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US 5,673,238 AGranted
Electronic watch with minute-repeater function
AssigneeETA SA Fabriques d'Ebauches
InventorJean-Claude Berney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic watch with a minute-repeater function wherein the strike is accompanied by characteristic movements of the hands. In a simple alternative embodiment, the watch comprises two independent hour and minute hands, driven by their own motor. When the minute-repeater function is activated, the two hands come first of all to 0, then return to their initial position making movements corresponding to each type of strike, hour strike=+1 hour, 15 minutes strike=+15 minutes, etc.
Claims7
A watch with a minute-repeater function, said watch comprising:
- control means, an hour hand and a minute hand driven by at least one stepping motor for displaying the time of day when the hands are in a normal position, and an electronic circuit comprising hour and minute counting means and means for generating hour and minute acoustic signals in connection with these counting means and in response to manipulation of said control means, said electronic circuit being arranged to act on said hour and minute hands so that, in response to said manipulation of the control means, the hands pass from said normal position to a reference position and then return to said normal position, and that said hands perform characteristic movements in association with said hour and minute acoustic signals when the hands pass between said normal position and said reference position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.