Timepiece
AssigneeSeiko Instruments Inc.
InventorsHaruki Hiranuma, Masahiro Ishida
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides a timepiece which can lightly rotate an operation member to rotate an display body, while exhibiting a high level of waterproof performance around the operation member. One of the pipe and a shaft portion of the operation member inserted into the pipe has a first annular contact surface, and a second annular contact surface that have different diameters A packing capable of elastic deformation and configured to effect waterproofing between the pipe and the shaft portion is mounted. In operation, the packing is selectively brought into contact with the first and second contact surfaces such that the packing is pressed harder on one of the first and second contact surfaces than on the other.
Claims7
A timepiece comprising:
- a case having a through-hole formed therein in a first direction;
- a display body having a display and accommodated in the case so that the display can rotate in the case;
- a pipe fixed in the through-hole;
- an operation member having a head arranged outside the case for rotational operation, and a shaft being inserted in the pipe for rotation, the shaft having an inner end portion protruding out from an inner end of the pipe towards inside the case in the first direction, the shaft being movable in the pipe in the first direction to position the operation member relative to the pipe between a first position and a second position located at a location different from the first position in the first direction;
- a drive mechanism attached to the inner end portion of the shaft and operably connected to the display to rotate the display by operation of the operation member;
- first and second contact sections formed along the first direction by an inner peripheral surface of the pipe and an outer peripheral surface of the shaft, a first gap formed in the first contact section between the inner peripheral surface of the pipe and the outer peripheral surface of the shaft being narrower than a second gap formed in the second contact section between the inner peripheral surface of the pipe and the outer peripheral surface of the shaft;
- and
- a ring-like packing pressed between the inner peripheral surface of the pipe and the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion and selectively positionable in the first contact section or the second contact section as the operation member moves in the first direction between the first and second positions, the ring-like packing being so sized that the ring-like packing effects waterproof between the pipe and the shaft in both first and second contact sections and that the ring-like packing is pressed harder in the first contact section than it is in the second contact section, wherein the ring-like packing when positioned in the first contact section exerts more friction on relative rotation between the pipe and shaft to cause rotation of the display by the operation member heavier than it does when positioned in the second contact section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.