SYSTEM FOR CONNECTING A BRACELET TO A WATCH CASE

• US 20140098649A1
• Filed: 07/12/2013
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Swatch Group Management Services AG (The Swatch Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Swatch Group Management Services AG (The Swatch Group AG)
• Inventors: TSCHUMI, Philipp
• Granted Patent: US 9,004,750 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 368/282
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 37/1486 Arrangements for fixing to a bracelet building watches into bracelets (montre marquise) G04B37/12; arrangements for hanging pocket- or other watches on chains G04B37/1446
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 24/4782 Watch strap

Abstract

System for connecting a bracelet to a watch case (18) by means of a link (10), the watch case (18) comprising a caseband (20) and a back cover (26), the link (10) comprising a first hollow element (12) and a second element (14) partly nesting in the first hollow element (12), the first hollow element (12) carrying a first means (28) of fastening to the watch case (18) and the second element (14) carrying a second means (30) of fastening to an adjacent bracelet link (16), characterized in that the watch case (18) includes a mechanical device arranged to pivot the first hollow element (12) so that said first hollow element (12) is pressed against the caseband (20) of the watch case (18).

Claims

1. A system for connecting a bracelet to a watch case by means of a link, wherein the watch case comprises a caseband and a back cover, the link comprising a first hollow element and a second element partly nesting in the first hollow element, wherein the first hollow element carries a first means of fastening to the watch case and the second element carries a second means of fastening to an adjacent bracelet link, wherein the watch case includes a mechanical device arranged to pivot the first hollow element so that said first hollow element is pressed against the caseband of the watch case.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the mechanical device includes at least one adjusting screw arranged to be screwed farther or less far into a threaded hole arranged in the bottom face of the back cover of the watch case, located on the side of the user'"'"'s wrist, wherein the adjusting screw comprises a head via which the adjusting screw cooperates with an opposite surface of the first hollow element.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the second element includes a plate which, on the watch case side, is provided with a hollow cylindrical hinge enabling a fastening pin to pass therethrough and which, on the bracelet side, is provided with a second means of fastening to an adjacent bracelet link.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the means of fastening the plate to the adjacent bracelet link includes hinge pins used in conjunction with a bar.

5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the first hollow element forms an envelope delimited by a front face, a rear face and two lateral faces, wherein a housing, inside which the second element slides, is arranged in the first hollow element, said housing passing right through the first hollow element and ending, at the front, in the front face side and at the rear, in the rear face side of the first hollow element, and wherein the housing is sized so that the plate projects from the first hollow element.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein the first hollow element forms an envelope delimited by a front face, a rear face and two lateral faces, wherein a housing, inside which the second element slides, is arranged in the first hollow element, said housing passing right through the first hollow element and ending, at the front, in the front face side and at the rear, in the rear face side of the first hollow element, and wherein the housing is sized so that the plate projects from the first hollow element.

7. The system according to claim 5, wherein the first means of fastening the first hollow element to the watch case includes a bore made transversely to the longitudinal direction of the bracelet in the lateral faces of the first hollow element and which ends in the housing, wherein the bore is arranged to receive the fastening pin.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the first means of fastening the first hollow element to the watch case includes a bore made transversely to the longitudinal direction of the bracelet in the lateral faces of the first hollow element and which ends in the housing, wherein the bore is arranged to receive the fastening pin.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the caseband is extended in the longitudinal direction of the bracelet by horns in which a hole is made and between which the link slides so that the holes made in the horns, the bore machined in the first hollow element and the hollow cylindrical hinge are aligned, wherein the fastening pin is passed in succession through the hole in one of the horns, then through the bore and the hollow cylindrical hinge until the fastening pin emerges in the hole of the other horn.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the caseband is extended in the longitudinal direction of the bracelet by horns in which a hole is made and between which the link slides so that the holes made in the horns, the bore machined in the first hollow element and the hollow cylindrical hinge are aligned, wherein the fastening pin is passed in succession through the hole in one of the horns, then through the bore and the hollow cylindrical hinge until the fastening pin emerges in the hole of the other horn.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the fastening pin has, at one end thereof, an increased diameter and, at the other end thereof, a threaded hole for a screw to be screwed into.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the fastening pin has, at one end thereof, an increased diameter and, at the other end thereof, a threaded hole for a screw to be screwed into.