Crown setting device for a timepiece
AssigneeTimex Corporation
InventorsJean Louis Cuinet, Michel Plancon, Yves Vuillame, Chan Kwong Fung
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Crown setting device for an alarm setting crown and/or a time setting crown in an analog wristwatch uses a rotatable top ring mounted on the watch case, having gear teeth on its underside which mesh with gear teeth on the crown(s) to rotate the crown(s). This serves to set the time and/or alarms with less time and effort than conventional crown setting. Preferably involute gear teeth are used, but a simple version employs the conventional crown knurling as "teeth".
Claims17
Improved crown setting device for an analog timepiece having a case with a sidewall, a movement having settable gear means disposed inside said case, a setting stem rotatably mounted in the case sidewall in a first axial position, the setting stem being axially slidable to engage said settable gear means to perform a setting function when the setting stem is rotated in a second axial position, said crown setting device comprising:
- a crown connected to said setting stem and having surface portions accessible outside of the case for enabling manual actuation in either axial direction between the first and second positions,
- a top ring rotatably mounted on said case and adapted to be manually rotated,
- first means including a first set of teeth disposed on the underside of said top ring, wherein said first means comprises a carrier ring having teeth formed in the underside thereof, and said top ring comprises a bezel ring attached to said carrier ring, and
- second means including a second set of teeth disposed on said crown, said second set of teeth meshing with said first set of teeth in both the first and second axial positions.
Improved crown setting device for an analog alarm calendar timepiece with watch hands, date ring and alarm setting rings and having a case with a sidewall, a movement having first settable gear means connected to the watch hands, second settable gear means connected to the date ring, and third settable gear means connected to the alarm setting rings disposed inside said case, a time setting stem rotatably mounted in the case sidewall in a first axial position, the time setting stem being axially slidable to engage said first settable gear means to perform a fast date setting function when the setting stem is rotated in a second axial position, and engageable with the second settable gear means to perform a time setting function when the setting stem is rotated in a third axial position, a time setting crown connected to said time setting stem and having surface portions accessible outside of the case for enabling manual actuation in either axial direction between the first, second, and third positions, an alarm setting stem rotatably mounted in the case sidewall in a first axial position to engage the third settable gear means to perform an alarm or timer setting function, the alarm setting stem being axially slidable to disengage from the third settable gear means to electrically activate the alarm function when the alarm setting stem is pulled in a second axial position and to electrically activate the timer function when the alarm setting stem is pulled in a third axial position, and an alarm setting crown connected to said alarm setting stem and having surface portions accessible outside of the case for enabling manual actuation in either axial direction between the first, second and third positions, the crown setting device comprising:
- a top ring rotatably mounted on said case and adapted to be manually rotated,
- first means including a first set of teeth disposed on the underside of said top ring,
- second means including a second set of teeth disposed on said time setting crown, said second set of teeth meshing with said first set of teeth in the first, second and third axial positions, and
- third means including a third set of teeth disposed on said alarm setting crown, said third set of teeth meshing with said first set of teeth in the first, second and third axial positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.