JPS58113879A - Composite watch of electrochromism display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To harmonize digital and analog display units by a constitution wherein the upper base plate of an electrochromism display cell is extended to the analog display unit, and a reflection plate for conducting digital display and a dial plate for analog display are arranged at almost the same height below said upper base plate. CONSTITUTION:The upper base plate 52 of an EC cell of a digital display unit is extended to almost the whole surface of an analog display unit and is connected electrically thereto through the intermediary of connectors 55a and 55b. The dial plate 56 of the analog display unit and the reflection plate 54 of the digital display unit are arranged at nearly the same height position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the structure of a composite timepiece having a digital display section according to the present invention.

Among wristwatches, analog display watches with traditional, beautiful hands and excellent design occupy the mainstream. In recent years, watches have been developed that are more practical by adding functions such as alarms and stopwatches. However, because a liquid crystal display cell is used for the display cell of the digital display, which is necessary for displaying functions other than the time, the digital display has a dark display, and this point alone makes it difficult to match the beauty of the dial of the analog display. It was a complex watch with a low level of perfection. This was an unavoidable weakness because liquid crystal display cells use polarizing plates.

Furthermore, because the reflective plate that forms the background of the liquid crystal display cell is separated, there is a large difference in height between the analog display and the dial, which impairs the integrity of the digital display and analog display in a composite watch. It also had a drawback.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a conventional composite timepiece having a liquid crystal display cell as a display cell of a digital display section. The movement 10 has an oscillation dividing time function, a complex circuit including a liquid crystal display cell drive circuit, a pulse motor drive circuit, etc., a power source, a pulse motor, a wheel train, and the like. The analog display section has 3 points: hour hand 1731, minute hand 17b, and second hand 17C.
The time is displayed with hands, and a dial 16 is provided at the bottom. The digital display section includes a liquid crystal display cell 11 having polarizing plates (j3a, 131) on the top and bottom, and a reflecting plate 14 as a background located below it. The liquid crystal display cell 11 and the composite circuit of the movement 10 are connected using a connector 15 made of conductive rubber or the like. All of these are housed in a watch case whose main components are a side 18, a back cover 19, and a windshield 20, which also shields the edges of the dial 16 and the liquid crystal display cell 11, and has a design case. A facing member 21 is provided for increasing the height. In addition to the dark display surface of the composite watch with this configuration, as is clear from FIG. Integrity with the display section is greatly impaired. Furthermore, the reflective plate 14 of the digital display section is further away from the dial 16 at the bottom, giving the impression of being recessed even though the digital display section protrudes upward.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing another structure of a conventional compound timepiece having a liquid crystal cell as a display cell of a digital display section. The transparent upper substrate 32 of the liquid crystal display cell 61 of the digital display section extends to almost the entire surface of the analog display section, and a printed film 66 is formed on the upper surface of the upper polarizing plate 66 to serve as a dial of the analog display section. be. The analog display section has two hands, an hour hand 37a and a minute hand 37b. There is a reflector plate 34 on the lower surface of the liquid crystal display cell 31 of the digital display section, and the composite circuit inside the movement 60 and the liquid crystal display cell 61 are connected by two connectors 358 and 35b arranged near the digital display section. be. In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the upper surface of the digital display section is on the same plane as the dial of the analog display section, so that in this respect the design is superior to the configuration shown in FIG. 1.

However, it is worse than the configuration shown in FIG. 1 in that the reflector 64 is further away below the dial surface (and since the connector 65b is located between the analog display section and the digital display section, the analog display section and the digital display section and are separated horizontally,
The integrity of the watch was insufficient.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional composite watches,
The objective is to provide a highly complete composite timepiece with a beautiful digital display and a harmonious design between the digital and analog displays.

Specifically, an electrochromism display cell is used as the display cell of the digital display section of a compound timepiece, and the shape of the substrate and the arrangement structure of the dial of the analog display section are newly devised. Electrochromism display cells (hereinafter referred to as EC cells), which change color and fade through electrochemical reactions, do not use polarizing plates, so the display is bright and clear, and has no viewing angle dependence (can be seen from any angle). Due to its high display quality, it has been developed as a new display cell to replace conventional liquid crystal display cells, and its practical use is about to begin.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the general structure of an EC cell.

There is an upper lead electrode 46 made of a transparent conductive film on a transparent upper substrate 41, and an electrochromic material (hereinafter abbreviated as EC material) which is colored and erased by an electrochemical reaction and has the shape of a star (displayed) is disposed on the upper lead electrode 46 made of a transparent conductive film. ). On the lower substrate 42 are a descending electrode 44 and a counter electrode 4.
There are 6.

A normally white opaque reflector 4 serves as a background for the display electrode 45.
7 are arranged. The upper substrate 41 and the lower substrate 46 are bonded together to form a cell container, and inside there are H+, L+"
An electrolytic solution 48 containing protons such as the like is filled. When WO3 is used as an EC substance, the electrochemical reaction of color development and fading is WO3+n I-1” +n e-d HnWO3,e
; It is expressed as (color development), and when decolored, it becomes colorless and transparent,
When colored, it becomes dark blue. Since no polarizing plate is used, the light transmittance is high and the display is bright, and the color tone and pattern of the reflection plate 47 can be seen as they are, so a beautiful display with high contrast can be obtained.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the structure of the composite timepiece of the present invention,
EC cells are used for the digital display, and 3 cells are used for the analog display.
This is a specific example using a needle. The movement 50 is equipped with other functions such as an oscillation division time function and an alarm, as well as a combination circuit including an EC cell drive circuit and a pulse motor drive circuit, as well as a power supply, a pulse motor 1 wheel train, and operation, as in a conventional compound watch. It has members etc. Since the EC cell of the digital display section has basically the same structure as the example shown in FIG. 3, only the main parts will be described. have. One side of the two-base plate 527 extends to almost the entire surface of the analog display section, and two connectors 55a and 155b are arranged at both ends to electrically connect to the composite circuit. Lead electrodes are formed on the lower surface of the upper substrate 52 with a transparent conductive film or a metal thin film up to the connection portion with the connector 55b on the extended side of the upper substrate 52 to establish electrical continuity between the display electrodes and the connector.

The analog display section has an hour hand 57a, a minute hand 571), and a second hand 5.
Three 7C needles are used, and they are attached to a needle shaft 58 protruding from a hole provided in an extended portion of the upper substrate 52. The dial 56 of the analog display section is disposed close to the lower part of the upper substrate 52, and is at approximately the same height as the reflective plate 54 of the digital display section. On the upper surface of the upper substrate 52, a cover part 59 made of a printed film or a thin plate is provided as a design accent while hiding the adhesive surface of the lower substrate 53 of the EC cell and the connectors 55a, 55b. The whole is housed in a watch case whose main components are a side 61, a back cover 62, and a windshield 63. Although the parting plate 60 is provided only on the outer periphery, it may be omitted depending on the side design.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the composite timepiece of the present invention shown in FIG. 4, showing the appearance of the analog display section and the digital display section with the watch case removed. The upper substrate 52 of the EC cell has approximately the same planar dimensions as the movement, and
Only the hook portion 71 of the movement that fixes the C cell is exposed on the upper surface of the upper substrate 52. Analog display dial 5
6 and the reflective plate 54 of the digital display section are arranged one above the other in the plan view, and only the necessary parts are shown by a cover part 59 on the upper substrate 52. Hour character 72 on analog display
is printed on the upper substrate 52, but the parts may be fixed or formed on the dial plate 56. The digital display uses a number display pattern consisting of 7 segments in the shape of a Japanese character, and uses 4 digits to switch and display the time, month and day, alarm time, stopwatch time, etc. Furthermore, the shapes of connection electrodes 73 for connecting with connectors are shown by dotted lines at the upper and lower ends of the upper substrate 52.

In the composite watch of the present invention shown in Figures 4 and 5, an EC cell is used for the display cell of the digital display section, so a bright display can be obtained, and the same effect can be obtained even when a white dial is used for the analog display section. By using a white reflector, the analog display section and the digital display section can be seen as a continuous background of the same white color. Also, when using a colored or patterned dial, if you use a reflector with the same color or pattern, it will remain visible without darkening.
Integrity between the analog display section and the digital display section can be improved. Furthermore, in addition to improving the color tone, the reflector and dial are placed at the same height, which strengthens the continuity of the display background and prevents only the digital display background from sinking into the background. It doesn't make you feel uncomfortable when you put it away.

Furthermore, since one of the connection electrodes of the C cell is provided on the extended end of the upper substrate, the width of the part of the cover between the analog display section and the digital display section can be narrowed, and furthermore, the width of the cover between the analog display section and the digital display section can be narrowed. The lead electrodes up to the EC cell connection electrodes at the ends can also be used as a background pattern of the analog display section.

For example, by creating parallel stripes or wavy lines, a geometric background pattern can be created. Of course, if the number of display electrodes in the EC cell is small, it is sufficient to arrange the connection electrodes only at the end on the digital display side, and the glued electrodes in the analog display section become dummy for the sole purpose of patterning.

EC cells also have a limit on the number of times they can be turned on and off.
', when used in a composite watch with a 3-hand analog display as in this example, the digital display is used to compensate for the lack of functionality, and the EC cell is used to display seconds (seconds are displayed on the analog display). Therefore, they can play mutually complementary roles, and are highly effective because they can expand the functionality of analog watches without sacrificing their traditional beauty.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another structure of the EC cell. An upper lead electrode 86 made of a transparent conductive film is disposed on a transparent upper substrate 81.
Second, there is a display electrode 85 made of EC material in the shape of a display pattern.

Furthermore, a counter electrode 8 is placed on top of the solid electrolyte layer 87.
6 and a transparent lower lead electrode 84 are laminated. As for the material of the counter electrode 86, a FJC material that does not lose its transparency even in electrochemical reactions may be formed on the entire surface, or a material whose coloring and fading reaction is opposite to that of the display electrode material may be formed in the same pattern as the display electrode. There are cases where it is formed. The EC cell having the solid electrolyte of this configuration has a thickness of several microns or less excluding the upper substrate 81, so it is a thin display cell, the entire cell is transparent, and only the display pattern is darkly colored.

Since no polarizing plate is used, the light transmittance is high and the display is bright. By arranging an arbitrary reflective plate at the bottom, it becomes a beautiful reflective display cell.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing another structure of the composite timepiece of the present invention, in which the digital display section includes the solid electrolyte described above.
] It uses a C cell and has two hands on the analog display section. The movement 90 is common to the analog display section and the digital display section, and the transparent upper substrate 92 of the rCC cell is extended to cover almost the entire surface of the movement 90.

Further, the reflection plate 94 of the EC cell extends not only to the lower part of the display electrode 9B but also to the entire surface of the upper substrate 92, and also serves as a dial of the analog section.

A needle shaft 98 protrudes through the upper substrate 92, and two hands, an hour hand 97a and a minute hand 97b, are attached to this. EC
The cell connector 94 is arranged only at the end on the EC cell side. There is also a watch case consisting of a side 101, a back cover 102, and a windshield 106. In a composite watch with this configuration, the reflector of the digital display section and the dial of the analog display section are made of the same material and are on the same plane, and the seal section for forming the cell container is also between the analog display section and the digital display section. Therefore, the integration between the analog display section and the digital display section is very good. It is also possible to configure the watch so that the hands pass over the EC cell, making it possible to create a highly complete composite timepiece that combines an analog display section and a digital display section. Furthermore, since a solid electrolyte EC cell is used, the overall thickness of the watch can be reduced, making it possible to create a composite watch similar to a traditional analog display watch with a dress-like exterior.

As detailed above, in the electrochromic display composite watch having the structure of the present invention, the digital display part is bright, has good viewing angle characteristics (and is well-harmonized with the bright color tone and design of the dial, and The upper board of the EC cell was extended to the analog display section, and the dial and reflector were placed close to the bottom at almost the same height.
We were able to improve the design integrity of the digital display and analog display, without compromising the traditional beauty of analog display watches. This made it possible to create a high-quality composite watch.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a sectional view showing the general configuration of a conventional compound watch.
Figure 2 is a sectional view showing another configuration of a conventional compound watch;
The figure is a sectional view showing the general configuration of an EC cell, FIGS. 4 and 5 are a sectional view and a plan view showing the configuration of the compound timepiece of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another configuration of the EC cell. 7 is a sectional view showing another configuration of the composite timepiece of the present invention. 11.62.52.92...Top board, 14.6
4.54.94・・・Reflector, 16.36.56
・・・・・・Dial board. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7! :14 90 1(,1,!:

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a composite watch equipped with a dial and hands for analog display and a display cell having a reflector for digital display, an electrochromism display cell is used as the display cell, and the electrochromism display cell is transparent. An electrochromism display composite timepiece, characterized in that the upper substrate is extended to an analog display section, and the reflective plate and the dial are arranged at substantially the same height below the upper substrate.