Patent Grant
9134703
This application claims priority from European Patent Application No. 10156414.4 filed Mar. 12, 2010, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to a totally or at least partially enamelled dial and, more specifically, a dial of this type whose visible surface stands out in relief, i.e. a dial including several levels which may be enamelled.
To form timepiece dials it is known to deposit a layer of enamel on the visible surface thereof to considerably improve the quality of their appearance.
As seen in
Dial 3 may also include a secondary display 5 whose visible surface is mounted along a plane P+1 above plane P so as to form a raised zone. Conversely, dial 3 may also include a secondary display 6 whose visible surface is mounted along a plane P−1 underneath plane P so as to form a recessed or hollow area. Dial 3 may also include an aperture 7, i.e. an opening in dial 3 for showing part of movement 8 mounted underneath dial 3, like a moon phase in the example in
Finally, dial 3 also includes holes allowing a member of movement 8 to pass through dial 3, such as for example arbours for mounting the hands of timepiece 1.
The example illustrated in
This configuration advantageously provides a totally enamelled dial 3 since only enamelled plates 15 and 17 are visible. However, this configuration requires a very high level of precision for the dimensions of plates 15 and 17 to make the visual rendering of interstice 16 acceptable. Indeed, the external wall of plate 17 must be a perfect, regular fit for the wall of the pierced hole made in plate 15 otherwise continuous or odd gaps may appear which makes dial 3 visually unacceptable for integration in a timepiece 1.
Consequently, the embodiment of
It is an object of this invention to overcome all or part of the aforecited drawbacks by proposing a method of manufacturing an at least partially enamelled relief dial wherein the reject rate caused by said interstice is substantially zero and which provides a dial with greatly improved rendering.
The invention therefore relates to an at least partially enamelled dial, whose visible surface includes areas standing out in relief, said dial including a first part formed by a first substrate including at least one hole and at least one second part formed by a second substrate, characterized in that at least one of the parts includes an enamel coated substrate forming one part of said visible surface of the dial, and in that said at least one second part is secured to the first part so as to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole without projecting therein, so as to form a relief dial with improved rendering.
Consequently, it is clear that there is a change from a gap to an interface between the two parts. The advantage of this is immediately apparent as regards the very clear rendering of the interface.
In accordance with other advantageous features of the invention:
The invention also relates to a timepiece, characterized in that it includes a dial according to any of the preceding variants.
Finally, the invention relates to a method of manufacturing an at least partially enamelled dial, whose visible surface includes areas standing out in relief, said method including the following steps:
Consequently, the advantage is immediately apparent as regards the very neat rendering of the interface but also as regards manufacturing, since the parts no longer need to be so precise, and the machining and positioning tolerances for the various parts are thus considerably relaxed.
In accordance with other advantageous features of the invention:
Other features and advantages will appear clearly from the following description, given by way of non-limiting indication, with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:
The examples illustrated in
Thus, according to the invention, the dial includes a first part formed by a first substrate including at least one hole and at least one second part formed by a second substrate, one of the substrates being enamelled, said at least one second part including a main, projecting face which is larger than the section of said at least one hole so as to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole without projecting therein. Consequently, it is clear that there is a change from a gap to an interface between the two parts. The advantage is immediately apparent as regards the very clear rendering of the interface but also as regards manufacturing, wherein the parts no longer need to be so precise. Moreover, it is clear that the parts are used to each form one part of said visible surface of the dial.
Preferably, the substrate is formed from ceramic material, however, other materials may be envisaged such as, for example, a silicon-based metalloid, a metal or metal alloy. Likewise, if at least one of the substrates is enamel coated, the other substrate(s) may also be and/or be coated differently such as, for example, with nacre while maintaining the same advantage of improved rendering of the dial.
The first example illustrated in
A first part 25, for example made of enamelled ceramic material, which includes at least one hole, is mounted on base 21. The top face of the first part 25 thus forms main plane P of the dial, i.e. the broadest visible surface. In order to form a hollow or recessed area 29 at a level P−1, a second part 27, for example made of enamelled ceramic material, is mounted so as to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole underneath first part 25 without the second part 27 projecting into the hole.
For easier manufacture of dial 23, base 21 includes a countersink for receiving the second part 27, whose depth substantially matches the thickness of second part 27.
The visible face of dial 23 is thus entirely enamelled, standing out in relief, with an aperture 20 for communication with the movement and wherein the interface 26 between parts 25 and 27 has considerably improved rendering while greatly relaxing the machining and positioning tolerances of the various parts.
It is of course possible to add at least one level of relief to dial 23, for example P+1 or P−2, while maintaining the same rendering qualities. As seen in dotted lines in
Finally, since the important thing is for second part 27 to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole, said second part may alternatively have the same dimensions as first part 25, as illustrated in dotted lines in
A second example illustrated in
A first part 45, for example made of enamelled ceramic material, which includes at least one hole, is mounted on base 41. The top face of the first part 45 thus forms main plane P of the dial, i.e. the broadest visible surface. To form a hollow or recessed area 49 at a level P−1, a second part 47, for example, made of enamelled ceramic material is mounted to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole underneath the first part 45 without the second part 47 projecting into the hole and preferably without, however, cooperating with base 41.
The visible face of dial 43 is thus entirely enamelled, standing out in relief, with an aperture 40 for communicating with the movement and whose interface 46 between parts 45 and 47 has considerably improved rendering.
It is of course possible to add at least one level of relief to dial 43, for example P+1 or P−2, while maintaining the same rendering qualities. As seen in dotted lines in
Finally, similarly to the first example, second part 47 may alternatively have the same dimensions as first part 45, as illustrated in dotted lines in
A third example illustrated in
A first part 65, for example made of enamelled ceramic material, which includes at least one hole, is mounted on spotfaced areas of base 61. The top face of the first part 65 thus forms main plane P of the dial, i.e. the broadest visible surface. In order to form a hollow zone 68 at a level P+1, a second part 64, for example made of enamelled ceramic material, is mounted so as to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole of first part 65 and, in the example illustrated in
The visible face of dial 63 is thus entirely enamelled, standing out in relief, with an aperture 60, 60′ for communicating with the movement and whose interface 66 between parts 65 and 64 has considerably improved rendering.
In a similar manner to the first and second examples, it is of course possible to add at least one level of relief to dial 63, for example P+2 or P−1, while maintaining the same rendering qualities or even for the first part 65 to extend over substantially the entire surface of dial 63 apart from apertures 60, 60′.
According to the invention, parts 24-25-27, 44-45-47-47′ and 64-65 may be secured to each other by means of an adhesive material such as, for example, a polymer adhesive. These parts may also be secured to the base 21, 41, 61 thereof by means of an identical or different adhesive material.
It is also possible to envisage securing the parts to each other by deliberately utilising the temperature differences necessary for enamelling the parts. Thus, it is perfectly possible to use a combination of two types of enamel which have different solidification firing temperatures, i.e. preferably, differing by at least 100° C. To achieve this, for example, low fire and high fire enamels that have different solidification temperatures are used, to secure the two parts to each other. By way of example, the low fire enamel may, for example, solidify around 600° C. and the high fire enamel around 1,000° C. This temperature difference, which is much larger than 100° C., is chosen so that, during the firing of the low fire enamel, the high fire enamel structure is not affected or barely affected. Two further examples are shown in
A fourth example illustrated in
The visible face of dial 83 is thus entirely enamelled, standing out in relief, and the interface 86 between parts 85-90 and 87-91 also has considerably improved rendering. To make the explanation easier, in the example illustrated in
Evidently, the use of the terms “low fire” and “high fire” must not restrict the enamels that can be used to fabricate the dial. Thus, it is perfectly possible for both the enamels to be considered low fire enamels provided that the difference in solidification temperature does not affect the structure of the higher temperature enamel when the lower temperature enamel is solidified. This situation is generally allowed when the temperature difference is greater than at least 100° C. However, depending upon the enamels used this difference may be smaller or larger. To simplify the explanations below, the terms “low fire” and “high fire” are used to distinguish this difference in solidification temperature.
According to another advantage of this variant, it is also easy to form a display of the same type as areas 2 and/or 4 shown in
It is of course still possible to add at least one level of relief to dial 83, for example P+2 or P−2, while maintaining the same rendering qualities. Likewise, dial 83 can include at least one aperture in order to communicate with the movement. Moreover, since the important thing is for second part 87-91 to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole, said second part may or may not have the same dimensions as first part 85-90. Finally, as for the first three examples, a base including feet may also be added so as to mount dial 83 in the timepiece.
A fifth example illustrated in
The visible face of dial 103 is thus entirely enamelled, standing out in relief and the interface 106 between parts 105-110 and 104-113 also has considerably improved rendering and includes at least one aperture 100 so as to communicate with the movement. To make the explanation easier, in the example illustrated in
Consequently, with this other variant also, it is clear that the use of an adhesive material is no longer necessary.
According to another advantage of this variant, it is also easy to form a display of the same type as areas 2 and/or 4 shown in
This is made possible by the fact that the high fire enamel 113 of second part 104-113 is partially covered by a second low fire enamel 112, i.e. whose solidification temperature is at least 100° C. lower than that of layer 113.
Of course it remains possible to add at least one level of relief to dial 103, for example P+3 or P−1, while maintaining the same rendering qualities. Finally, as for the first four examples, a base including feet may also be added so as to mount dial 103 in the timepiece.
In the fourth and fifth examples, low fire layers 92, 112 are shown, forming areas of type 2 and/or 4 of
Advantageously according to the invention, a base 21, 41, 61 is not necessarily required for mounting dial feet. Thus,
According to the three alternatives, which can be applied equally to dials secured by an adhesive material and by an enamel layer, the head 81, 81′, 81″ of nail 80, 80′, 80″ is thus either trapped between two parts (
By way of example, the references of
In a first alternative shown in
From
In a second alternative shown in
In a third alternative shown in
From
It is a second object of the invention to provide a method whose reject rate and manufacturing costs are considerably reduced. The method 119 of manufacturing one of dials 23, 43, 63, 83 and 103 according to the invention will now be explained with reference to
The first step 120 consists in forming a first, preferably enamelled part. Preferably, each step of forming an enamel part consists, in a first phase 121, of taking a preferably ceramic plate, then, in a second phase 123, in enamelling the plate using a selected enamel and then, in a third and final phase 125, solidifying said selected enamel by firing, for example by placing in a furnace.
Then, in a second step 122, method 119 continues by forming at least one through hole in said first part. The third step 124 consists in forming at least one second, preferably enamelled part in the three phases 121, 123, 125 described above. Finally, the fourth step 126 consists in securing the second part to the first part so as to totally cover the periphery of said at least one hole, without the second part projecting into the hole, so as to form the final dial.
As explained above, the securing step 126 may be performed by bonding using an adhesive material, such as, for example, a polymer adhesive. At the end of securing step 126, method 119 may, as illustrated in
Alternatively, step 130 may also consist in a final step of mounting at least one nail, including the phases of piercing a hole for each nail through the entire dial and introducing each nail into the associated hole, the end of the stem of said nail jutting out to form a foot for the dial and the head of said nail being mounted on the visible surface of said dial to form the alternative of
However, one or other of steps 130 may advantageously be replaced by a step 128 illustrated in single dotted lines in
As explained above, step 126 of securing the parts to each other may be achieved by using enamels with different solidification temperatures in place of bonding. To better explain this variant of method 119 of the invention,
In this variant illustrated in
Then, in a second step 122 illustrated in
Thus, as shown in double lines in
Then, as illustrated in
As illustrated in triple lines in
Alternatively, step 130 may consist in a final step of mounting at least one nail, including the phase of piercing a hole for each nail through the entire dial 83, then the phase of introducing each nail into the associated hole, the end of the stem of said nail jutting out to form a foot for dial 83 and the head of said nail being mounted on visible surface 90 of said dial to form the
However, one or other of steps 130 may advantageously be replaced by a step 128 illustrated in double dotted lines in
By way of complement,
Then, as illustrated in
It is clear then that no great adaptation is necessary to form layers 92, 112 in the variant of method 119. However, to form layers 92, 112 in the case of method 119 shown in a single line in
Advantageously, it is clear that a large variety of dials of the invention can be fabricated using the teaching of the invention without, however, being limited simply to the examples presented above.
Of course, this invention is not limited to the illustrated example but is capable of various variants and alterations that will appear to those skilled in the art. In particular, depending upon the desired aesthetics and/or functions of the timepiece, the dial may be simplified or include more enamelled parts at a greater or lower height, with more or less varied enamel colours.
Finally, as explained above, even if the explanations were focussed on two enamelled ceramic parts, one of the two parts may be not enamelled ceramic, but formed of another material such as brushed metal or glass and/or having a different, for example, nacre coating.
It is thus clear that, although this does not cause any manufacturing problems where the securing is achieved by bonding, manufacture where securing is achieved by means of enamel limits the possible variants with another material, such as a brushed metal or glass and/or with a different, for example, nacre coating. Indeed, in such case, it will still be the enamelled part that supports the other part, i.e. part 87-91 in the example of
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10156414 | Mar 2010 | EP | regional |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 762082 | Nichols | Jun 1904 | A |
| 4583866 | Kasai et al. | Apr 1986 | A |
| 5044961 | Bruskewitz | Sep 1991 | A |
| 7420884 | Dubach et al. | Sep 2008 | B2 |
| 20060062971 | Bourban et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
| 20070230287 | Gruosi | Oct 2007 | A1 |
| 20100214882 | Bourban et al. | Aug 2010 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 640 822 | Mar 2006 | EP |
| 52 045469 | Mar 1977 | JP |
| 52-045469 | Mar 1977 | JP |
| 51-045469 | Apr 1977 | JP |
| Entry |
|---|
| Cambridge Dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/stand-out-in-relief. Copyright 2014. |
| Search Report issued in corresponding application EP 10156414, completed Aug. 27, 2010. |
| G.-A. Berner, Foot, Illustrated Professional Dictionary of Horology I+II 851-52 (2002). |
| Nacre, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-of-pearl (downloaded Feb. 27, 2015). |
| Vitreous enamel, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wikiNitreious—enamel (downloaded Feb. 27, 2015). |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110222378 A1 | Sep 2011 | US |
