The present invention concerns a timepiece with a case carrying a movement that can pivot about the hinge of a stationary case, such as a wristwatch that may have a chronograph function.
In order to make it easier to read the time when the watch is worn on the wrist, or to enable it to be used as a table clock, it has long been proposed to have a first stationary case, attached to the wrist by the strands of a bracelet or wristband or able to be placed on a table, and a second case, which contains the watch movement and is mobile and hinged in the first case, and which can take a first position in which it is locked in the stationary case and a second position in which it can adopt an inclined position.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,804,048 already discloses a device wherein the mobile case can be unlocked by pressing a push-button passing through the middle part of the watch. In CH Patent No. 161 610, the display is concealed when the two cases nest inside each other, and made visible by pivoting the mobile case by gripping a lip arranged at 12 o'clock. In the device disclosed in CH Patent No. 343 946, one side of the middle part of the stationary case is removed to allow a corresponding middle part portion of the mobile case to be gripped in order to unlock the latter against the bias of a spring and pivot said case. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,607, the mobile case is also brought into a raised position via the action of a strip spring arranged in the back cover of the stationary case, by pressing a push-button as in the first document cited.
These devices of the prior art may protect or conceal the crown or another control member, but they have the drawback of either leaving a push-button or an unlocking lip visible, or of comprising a recess in the middle part, which, in both cases, is awkward to manipulate or unattractive.
It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the aforecited prior art by providing a timepiece and more particularly a watch including two cases nesting inside each other, the inner case carrying the movement being able to adopt an inclined position relative to the outer stationary case by the action of a finger on a mobile element and the external part in order to impart thereto a movement along the plane of the timepiece to cause the unlocking of the mobile case.
The invention therefore concerns a timepiece and more particularly a wristwatch including a stationary external case and a pivoting internal case carrying the movement and a display for time related data or non-time related data. The inner case is hinged about an axis parallel to the direction in which data is read and arranged in the bottom part of the display, i.e. at 6 o'clock in the case of an analogue display. The inner case is kept in the normal position in the stationary case by locking means and can occupy an inclined position via the action of a spring when said locking means are deactivated. The invention is characterized in that the locking means are formed by a mobile element of the external part that can be manipulated in the plane of the timepiece in rotation or in translation. In other words, the timepiece no longer includes push-button or lip type locking means.
This mobile element of the external part of the watch can form part of either the inner case or the outer case. When it forms part of the inner case, it is preferably formed by a rotating bezel. When it forms part of the outer case, it is preferably formed by a sliding shutter arranged in the top part of the bezel-middle part.
With the exception of timepieces controlled entirely tactilely by means of sensors arranged on the glass, projecting control means, such as a crown or pushers in the case of a chronograph watch, are necessary, but said control means can be damaged in the event of a shock and are not necessarily attractive.
According to another aspect of the invention, the outer case protects the control members, and the mobile element could conceal them.
According to a first embodiment, the mobile element is a rotating bezel secured to the inner case and may have an asymmetrical external contour if the timepiece is provided with control members to which easy access is necessary in the pivoting position, for example in the case of a chronograph watch. The mobile element may also be only one sector of a bezel that is mobile in rotation.
According to a second embodiment, the mobile element is a sliding shutter arranged in the top part of the bezel-middle part of the external case. If the timepiece is provided with control means, the shutter may be arranged on said control members so that the latter can be concealed in the normal position.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will appear in the following description of various embodiments given by way of non-limiting illustration, with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:
With reference first of all to
The only visible part is a display 12, which in this example is an analogue display with a chronograph function, and a bezel 20 having an asymmetrical shape with, in particular, a recess 21 in the external contour thereof. Bezel 20 is a rotating bezel which can be manipulated in rotation in the plane of the watch.
The same watch is shown in the “pivoted” position in
In the case of a watch with purely tactile control via sensors arranged on the glass, and thus not provided with any control members located on the middle part of pivoting case 10, or a watch whose control members one wishes to leave permanently visible, it is even possible to have a perfectly circular ring-shaped bezel which is manipulated for the sole purpose of making the inner case pass from the normal position to the pivoted position or vice versa. In such an embodiment, it is even possible to limit the mobile element to a bezel sector that can be manipulated in rotation between each locked position.
Referring more particularly now to
The angle at which the watch is shown in the pivoted position in
It is clear that the length of groove 2 may be limited to the length that is merely sufficient to allow the rotation of bezel 20 between a position where recess 21 is above control members 14, 16, 18 and a position where the widest part of the bezel conceals them. In the case of a perfectly circular bezel 20, either because the movement has no control members projecting onto the middle part of the pivoting case, or because one has chosen to leave the control members permanently visible, the length of groove 2 may be limited to the width of the small arm of L-shaped lug 22. Likewise, it is possible to provide more than one locking lug, for example by arranging two lugs symmetrically relative to the centre of rotation of the rotating bezel.
It can also be seen that the pivoting case 10 includes a battery compartment 19, opposite a corresponding aperture 9 in stationary case 1, in order to facilitate battery replacement. The cover of compartment 19 is actually quite inaccessible, even in the pivoted position.
Indeed, as can be seen in
This Figure also shows the end of helical torsion spring 7, whose coils are contained in a housing 8 of extension 15 of pivoting case 10. The other end of spring 7 abuts against the back cover of stationary case 1.
In the description of this first embodiment, the helical torsion spring 7 is given solely by way of example. It is in fact possible to use other types of spring, for example a strip spring, or other elastic means.
Referring also to
Shutter 25 is formed by a substantially rectangular plate 26 which, in the example shown in
Plate 26 includes, in the lower part thereof that has to slide over a shoulder of the middle part of stationary case 1, two parallel grooves 27 close to the edges of the small sides of plate 26.
Grooves 27 are closed at each end and limit the travel of shutter 25 and activate the system for unlocking pivoting case 10.
Each groove 27 is in fact provided for receiving the end of a stud 29 secured perpendicularly to a slide block 30, housed in a slide way 35 arranged in the middle part of stationary case 1, close to the back cover thereof, and open towards the interior of said stationary case 1. Stud 29 passes through the middle part via a sink 39 of oblong shape.
The end of slide block 30 directed towards the interior of stationary case 1 includes a bevel 31 and the other end directed towards the bottom of slide way 35 is provided with a helical compression spring 33 abutting on the bottom of slide way 35.
Referring to the normal position, shown in
In order to pass to the pivoted position, shown in
For a shutter 25 whose plate 26, has a recess 28, which is the case of the example illustrated more particularly, it is clear that the stud may simply be secured, for example by being driven into the base of plate 26.
Other variants may be envisaged, particularly as regards the shapes of the cases and the mobile element for locking/unlocking, without departing from the scope of this invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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05026819.2 | Dec 2005 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2006/069363 | 12/6/2006 | WO | 00 | 10/1/2008 |