Patent Application
20050237863
Jewelry and ornamental wristwatches are well known. Wristwatches available on the markets can be generally divided into mechanical and electronic types. Appearance designs for wrist watches include jeweled watch faces and interchangeable watch faces. Wrist watches that can be viewed from the top and from the side have also been described. See U.S. Ser. No. 10/031,375, filed by Hohenstein et al. This wrist watch is characterized by a unique watch mechanism and dial suspension system that enables viewing from the side of the watch rather than the traditional topview and incorporates a special mechanism for attaching a removable ornament, such as a jeweled sculpture, on the top without the need for any mechanical tools or other fastening devices. However, such a watch has never been manufactured so that the sculpture could be easily removed and replaced by the customer. The inventors, therefore, endeavored to develop a device that can employ multiple, beautiful ornaments on a novel watch with a rotating conical band that incorporates the utility of a watch and the beauty and elegance of a miniature gemstone sculpture or other objets d'art.
The invention relates to a watchcase comprising:
The invention also relates to a watch that comprises the watchcase and a cylindrical timepiece, with or without one or more ornamental tops and watch bands.
The invention also relates to an ornamental top adapted to be worn on a watchcase wherein said ornamental top comprises (a) an upper surface adorned with an ornament; (b) a flange on the bottom surface, extending inwardly with respect to said watchcase from the upper surface of the watchcase; and (c) at least one bayonette extending further outwardly from said flange configured to allow for the removal and engagement in a track in said watchcase. In a preferred embodiment, the top comprises a sculpture, such as a jeweled sculpture of about one to three centimeters in height.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
A description of preferred embodiments of the invention follows.
Turning to the figures,
The track 22 is preferably disposed in a plane below, with respect to the watchcase, below the upper surface of the upper case.
Returning to
The upper and lower cases and the optically transparent cylinder are preferably fixedly connected by at least one screw, preferably two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight or more screws. The screws can be placed internally, externally or within the optically transparent cylinder. In a preferred embodiment, the screws are placed in an annular configuration.
To further improve the stability and security of the ornamental top, the upper case 12, on the upper surface thereof, comprises a third annular recess 24 for receiving a compression ring 25 for frictionally securing said ornamental top thereon. The compression ring 25 can be made of any suitable material which provides frictional resistance to the top. Examples of such materials include resins, polymers, rubbers, etc. The size of the ring is not particularly critical but should be selected to be less than about 80% of the width of the upper case at the point of the recess.
Turning to the ornamental top 13, depicted without its ornament or sculpture, in
As discussed above, the upper case of the watchcase is characterized by a track that receives the top.
The top is removably connected to the upper case by seating the top into the upper case and rotating the top so that the track engages the bayonettes of the top. The optional compression ring in the upper case further provides friction which ensures a secure fit. This design affords an easily manipulated removable top with a minimum number of moving parts. The top can be easily removed and changed with a single quick motion with one hand without the need for tools or other removal or attachment aids.
Tops that can be used with the watchcase can be adorned with a large number of ornaments, including sculptures, such as jeweled sculptures or objets d'art. The sculptures can be of varying height from such as sculptures of at least about 1 cm. in height. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the top may be adorned with substantially flat ornaments as well, such as gems, cloisonné etc. The tops can be sold with the upper case or separately.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
