WO2000014608A1

WO2000014608A1 - Global watch capable of simultaneously displaying multiple international times

Info

Publication number: WO2000014608A1
Application number: PCT/KR1998/000379
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hoo Jee Kim
Original assignee: Hoo Jee Kim
Priority date: 1998-09-07
Filing date: 1998-11-25
Publication date: 2000-03-16
Also published as: AU1508499A; KR20000005961U

Abstract

A multiple international time indicator watch, a watch casing (1), an area indication dial seat (2) installed on a movement (not shown), a circular time indication disc (3) positioned on the upper portion of the area indication dial seat (2) and configured to rotate on the area indication dial seat (2) by means of an hour hand axis (not shown) of the movement, and a bezel (4) installed on the circumferential edge portion of the circular time indication disc (3) in which an arrow mark (7) is indicated on the upper-central portion. Thus, times of 12 areas of a variety of time differences can be simply read at the same time, which provides a simple structure and reduces a production cost.

Description

GLOBAL WATCH CAPABLE OF SIMULTANEOUSLY DISPLAYING MULTIPLE INTERNATIONAL TIMES

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a watch for simultaneously displaying a variety of international times, and more particularly, to a global watch for simultaneously displaying various international times so that a current time of a desired country or city can be discriminated using a character dial indicative of world principal countries or cities and a circular time indication disc.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, trade and cultural interchange between multiple nations are verj vivid and the number of oversea travellers increases at a rapid speed. As a result, there is a need to easily and conveniently read the time of a different country or city concerned economically or socially as well as a nation or place where an individual is currently located.

Referring to Fig. 1 , a conventional watch for displaying a variety of local times simultaneously will be described. Fig. 1 shows a conventional watch for displaying local times simultaneously. The conventional world local time indicator watch includes a first dial seat 1 1 configured to indicate a time of a first place, a first hour hand 12 and a first minute hand 13 indicative of a time and a minute on the first dial seat 1 1 , respectively, a second dial seat 21 configured to indicate a time of a second place, a second hour hand 22 and a second minute hand 23 indicative of a time and a minute on the second dial seat 21 , respectively, all of which are provided on a watch circular dial seat 32 of a main body 31 , to thereby simultaneously indicate local times of two countries.

A reading method for reading the conventional local time indicator watch of Fig. 1 will be described below. When a possessor of the above watch is located in a first place, for example, in Seoul, Korea, the possessor sets the first hour hand 12 and the first minute hand 13 to a local time of Seoul on the first dial seat 1 1 , for example. 12 o'clock 10 minutes. In the case that a person of concern to the possessor is located in a second place, for example, in London, the possessor sets a London local time to 3 o'clock 10 minutes since London has a time difference of 9 hours from Seoul, to accordingly read local times of the two places.

However, since the above conventional various local time indicator watch displays a local time of each place using a separate hour hand and a separate minute hand in a single watch, the internal structure of the watch itself is complicated. In addition, since the separate hour and minute hands are configured on a single watch circular dial seat, the amount of area which can be displayed is limited.

Meanwhile, another conventional multiple local time indicator watch can display a variety of local times simultaneously, based on a Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in which an area indication dial seat indicative of an area earlier and an area later than the GMT is connected to the axis of the hour hand, to thereby rotate the area indication dial seat. However, when characters on the area indication dial seat is reversed due to the rotation of the area indication dial seat, it is difficult to read the reversed characters. Further, it is not possible to discern times before noon and afternoon in a corresponding area.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multiple international time indicator global watch for simultaneously displaying current times of a plurality of desired countries or cities, using an area indication dial seat indicative of world principal countries or cities and a circular time indication disc which can be rotated by the axis of a hour hand of a movement.

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is provided a multiple international time indicator watch comprising: a watch casing; an area indication dial seat indicative of areas of two countries or more; and a circular time indication disc which is installed on the outer circumferential edge portion of the area indication dial seat by means of the axis of a hour hand.

It is preferable that the area indication dial seat indicates areas of two countries or more in a fashion that a time difference from a standard area can be seen based on the area in the indication dial seat, and is divided into two to twelve portions configured to display from two to twelve countries. A standard area is located on the upper-center in the area indication dial seat. The areas earlier than the standard area are disposed in sequence of a time difference counterclockwise, which are indicated in a first color or tone, while the areas later than the standard area are disposed in sequence of a time difference clockwise, which are indicated in a second color or tone.

Preferably, the circular time indication disc indicates each time counterclockwise and rotates clockwise. The circular time indication disc can be formed of a material having transparency. Also, the multiple international time indicator watch further comprises an arrow mark rotatable bezel installed on the case. The arrow mark bezel is adjusted to read a time of an area which is not listed on the area indication dial seat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above object and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiment thereof in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional multiple local time indicator watch; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a multiple international time indicator watch according to the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a reading method for reading a current time of an area which is not listed on an area indication dial seat; Fig. 4 is a view showing a connected relationship between a circular time indication disc and a movement in the multiple international time indicator watch according to the present invention; and

Figs. 5 through 8 are perspective views showing different fashions of an area indication dial seat according to the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Fig. 2, a multiple international time indicator watch includes a watch casing 1 , an area indication dial seat 2 installed on a movement (not shown), a circular time indication disc 3 positioned on the upper portion of the area indication dial seat 2 and configured to rotate on the area indication dial seat 2 by means of a hour hand axis (not shown) of the movement. A bezel 4 having an arrow mark 7 is rotatably installed on the top of the case.

The operation of the present invention will be described below in more detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in Fig. 2, the area indication dial seat 2 is equally divided into twelve portions, to indicate twelve world principal areas. A standard area is located on the upper-central portion (e. g. a 12 o'clock position) of the area indication dial seat 2. Here, the areas earlier than the standard area are disposed in sequence of a time difference counterclockwise, which are indicated in a first color or tone, while the areas later than the standard area are disposed in sequence of a time difference clockwise, which are indicated in a second color or tone. Here, the first and second colors or tones indicative of an area earlier than and an area later than the standard area have a different color or tone, respectively.

The circular time indication disc 3 plays a role of a hour hand in a conventional watch, in which numbers 1 to 12 are printed counterclockwise in the direction reverse to a conventional time indication sequence. The circular time indication disc 3 is configured to rotate clockwise on the area indication dial seat 2 by means of the axis of the hour hand on a movement. Thus, a current time of each area indicated on the area indication dial seat 2 is indicated by a figure on the circular time indication disc 3 which rotates around the area indication dial seat 2. Here, the circular time indication disc 3 is made of a material of transparency and installed on the area indication dial seat 2.

Also, the arrow mark bezel is installed on the top of the case. Accordingly, a bezel 4 is configured so that a time of another area which is not indicated on the area indication dial seat 2 can be read.

A method using the multiple international time indicator watch according to the present invention will be described below.

In the case that a time of a standard area, for example, a current time of Seoul is 12: 10 p.m., an area of Moscow points to 6: 10, and an area of Hawaii points to 5: 10. Here, the Moscow area is indicated by a second color (e.g. green) or a second tone (e.g. relatively light tone) and is 6 hours behind the standard area, that is, points to 6: 10 a.m., while the Hawaii area is indicated by a first color (e.g. red) or a first tone (e.g. relatively thicker tone) and is 5 hours ahead of the standard area, that is, the Hawaii area points to 5: 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, as shown in Fig. 3, an arrow mark 7 is indicated on a bezel 4. Adjustment of the position of the arrow mark 7 is used for reading a current time of an area which is not indicated on the area indication dial seat 2. For example, since Cairo has a time difference of 7 hours behind a standard area (e.g. Seoul), if the arrow mark 7 is set to a seventh place clockwise referenced to Seoul, that is, Hawaii on the area indication dial seat 2, a current time of Cairo can be read on that position. For instance, when a Seoul local time is 12:00 noon, Cairo points to the same time as that of Hawaii but Hawaii is 5:00 p.m. and Cairo is 5:00 a.m.

Fig. 4 shows a circular time indication disc in the multiple international time indicator watch according to the present invention. Referring to Fig. 4, a connection structure of the circular time indication disc of the multiple international time indicator watch according to the present invention will be described. First, the central portion of the circular time indication disc 3 is made of a transparent material, in which a hole 8 is formed on the center thereof. The hole 8 is enclosed by a tube 9, and the tube 9 is connected to a hour hand axis (not shown) of a movement and rotated. Meanwhile, although the area indication dial seat 2 is a circular disc in which the area indication dial seat 2 is divided into 12 portions, it is also possible to form a gap between respective area indication portions to indicate 2, 3, 4 and 6 areas, respectively, as shown in Figs. 5 through 8. A circular hour disc is antistatic- treated to prevent dust stack. The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are only exemplary embodiments. Various modifications and variations are possible without departing from a technical concept of the detailed description and scope of the appended claims.

As described above, the multiple international time indicator watch according to the present invention, includes an area indication dial seat 2 divided into 12 portions indicating 12 areas and a circular time indication disc 3 rotated by means of a hour hand axis of a movement, which provides effects of simply reading times of the 12 areas of a variety of time differences at the same time, providing a simple structure and reducing a production cost.

Claims

1. A multiple international time indicator watch comprising: a watch casing (1); an area indication dial seat (2) indicative of areas of two countries or more; and a circular time indication disc (3) which is installed on the outer circumferential edge portion of the area indication dial seat (2) and rotatably formed by means of the axis of a hour hand.

2. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 1 , wherein said area indication dial seat (2) indicates areas of two countries or more in a fashion that a time difference from a standard area can be seen based on the circular time indication disc (3).

3. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 2, wherein said area indication dial seat (2) is divided into two to twelve portions configured to display two to twelve countries.

4. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 2, wherein said area indication dial seat (2) has a gap formed between the respective divided portions.

5. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 2, wherein a standard area is located on the upper-center in the area indication dial seat (2), in which the areas ahead of the standard area are disposed in sequence of a time difference counterclockwise, which are indicated in a first color or tone, while the areas behind the standard area are disposed in sequence of a time difference, which are indicated in a second color or tone.

6. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 5, wherein said first and second colors and tones differ from each other.

7. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 1 , wherein said circular time indication disc (3) indicates each time counterclockwise and rotates clockwise.

8. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 1 , wherein said central portion on the circular time indication disc is formed of a material having transparency.

9. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 1 , wherein said circular time indication disc (3) is antistatic-treated.

10. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 1 , further comprising an arrow mark bezel installed on the top of the case.

1 1. The multiple international time indicator watch according to claim 10, wherein said arrow mark (7) formed on the bezel (4) is adjusted to read a time of an area which is not indicated on the area indication dial seat (2).