CH719792A2 - Date display device. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a date display device (10) comprising: - a dial (11) comprising date indications in the form of a character scale (15), at least part of which is in the form of apertures (150), – an index (12) movable relative to the dial (11), – a date mechanism configured to cause the index (12) to move one step per day, so that each position occupied by said index (12) designates one of the characters (15), and - a movable element (13) arranged between the dial (11) and the date mechanism having on all or part of a surface arranged facing said dial (11 ), a portion of interest (131), said movable element (13) being kinematically connected to the date mechanism so that the latter is able to drive it into an active position in which the portion of interest (131) is visible through at least one predetermined window (150) and in a rest position in which the portion of interest (131) is arranged set back from said at least one predetermined window (150) and in which a marking zone (160) is visible through said predetermined window (150).

Description

Technical field of the invention

[0001] The invention relates to the field of watchmaking, and in particular that of the display of time indications of a timepiece, in particular of a watch.

[0002] More particularly, the invention relates to a date display device.

Technology background

[0003] Among the date display devices, there are those which make it possible to indicate the current date by means of a movable index, typically a hand, moving on a dial of a watch, relative to a scale of characters made on said dial and uniformly distributed in a circle or arc of a circle. The characters are representative of dates.

The hand is moved by an appropriate date mechanism, well known to those skilled in the art, in engagement with the hour wheel, so as to make a jump each day in order to indicate a new date.

[0005] This date mechanism can be retrograde. In fact, it drives the hand in the opposite direction once it has gone through all the dates of a month, in order to indicate the first day of the following month.

[0006] Date display devices are described in detail in the work “Complicated Watches” by François Lecoultre, published by Editions Simonin.

[0007] This type of date display device has limits, for example in terms of readability and information provided.

[0008] The present invention aims to increase the aesthetic appeal of date display devices with movable indexes, and in particular to facilitate their use by displaying additional information compared to display devices for the state of the date. technical.

Summary of the invention

[0009] The invention resolves the aforementioned drawbacks by proposing a date display device comprising: – a dial comprising date indications in the form of a character scale, at least part of which is in the form of windows, – an index movable relative to the dial, – a date mechanism configured to cause the index to move one step per day, so that each position occupied by said index designates one of the characters, and – a movable element arranged between the dial and the date mechanism having on all or part of a surface disposed facing said dial, a portion of interest, said movable element being kinematically connected to the date mechanism so that the latter is capable of lead into an active position in which the portion of interest is visible through at least one predetermined window and in a rest position in which the portion of interest is arranged set back from said at least one predetermined window and in which a zone of marking is visible through said predetermined window.

[0010] In particular embodiments, the invention may also include one or more of the following characteristics, taken individually or in all technically possible combinations.

[0011] In particular embodiments, the portion of interest has an appearance identical to that of an external surface of the dial so as to shield from the user's view the character formed by the aperture through which the portion of interest is visible when the mobile element occupies the active position.

[0012] In particular embodiments, the marking zone is arranged facing at least the apertures forming the characters representing the dates 29 to 31 when the movable element occupies the rest position, the portion of interest having an appearance different from that of the dial and said marking zone, so as to highlight the characters representing the dates 29 to 31 when the mobile element occupies the active position.

[0013] In particular embodiments, the mobile element comprises on an upper surface, in addition to the portion of interest, a portion of surface capable of being visible through one or more windows corresponding to all or part of the marking zone, said marking zone of the mobile element having an appearance different from that of the portion of interest.

[0014] In particular embodiments, the characters are distributed along at least one arc of a circle, the index being movable relative to the dial, the movable element being visible through all of the apertures and having an axis of rotation confused with that of the index finger.

[0015] In particular embodiments, the marking zone and the portion of interest are distributed over the movable element so that, when the latter occupies the rest position, the marking zone is arranged opposite each other. - vis-à-vis all of the windows, and so that when the mobile element occupies the active position, the marking zone is arranged opposite a part of the windows, the portion of interest being arranged in vis-à-vis other counters.

[0016] In particular embodiments, the movable element has a closed annular shape, the marking zone and the portion of interest each being formed by a set of sectors arranged alternately one after the other so that two successive characters present a different appearance from each other.

[0017] In particular embodiments, the movable element comprises, on its upper surface, an additional sector with an appearance different from those forming the marking zone and the portion of interest, said additional sector being interposed between two sectors presenting an appearance different from the appearance of said additional sector so that the latter constitutes the index.

[0018] In particular embodiments, the sectors between which the additional sector is arranged have a color different from that of the marking zone and the portion of interest.

[0019] In particular embodiments, the display device comprises an extra thickness on which the marking zone is made and arranged so as to be visible through all of the windows forming the characters representing the dates 1 to 28, said extra thickness and the movable element being arranged adjacently and having a thickness such that the upper surface of said movable element and the visible surface of said extra thickness extend substantially in the same plane.

[0020] In particular embodiments, the movable element has the shape of a lever, the date mechanism comprising a cam on the profile of which the lever is arranged to rest so that said cam, during its rotation , causes said lever to pivot between its active position and its rest position.

[0021] In particular embodiments, the display device comprises two movable elements, one of which has a closed annular shape and the other of which has the shape of a lever.

[0022] In particular embodiments, the dial is made of transparent material and comprises, on its surface facing the date mechanism, a thin opaque layer, the apertures being made in said thin layer.

Brief description of the figures

[0023] Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the following detailed description given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the appended drawings in which: – Figure 1a represents an exploded perspective view of a date display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention; – Figure 1b schematically represents a top view of a detail of the device of Figure 1a; – Figure 1c schematically represents a sectional view along the section plane A-A of the device of Figure 1b; – Figure 2a represents an exploded perspective view of a date display device according to another embodiment of the invention; – Figure 2b schematically represents a top view of a detail of the device of Figure 2a; – Figure 2c schematically represents a sectional view along the section plane B-B of the device of Figure 2b; – Figure 3a represents an exploded perspective view of a date display device according to yet another embodiment of the invention; – Figure 3b schematically represents a top view of a detail of the device of Figure 3a; – Figure 3c schematically represents a sectional view along the section plane C-C of the device of Figure 3b; – Figure 4a represents an exploded perspective view of a date display device according to yet another embodiment of the invention; – Figure 4b schematically represents a top view of a detail of the device of Figure 4a; – Figure 4c schematically represents a sectional view along the section plane D-D of the device of Figure 4b; – Figure 5a represents a schematic top view of a dial of a date display device according to yet another embodiment of the invention, without moving element, the dial comprising date indications of which one is designated by an index finger in the form of a needle; – Figure 5b schematically represents a top view of a mobile element intended to integrate the device of Figure 5a; – Figure 5c schematically represents a top view of the dial of Figure 5a with which the movable element of Figure 5b cooperates; – Figure 6 schematically represents a combination of two mobile elements of a date display device according to yet another embodiment of the invention, said mobile elements conforming respectively to that of one of Figures 1a to 3c and to that of Figure 5b.

Note that the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale for reasons of clarity.

Detailed description of the invention

As shown schematically in Figures 1a to 6, the present invention relates to a date display device 10 comprising a dial 11 of a timepiece, for example a watch, presenting date indications , an index 12 movable in rotation relative to the dial 11 intended to indicate the current date, and a movable element 13 intended to cause a change in appearance of one or more date indications.

[0026] In all of the exemplary embodiments described below, the date indications are arranged in the form of a scale of thirty-one characters 15, for example distributed along an arc of a circle, at least part of which is in the form of windows 150, as visible in Figures 1a, 1c, 2a, 2c, 3a, 3c, 4a, 4c, 5a and 5c. It should be noted that, when the surface visible through the apertures 150 has an appearance different from that of the visible surface of the dial 11, the characters 15 formed by the apertures 150 are visible to a user, and when the visible surface through the windows 150 has an appearance identical to that of the visible surface of the dial 11, the characters 15 are hidden from the user's view. The visible surface of dial 11 is the surface of an external face 110.

[0027] In the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 1a to 4c, the characters 15 representing the dates 1 to 28 have a constant appearance and the characters 15 representing the dates 29 to 31 have a variable appearance depending on the duration of the current month.

[0028] The characters 15 representing the dates 1 to 28 can be formed by apertures 150 revealing a marking zone 160, for example made by a thin layer, as illustrated in Figures 1a, 2a and 4a. Furthermore, the marking zone 160 and the movable element 13 are visible through transparency in Figures 1b, 2b, 3b and 4b to facilitate understanding of the invention. It should however be noted that this marking zone 160 is normally only visible through the windows 150, the thin layer 112 being opaque. As described in detail below, depending on the embodiment considered, the movable element 13 may or may not include a marking zone 160.

[0029] Furthermore, the index 12 is movable, for example in rotation around an axis concentric with the arc of a circle along which the characters 15 are distributed. In the exemplary embodiments shown in the figures, the index 12 is formed by a needle.

[0030] Preferably, as shown in Figures 1c, 2c, 3c and 4c, the dial 11 is made of transparent material, for example sapphire or glass, and comprises, on the surface of an internal face 111, a thin opaque layer 112, the windows 150 being preferably made in said thin layer 112.

The date display device 10 according to the invention comprises an annual or perpetual calendar mechanism (not shown in the figures) configured to cause the index 12 to move one step per day, so that each position occupied by said index 12 designates one of the characters 15 corresponding to the date of the current day. Such a date mechanism is well known to those skilled in the art, so it is not described in detail below. In a manner also known per se, when moving to the next month, the index 12 is driven from the date of the last day of the month, for example 28, 29, 30 or 31, to the date of the start of the month, by the annual or perpetual calendar mechanism. The internal face 111 is arranged opposite the date mechanism.

This date mechanism is part of a watch movement 16 shown schematically in Figures 1a, 1c, 2a, 2c, 3a, 3c, 4a and 4c.

[0033] In the embodiments shown in the figures, the dial 11 is superimposed on a plate of the watch movement 16 and the movable element 13 is interposed between said dial 11 and said plate.

[0034] Advantageously, the movable element 13 is arranged between the dial 11 and the date mechanism and presents on all or part of a surface disposed facing said dial 11, called "upper surface" 130, a portion of interest 131 having an appearance different from that of the marking zone 160. The portion of interest 131 can be constituted by a thin layer deposited on the movable element 13, as shown in Figures 1c, 2c, 3c and 4c.

The movable element 13 is kinematically connected to the date mechanism so that the latter is capable of driving said movable element 13 into an active position in which the portion of interest 131 is visible through at least one predetermined aperture 150 and in a rest position in which the portion of interest 131 is arranged set back from said at least one predetermined window 150.

[0036] In the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 1a to 4c, when the movable element 13 occupies the active position, the portion of interest 131 is arranged facing one or more windows 150 forming characters 15 materializing dates likely to be variable between two successive months, that is to say dates 29 to 31. In other words, the active position of the mobile element 13 can be defined by several angular positions of the latter. For this purpose, as shown in Figures 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a and 3b, the portion of interest 131 can be delimited by a stepped profile in order to be visible facing one or more counters 150 according to its angular position when it occupies the active position.

[0037] For example, the portion of interest 131 may have a color different from that presented by the marking zone 160, and in particular, it may have a color identical to that of the dial 11. This characteristic has the effect of concealing the characters 15 facing which the portion of interest 131 is arranged when the mobile element 13 occupies the active position.

Alternatively, if the portion of interest 131 has a color different from that of the dial 11 and that of the surface visible through the apertures 150 when the movable element 13 occupies the rest position, the character(s) 15 formed by the windows 150 through which said portion of interest 131 is visible when the movable element 13 occupies the active position are highlighted in relation to the other characters 15.

[0039] Thus, thanks to the invention, depending on the appearance of the portion of interest 131, the variable dates can be hidden, or on the contrary, highlighted in relation to the rest of the dates, that is to say say in relation to dates 1 to 28, depending on the number of days of the current month. In other words, the dates 29, 30 and/or 31 can be hidden or highlighted during months of less than thirty-one days, so that the user can identify the number of days of the current month.

[0040] In the exemplary embodiment shown in Figures 1a to 1c, the mobile element 13 only has a portion of interest 131 visible through one or more windows 150 when the mobile element 13 occupies the active position. Furthermore, the marking zone 160 is produced by a thin layer deposited on the plate of the watch movement 16, facing all of the apertures 150 forming the characters 15 representing the dates 1 to 31.

[0041] Unlike the exemplary embodiment shown in Figures 1a to 1c, in the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 2a to 3c, the movable element 13 comprises two surface portions capable of being visible through one or counters 150. One of these portions corresponds to part of the marking zone 160 and the other portion corresponds to the portion of interest 131.

[0042] In particular, as illustrated in Figures 2b, 3b and 4b, the movable element 13 is configured so that, when it occupies the rest position, the part of the marking zone 160 which it presents is arranged opposite at least all the characters 15 representing the dates 29 to 31.

[0043] In order to improve the perceived quality of the date display, the device 10 can include an extra thickness 17, as illustrated in Figures 2a and 2c, fixed on the plate of the watch movement 16 and on which is made the marking zone 160 so that it is visible through all of the apertures 150 forming the characters 15 representing the dates 1 to 28. The movable element 13 and the extra thickness 17 are arranged adjacent one of the other and have a thickness such that the surfaces of said extra thickness 17 and of the movable element 13 visible through all of the windows 150 extend in the same plane.

Alternatively, the marking zone 160 can be deposited directly on the internal face 111 of the dial 11 in order to form the characters 15 representing for example the dates 1 to 28, as shown in Figures 3a to 3c. In this exemplary embodiment, the windows 150 are only made to form the characters 15 representing at least the dates 29 to 31.

[0045] Still alternatively, in the exemplary embodiment shown in Figures 4a to 4c, the marking zone 160 is entirely produced on the movable element 13.

[0046] More particularly, in this exemplary embodiment, the movable element 13 has an open annular shape and is movable in rotation around an axis coinciding with that of the index 12. The movable element 13 is visible through all of the windows 150. In other words, when it occupies the rest position, the marking zone 160 is visible through all the windows 150, and when it occupies the active position, the second portion is visible through a or windows 150 forming the characters 15 representing one or more of the dates 29 to 31, the rest of the windows 150 revealing said marking zone 160.

[0047] In the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 1a to 3c, the movable element 13 is formed by a lever.

[0048] In all of the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 1a to 4c, the movable element 13 is arranged to rest with one free end against a profile of a cam (not shown in the figures) which the mechanism comprises. date so that said cam, during its rotation, causes said movable element 13 to pivot between its active position and its rest position.

[0049] More particularly, the cam is rotated by a twelfth of a revolution per month by a dedicated gear train, and its profile comprises several portions having different radii, including portions intended to receive the movable element 13 in support so that it occupies the rest position, and including portions intended to support the movable element 13 so that it occupies different angular positions representative of its active position.

The objective in these examples of the embodiments of the invention is to move the mobile element 13 so as to display the number of dates corresponding to the number of days of the current month.

Alternatively, the movable element 13 may have a closed annular shape, as shown in Figure 5b in another exemplary embodiment. The portion of interest 131 and the marking zone 160 of the mobile element 13 each comprise a plurality of sectors. The sectors of said portion of interest 131 and of said marking zone 160 are arranged alternately one after the other and each sector is dimensioned so as to be arranged opposite a character 15. Thus, two successive characters 15 have a different appearance from each other, as visible in Figure 5c.

[0052] In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, the mobile element 13 is configured to be driven by the date mechanism one step per day, one step corresponding to an angular value separating two successive windows 150.

The display device 10 can thus, depending on the appearance of the portion of interest 131, highlight or hide the characters 15 representing the even or odd dates, depending on whether the date of the current day is even or odd . This characteristic advantageously contributes to facilitating the reading of the dates and in particular the date of the current day.

[0054] For example, the movable element 13 may include internal or external teeth in kinematic relationship with a finger of a driving wheel with index 12. In other words, in this exemplary embodiment, the movable element 13, is preferably integral in rotation with the index 12.

In summary, the objective in this exemplary embodiment is to move the mobile element 13 so as to display only the even or odd dates, depending on whether the date of the current day is even or odd.

[0056] In this exemplary embodiment, the characters 15 are preferably formed by a series of numbers from 1 to 31. Advantageously, the present invention allows easy reading of these characters 15, even if they are arranged at a very short distance from each other. from each other, as visible by comparison of Figure 5a, in which the movable element 13 is not shown, and of Figure 5c in which the movable element 13 is shown.

It should be noted that here, the mobile element 13 occupies the active position and the rest position alternately, relative to a given window.

[0058] Advantageously, the movable element 13 can also include an additional sector with an appearance different from those of the marking zone 160 and the portion of interest 131, interposed between two sectors of said marking zone 160, between two sectors of said portion of interest 131, or between two other sectors identical to each other but of different appearance from that of said additional sector. This additional sector is dimensioned so as to be visible only through a single aperture 150 and makes it possible to constitute the index 12, and thus to be able to do without a needle or any other index formed by an additional part. The additional sector is therefore visible to a user through the window 150 forming the character 15 representing the date of the current day.

Alternatively, it is possible for the marking zone 160 of the mobile element 13 to form a sector visible through only one of the windows 150 so as to indicate the date of the current day, the portion of interest 131 defining two sectors extending on either side of said marking zone 160 so as to be visible through all of the windows 150 except the window through which the sector of the marking zone 160 is visible.

[0060] In this exemplary embodiment not shown in the figures, the index 12 is constituted by said single sector formed by the marking zone 160. The user can thus simply and quickly identify the date of the current day on the dial 11 .

[0061] As shown in Figure 6 in another embodiment of the invention, the display device 10 can comprise two movable elements 13, one of which has a closed annular shape, in a manner analogous for example to the movable element 13 described above in the exemplary embodiment shown in Figure 5b, and the other of which has the shape of a lever, analogous for example to the movable element 13 described above in the example of embodiment shown in Figures 1a.

[0062] In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, the operations of the mobile elements 13 are identical to the operations of those described respectively in the description of the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 1a and 5a to 5c, so that this example of display device allows you to benefit from the combination of their advantages.

[0063] More generally, it should be noted that the modes of implementation and embodiment considered above have been described by way of non-limiting examples, and that other variants are therefore possible.

In particular, in the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a and 5a, the character scale 15 extends along an arc of a semi-circle. It is obvious that the character scale 15 can extend along an arc of a circle forming a more or less significant angle.

Claims (13)

1. Date display device (10), characterized in that it comprises: – a dial (11) comprising date indications in the form of a character scale (15), at least part of which is in the form of windows (150), – an index (12) movable relative to the dial (11), – a date mechanism configured to cause the index (12) to move one step per day, so that each position occupied by said index (12) designates one of the characters (15), and – a movable element (13) arranged between the dial (11) and the date mechanism having on all or part of a surface arranged facing said dial (11), a portion of interest (131), said movable element ( 13) being kinematically connected to the date mechanism so that the latter is able to drive it into an active position in which the portion of interest (131) is visible through at least one predetermined window (150) and in a position rest in which the portion of interest (131) is arranged set back from said at least one predetermined window (150) and in which a marking zone (160) is visible through said predetermined window (150). 2. Display device (10) according to claim 1, in which the portion of interest (131) has an appearance identical to that of an external surface (110) of the dial (11) so as to hide from view from the user the character (15) formed by the window (150) through which the portion of interest (131) is visible when the mobile element (13) occupies the active position. 3. Display device (10) according to claim 1, in which the marking zone (160) is arranged opposite at least the windows (150) forming the characters (15) representing the dates 29 to 31 when the element mobile (13) occupies the rest position, the portion of interest (131) having an appearance different from that of the dial (11) and said marking zone (160), so as to highlight the characters (15) representing the dates 29 to 31 when the movable element (13) occupies the active position. 4. Display device (10) according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the movable element (13) comprises on an upper surface (130), in addition to the portion of interest (131), a portion of surface likely to be visible through one or more windows (150) corresponding to all or part of the marking zone (160), said marking zone (160) of the movable element (13) having a different appearance of that of the interest portion (131). 5. Display device (10) according to claim 4, in which the characters (15) are distributed along at least one arc of a circle, the index (12) being movable relative to the dial (11), the element mobile (13) being visible through all the windows (150) and having an axis of rotation coincident with that of the index (12). 6. Display device (10) according to claim 5, in which the marking zone (160) and the portion of interest (131) are distributed on the movable element (13) so that, when the latter occupies the rest position, the marking zone (160) is arranged opposite all the windows (150), and so that when the mobile element (13) occupies the active position, the zone of marking (160) is arranged opposite a part of the windows (150), the portion of interest (131) being arranged opposite the other windows (150). 7. Display device (10) according to claim 5, in which the movable element (13) has a closed annular shape, the marking zone (160) and the portion of interest (131) each being formed by a set of sectors arranged alternately one after the other so that two successive characters (15) present a different appearance from one another. 8. Display device (10) according to claim 7, in which the movable element (13) comprises, on its upper surface (130), an additional sector of appearance different from those forming the marking zone (160) and the portion of interest (131), said additional sector being interposed between two sectors having an appearance different from the appearance of said additional sector so that the latter constitutes the index (12). 9. Display device (10) according to claim 8, in which the sectors between which the additional sector is arranged have a color different from that of the marking zone (160) and the portion of interest (131). 10. Display device (10) according to claim 4, comprising an extra thickness (17) on which the marking zone (160) is made and being arranged so as to be visible through all of the windows (150) forming the characters (15) representing the dates 1 to 28, said extra thickness (17) and the movable element (13) being arranged adjacently and having a thickness such that the upper surface (130) of said movable element (13) and the visible surface of said extra thickness (17) extends substantially in the same plane. 11. Display device (10) according to one of claims 1 to 4 and 10, in which the movable element (13) has the shape of a lever, the date mechanism comprising a cam on the profile of which the lever is arranged in support so that said cam, during its rotation, causes said lever to pivot between its active position and its rest position. 12. Display device (10) according to claims 7 and 11, comprising two movable elements (13), one of which has a closed annular shape and the other of which has the shape of a lever. 13. Display device (10) according to one of claims 1 to 12, in which the dial is made of transparent material and comprises, on its surface facing the date mechanism, a thin layer (112 ) opaque, the windows (150) being made in said thin layer (112).