotationally fixed with a program gear for the months of February (45) and a program gear for months of less than 31 days (44).
4. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to claim 3, wherein said program gear for the months of February (45) comprises a single tooth (451), and said program gear for months of less than 31 days (44) comprises 5 teeth corresponding to the months of February (441), April (442), June (443), September (444) and November (445), wherein said tooth (441) corresponding to the month of February of the program gear for months of less than 31 days and the tooth (451) of the February program gear are superposed and identical.
5. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to any of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the rotation axes (129', 130') of said planet gears are integral with said day program wheel (13), and in that said planet gears (129, 130) are arranged to mesh with the gears rotationally fixed with the month program gear (43) to conduct indexing readjustments at the end of the month.
6. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said day display mechanism comprises a day wheel (16), characterized in that said day wheel (16) and said day program wheel (13) are superposed or merged.
7. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to any of the previous claims, wherein said month program gear (43) is mounted coaxially to a fixed wheel (47') fitted with a leap year pawl (47), and comprises a leap year program gear (46) comprising three teeth (461, 462, 463) integral with a Maltese cross (46') mounted to pivot on said month program gear (43), wherein said leap year program gear (46) acts in said third meshing level (E) of said day program wheel (13), said Maltese cross (46') meshes with the leap year pawl (47) every year in a fifth meshing level (F), wherein said program wheel is characterized in that each of said teeth (461, 462, 463) of the leap year program gear is superposed on said tooth (441) corresponding to the month of February of the program gear for months of less than 31 days and said tooth (451) of the February program gear in the months of February in non-leap years.
8. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that the month program gear (43) is arranged to mesh in a sixth meshing level (G) every month with an intermediate month control wheel (42) that forms part of a control wheel train (15, 16, 32, 33, 41, 42) driven by said day indexing tooth system (13').
9. Program wheel device for a calendar mechanism according to any of the previous claims, wherein the rotation axes (128', 129', 130') of the planet gears are located between two consecutive teeth of the day program wheel (13) on the same arc of a circle at equal distance from the centre of rotation of said day program wheel (13).
10. Program wheel device according to one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the three planet gears (128, 129, 130) are identical.
11. Perpetual calendar mechanism comprising a device according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that the clock movement comprises a 24-hour wheel (2) fitted with a day meshing segment (11) provided with a plurality of teeth that mesh with a day indexing gear (12) in a seventh meshing level (A), wherein said day indexing gear (12) being arranged to perform a complete rotation at most over 24 hours, said calendar indexing gear (12) additionally comprising a first meshing segment (29) that meshes with said first planet gear (129) in a first meshing level (B) for indexing from the 29th to the 30th day in the month of February, a second meshing segment (30) of the day indexing gear (12) meshing with said second planet gear (130) in a second meshing level (D) for indexing from the 30th to the 31 st day in months of less than 31 days, and a third meshing segment (28) of the day indexing gear (12) that meshes with said third planet gear (129) in a third meshing level (E) for indexing from the 28th to the 29th day in the month of February in leap years and a fourth indexing segment (31) that meshes with a tooth (131) of the day indexing tooth system (13') in a fourth meshing level (C), wherein said first meshing level (B) and respectively said second and third meshing levels (D, E) are located on either side of said fourth meshing level (C).

Images