Electroluminescent display and luminous timepiece dial

Abstract

An electroluminescent display which is simple to manufacture and which is capable of high luminance consists of a transparent electrode disposed on a transparent substrate. On the transparent electrode are sequentially laminated layers including a fluorescent print pattern layer, a luminescent layer, an insulating layer and a rear electrode layer. The fluorescent layer is preferably formed of a fluorescent pigment and a fluoride resin binder and is provided at a portion of the electroluminescent display at which a display is to be created, such as the time indicating indicia on the dial of a timepiece. In a preferred embodiment, the electroluminescent display is provided as a timepiece dial and has a central hole therethrough for providing shafts for driving an hour hand, a minute hand and a second hand. Upon application of an electric field between the display electrodes, portions of the luminescent layer other than those which correspond to the time indicia emit light with a luminescent color dependent upon the material of the luminescent layer. The luminescent color becomes the background color of the dial. The time indicia portion formed of the patterned fluorescent layer produces secondary luminescence in response to the light emitted by the luminescent layer and received by the fluorescent layer, such that the printed time indicia emits fluorescent light with a bright fluorescent color in contrast with the luminescent background color.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.