EP0476425B1 - Time-piece adaptable for wearing in different ways - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece with analog display which can be worn in various ways, in particular as a wrist watch for right or left handed, or as a pocket watch.

Patent CH-56635 describes a pocket watch whose control rod, provided with a buckle, is at 12 o'clock and which comprises at 6 o'clock a sliding allowing to mount this watch on a bracelet crossing this loop and this flowing. A similar construction, with the control rod at 6 o'clock, is described in patent CH-220795.

In a wristwatch, these two constructions are difficult to use since the control rod, which is at 6 o'clock or at 12 o'clock, is difficult to access whereas in a normal wristwatch, ie worn on the left wrist, the rod of order is at 3 o'clock.

A wristwatch which can be worn either on the left wrist or on the right wrist is also known, in particular from document CH-548633. According to this document, the watch case is mounted on a false back to which the bracelet is fixed, and this box can be rotated relative to the false back. In this way, we can transform a portable watch normally on the left wrist (control rod at 3 o'clock) into a portable watch on the right wrist (control rod at 9 o'clock) by rotating the case 180 ° relative to the false back. A very similar device is described in document CH 499 816 relating to a watch case with a rotating middle part, incidentally comprising a pivoting bezel. Such a mechanical device would make it possible to correctly adjust the superposition of the hands and a determined time reference, but would have the disadvantage of imposing an unusual value on the angle formed by the control member and said time reference.

There is also in document DE-2111657 a wristwatch whose dial can be turned 180 °, which also allows this wristwatch to be used on the left wrist or on the right wrist always having the control rod in the right place, that is to say at 3 o'clock and at 9 o'clock respectively.

However, these constructions are not completely satisfactory for the user because the time display is not exact. When the watch is worn on the left wrist (normal watch for right-handers), the hour and minute hands are superimposed at 12 o'clock when it is noon or midnight. On the other hand, when the watch is worn on the right wrist (left-handed watch with control rod at 9 o'clock), the hands, which always overlap in the same place with respect to a fixed mark such as the watch movement or the case, the are now at 6 a.m. And, on the contrary, the hands are never superimposed at 12 o'clock when the watch is worn on the right wrist since, as we can verify, the hands do not overlap at 6 o'clock in a normal watch, i.e. worn on the left wrist.

These display faults, inherent in this type of construction, are large enough to disturb the wearer's perception of time when the watch is worn on the right wrist, so that in practice these watches can only be worn on the wrist. left.

The invention aims to overcome these drawbacks and to provide a watch which can actually be worn on the left wrist or right wrist, or used as a pocket watch and which, in each case, displays the time correctly.

To this end, the invention relates to an electronic timepiece with analog display comprising an hour hand, a minute hand, a clockwork movement for driving said hands, a printed circuit, and an external control member. of the position of the hands, in which the hands are in a determined position to mark a determined time reference, which is characterized in that it comprises an adjustment means for defining the position, relative to the control member, of this predetermined time reference, said adjusting means (22) being constituted by a microprocessor microprogrammed of the printed circuit.

Advantageously, the adjustment means is made active by a particular manipulation of the control member and, in this mode, the position of the determined time reference can be indicated by one or both needles superimposed.

It is thus understood that, for example, taking noon as a time reference, it suffices to position this time reference at 12 o'clock (read on the dial - fixed - of a watch intended to be worn normally on the left wrist) so that the time either read normally when the watch is worn on the left wrist, at 6 o'clock (read on the same dial) so that the time is read normally when the watch is worn on the right wrist, and at 3 o'clock (read on the same dial) so that the time is read normally when the watch is used as a pocket watch.

• la figure 1 représente sous forme de schéma bloc une pièce d'horlogerie conforme à l'invention,
• la figure 2 est un organigramme du fonctionnement du moyen d'ajustement,
• les figures 3a à 3d montrent comment une pièce d'horlogerie selon l'invention, destinée à être portée normalement au poignet gauche, peut être transformée en une montre-bracelet qui peut être portée au poignet droit, et
• les figures 4a à 4d montrent comment une pièce d'horlogerie selon l'invention, destinée à être portée normalement au poignet gauche, peut être transformée en une montre de poche.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the description which follows, given by way of illustration but not limitation, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

• FIG. 1 represents in the form of a block diagram a timepiece in accordance with the invention,
• FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the operation of the adjustment means,
• FIGS. 3a to 3d show how a timepiece according to the invention, intended to be worn normally on the left wrist, can be transformed into a wristwatch which can be worn on the right wrist, and
• Figures 4a to 4d show how a timepiece according to the invention, intended to be worn normally on the left wrist, can be transformed into a pocket watch.

FIG. 1 shows a timepiece according to the invention in the form of a block diagram. This timepiece includes in series a quartz oscillator 2, a division chain 4 delivering a signal at 1 Hz, a seconds counter 6 and a minutes counter 8. It also includes a divider by twelve 10, receiving the signal of the second counter 6, and an hour counter 12 whose input is connected to the output of the divider 10. The counters 6, 8 and 12 are counters by sixty which define, in normal mode, the position of the second, minute and hour hands relative to the hour turn of the timepiece dial.

The timepiece is provided, in the embodiment shown, with two motors 14, 16 controlled respectively by power circuits 18, 20 for driving the minute hand and the hour hand respectively. The circuits 18, 20 receive, in normal mode, the pulses applied respectively to the inputs of the minute counters 8 and hours 12.

In a classic watch, the position of a given time reference, for example midday or midnight, is fixed relative to the control rod (or, what amounts to the same thing, relative to the clockwork or in relation to the case). This position is 90 ° counterclockwise from the control rod.

According to the invention, the timepiece comprises an adjustment means 22 making it possible to modify the position of a time reference. This adjustment means 22 comprises inputs MN and H for receiving the contents of the minute counters 8 and hours 12, an activation input EN and an input D of movement data of the hands.

The signals applied to the inputs EN and D are supplied by an interpretation circuit 24 as a function of the position and the displacement (direction and speed) of the control rod.

The adjustment means 22 also includes two outputs Mmn and Mh for delivering pulses to the motors 14 and 16, and a control output C for managing the state of two switches 26, 28 arranged at the input of the power circuits 18, 20 and arranged to transmit to them, either the pulses applied to the inputs of the minute counters 8 and 12 hours, or the pulses delivered by the adjustment means.

The adjustment means can advantageously be produced in the form of an integrated circuit comprising a microprogrammed processor.

In normal time display mode, the adjustment means is inactive and the motors 14, 16 receive the pulses applied to the inputs of the minute and hour counters 8, 12.

The activation of the adjustment means 22 is obtained, for example, by a particular manipulation of the control rod which causes the emission by the interpretation circuit 24 of an activation signal towards the input EN of the means adjustment 22.

The adjustment means 22 then successively executes an initialization phase, an adjustment phase and a display phase according to the flow diagram of FIG. 2.

Initiation phase

The adjustment means 22 emits a signal on its output C to place the switches 26 and 28 in state b, that is to say block the pulses applied to the counters 8 and 12 and, simultaneously, reads the contents of counters 8 and 12 to know the position of the minute and hour hands. It then emits the number of pulses required on the outputs Mmn and Mh to bring the hands back to the position corresponding to the predetermined time reference (this does not affect the operation of the counters 6, 8 and 12). For example, if the time reference is noon, the hands are returned to the position they would have if the contents of counters 8 and 12 were equal to zero.

Adjustment phase

In this phase, the user defines the new position of the time reference by marking, using the hands, the position chosen for this time reference. The movement of the hands is controlled by the control rod, the movement of the latter being interpreted by the circuit 24 which sends corresponding pulses to the input D of the adjustment means 22 which, in turn, emits on its outputs Mmn and Mh of the control pulses to the motors 14 and 16.

Preferably, in this phase, the needles remain constantly superimposed. In other words, the adjustment means 22 or the user sends the same pulses to the two motors 14 and 16. This allows the user to better realize that the timepiece is in adjustment.

Of course, it is also possible to make the adjustment means so that only one of the hands is used to indicate the position of the time reference.

You can also choose a time reference corresponding to different positions for the minute hand and the hour hand. For example, with six hours (or eighteen hours) as the time reference, the hands are exactly opposite.

Display phase

When the user has marked the new position desired for the time reference, he exits the adjustment mode with a special handling of the control rod. The adjustment means 22 then reads the content of the minute counters 8 and hours 12, which define the current time, and sends the appropriate number of pulses to the motors 14 and 16 to move the hands from the position of reference to the display position of the current time.

For example, if the time reference is noon or midnight (which corresponds to the value zero in counters 8 and 12), it suffices to move each hand a number of steps equal to the content of the associated counter for the time is displayed normally with respect to the new position which marks midday or midnight.

The two examples of adjustment which follow illustrate the operation of the timepiece according to the invention.

In Figure 3a, there is shown a wrist watch intended to be worn on the left wrist. The control rod is therefore on the right. The dial is fitted with four different indexes at 12, 3, 6 and 9. The minute and hour hands each make 60 steps per revolution of the dial.

Typically, noon and midnight are marked by the superposition of the two hands at 12 o'clock. This time is chosen as the time reference. The current time is therefore 16h 18 mn. The content CPmn of the minute counter is thus equal to 18, and the content CP _H of the hour counter is 21.

When the user enters the adjustment mode, the two hands move until they are in the position marking the time reference (initialization phase). They are then superimposed at 12 o'clock (see Figure 3b).

The user then defines the new desired position for the time reference, by marking this position with the hands (adjustment phase). In FIG. 3c, the new position of the time reference is at 6 o'clock. This means that, at noon or midnight, the hands are in the position shown in Figure 3c.

The user then exits the adjustment mode. At this time, the adjustment means moves the hands (display phase) so that they display the current time, taking into account the new position of the time reference. In the case shown, where the time reference is noon or midnight, just advance each hand a number of steps equal to the content of the corresponding counter (see Figure 3d).

It should be noted that during the whole adjustment operation the counters continue to be incremented normally by the time base, so that the number of steps by which the hands have to be advanced is not necessarily equal to the content of the counters at start of the adjustment operation.

The wristwatch can now be worn on the right wrist with the control rod on the left. Adjusting the position of the time reference allows the two hands to be superimposed when it is noon or midnight.

On the same principle, it is possible to easily transform a wristwatch, intended for example to be worn on the left wrist, into a pocket watch. Figures 4a to 4d illustrate this transformation.

In FIG. 4a, the wristwatch is intended to be worn on the left wrist, with the control rod on the right. We choose as time reference midday / midnight and the position of this one is at 12 o'clock.

Thus, when the user enters the adjustment mode, the two hands move until they are in the position marking the time reference (initialization phase), that is to say that they overlap at 12 noon (see Figure 4b).

To transform the wristwatch into a pocket watch, the user then moves the hands to 3 o'clock (see Figure 4c) to indicate the new position desired for the time reference.

Returning to normal mode, the adjustment means reposition the hands to display the current time, taking into account the new position of the time reference (cf. FIG. 4d).

In the embodiments described above, the time reference is indicated by the position of the superposed hands in the adjustment phase. It is clear that in order to be able to superimpose the hands and move them together, the timepiece movement must include one motor per hand.

In the case of a single motor for driving the two needles, the position of a determined needle can be used to mark the position of the time reference. To adjust this time reference, it is of course necessary to have a declutching system, to break the kinematic connection between the two hands at least during the display phase. This can be easily achieved by coupling a wheel of the kinematic chain to the control rod.

Advantageously, the adjustment means can be provided with a table containing a limited number of positions authorized for the time reference. This table is preferably filled in the factory by the manufacturer of the timepiece.

In particular, in the case where the time reference is noon / midnight, it can be imposed that the possible positions are the four positions which in a normal watch indicate 3h, 6h, 9h and 12h.

Claims (10)

1. Electronic timepiece having an analog display with an hour hand, a minute hand, a watch movement to drive said hands, a printed circuit and external control means to control the position of the hands, whereby to indicate a determined time reference the said hands occupy a determined position, characterized in that it comprises adjustment means (22) to reorient the position of said predetermined time reference with respect to the position of the external control means, said adjustment means (22) being constituted by a microprogrammed processor of the printed circuit.
2. Timepiece according to claim 1, characterized in that the adjustment means (22) are actuated by a specific manipulation of the external control means.
3. Timepiece according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that, when the adjustment means (22) are actuated, the position of the time reference is defined by the position of a predetermined hand, fixed using said external control means.
4. Timepiece according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that, when the adjustment means (22) are actuated, the hour and minute hands are superimposed, and in that the time reference is defined by the position, fixed using said external control means, of said hour and minute hands.
5. Timepiece according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises driving means (14) for the hour hand and driving means (16) for the minute hand which are independent, at least when the adjustment means are actuated.
6. Timepiece according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises a counter for the position of the hour hand (12) and a counter for the position of the minute hand (8), the content of each counter being representative of the distance between the current position of the associated hand and the time reference.
7. Timepiece according to claim 6, characterized in that the content of each counter (8, 12) equals zero when the hands are at the time reference.
8. Timepiece according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the time reference is midnight.
9. Timepiece according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the adjustment means have a table memorizing a predetermined number of allowable positions for the time reference which can only be chosen when the adjustment means are actuated.
10. Timepiece according to claim 9, characterized in that the said predetermined permissible positions contained in said table are spaced apart at 90° from one another.

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