Tool for separating a bottom cover from the center of a timepiece case, bottom cover having a slot suitable for receiving the tool, and timepiece equipped with such a bottom cover

Abstract

The invention relates to a timepiece and a tool intended to be used by a watchmaker to separate a bottom cover from the center of the case, the tool having the appearance of a wedge, i.e. an acute-angled shaped part formed by a first face and a second face, the first face and the second face intersecting at an angle less than 90° and connected to each other by a rounded portion, the bottom cover of the timepiece being delimited externally by a periphery, provided at at least one point of the periphery with a slit which releases a space allowing the watchmaker to engage the end of the tool, with the aid of which a lever action is exerted on the bottom cover in order to separate it from the center of the case, the slit comprising a surface inclined at an acute angle relative to a mean plane when the bottom cover is fixed to the center of the case, the inclined surface extending away from the center of the case towards its bottom and being extended by a rounded portion which facilitates the connection between the inclined surface and the bottom surface of the bottom cover.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a tool intended to assist a watchmaker in separating a bottom cover from the centre of a case of a timepiece, as well as to a bottom cover having a slot suitable for receiving the tool, and a timepiece equipped with such a bottom cover. Background Art

[0002] When a watch is returned to the factory (for example for maintenance or repair), the bottom cover of the watch must be opened. However, the operation consisting of opening the bottom cover of the watch case is always delicate and requires great care from the watchmaker who performs such an intervention. The category of bottom covers to which the present invention relates includes bottom covers that are mounted on the center of the case by interlocking with a gasket insert between the bottom cover and the center of the case. In order to allow the bottom cover to be opened, this bottom cover usually has a slit at a point on its outer peripheral edge that allows the watchmaker to insert a tool between the bottom cover and the center of the case to which it is attached. In order to subsequently detach the bottom cover from the center of the case, there are two possible techniques: either the watchmaker engages the tool inside the slit and rotates it about itself so that the bottom cover can be gradually detached from the center of the case by levering; or the watchmaker pushes the tool forward several times and gradually engages it between the bottom cover and the center of the case, thereby using a tool like a wedge to detach the bottom cover from the center of the case. Whatever technique is chosen by the watchmaker to separate the bottom cover from the centre of the case, and despite the great care taken by the watchmaker when carrying out this operation, the bottom cover often shows marks as a consequence of the disassembly operation. More specifically, currently, the seams made on the bottom cover to allow the tool to engage and separate the bottom cover from the centre of the case are arranged so that: when the tool engages, it very often damages the outer peripheral edge of the bottom cover and leaves marks that are clearly visible to the naked eye once the bottom cover has been reassembled. It goes without saying that the watchmaker cannot return an already damaged watch to its owner after maintenance. Therefore, when such a problem occurs, either the bottom cover must be reworked in order to make the marks disappear (an operation known in the watchmaking world as "repair"), or the bottom cover must be replaced. In both cases, this results in additional costs that, of course, cannot be charged to the owner of the watch. By looking at the attached patent application Figure 1 will better understand the problem, Figure 1is a partial cross-sectional view of a watch case in an area provided with a slot according to the prior art, which enables the watchmaker to insert a tool with the help of which the bottom cover is separated from the case centre. The watch case as a whole is indicated by the general reference 1, comprising a case centre 2, at the base of which a bottom cover 4 is interlocked with the insertion of a gasket 6 between it and the case centre 2. At one point of its periphery, the bottom cover 4 has a slot 8 which releases a space 10 between it and the case centre 2 allowing the watchmaker to engage the end of a tool 12 with which he will exert a lever action on the bottom cover 4 to separate it from the case centre 2.

[0003] In the following description, the watch movement 14 housed in the watch case 1 extends in a mean plane P, and a plane or a surface will be referred to as a "horizontal plane" when it extends in a plane parallel to this mean plane P. The term "mean" plane P is used only because the watch movement 14 has a thickness that cannot be reduced to a single plane. Figure 1 As can be seen in the figure, the tool 12 has the appearance of a wedge, i.e. an acutely shaped part formed by a first face 12a and a second face 12b which intersect at an angle α less than 90° and are connected to each other by a rounded portion 12c. The seam 8 made in the bottom cover 4 takes the form of a surface 8a which is inclined relative to the horizontal plane when the bottom cover 4 is attached to the case center 2. This inclined surface 8a extends away from the case center 2 towards its bottom and is extended by a rounded portion 8b which facilitates the connection between the inclined surface 8a and the bottom surface 16 of the bottom cover 4. As can be seen from Figure 1 It can be seen that the rounded portion 8 b forms the outer edge 18 of the bottom cover 4 .

[0004] Figure 1 It is shown that, in order to separate bottom cover 4 from case center 2 , tool 12 engages inside seam 8 and is oriented so that its first face 12 a extends horizontally, ie parallel to a mean plane P in which timepiece movement 14 extends. Figure 1 It is also shown that, when the watchmaker engages tool 12 inside space 10 freed by seam 8 between case centre 2 and bottom cover 4, tool 12 bears via its second face 12 b on outer edge 18 of bottom cover 4. Therefore, if, in order to separate bottom cover 4 from case centre 2, the watchmaker needs to exert a slightly excessive levering action with tool 12, the watchmaker may damage outer edge 18 of bottom cover 4 and leave clearly visible marks 19 in the area where tool 12 bears on outer edge 18 of bottom cover 4. It goes without saying that, in this case, the watchmaker cannot return the watch to its owner and must either rework bottom cover 4 to make mark 19 disappear or obtain a new bottom cover to replace the damaged one. In both cases, this represents a loss of time and money for the watchmaker. Summary of the invention

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide a tool and a new arrangement for the bottom cover of a watch case which ensure that, in the event that a mark is left on the bottom cover by the tool when the watchmaker separates it from the case centre of the watch case, this mark will not be noticeable to the owner of the watch.

[0006] To this end, the invention relates to a timepiece and to a tool intended to be used by a watchmaker to separate a bottom cover from a case centre, the bottom cover and the case centre together delimiting a case of the timepiece, inside which a watch movement is housed, the tool having the appearance of a wedge, i.e. an acutely shaped part formed by a first face and a second face, the first face and the second face intersecting at an angle less than 90° and connected to each other by a rounded portion, the first face of the tool being oriented so that, when the watchmaker engages the tool between the bottom cover and the case centre in order to separate the bottom cover from the case centre, the first face extends parallel to a mean plane in which the watch movement is situated, the rounded portion being connected to the second face by a curved portion, the curvature of the curved portion being directed in the direction indicated by the first face. Inside the surface defined by one face and a second face, the bottom cover of the timepiece is externally defined by a periphery, a slot being provided at at least one point of the periphery, the slot freeing up a space between the bottom cover and the center of the case allowing the watchmaker to engage the end of a tool with the aid of which he will exert a lever action on the bottom cover in order to separate it from the center of the case, the slot comprising a surface inclined at an acute angle relative to a mean plane when the bottom cover is fixed to the center of the case, the inclined surface extending away from the center of the case towards its bottom and being extended by a rounded portion which facilitates a connection between the inclined surface and the bottom surface of the bottom cover, the angle between the first face and the second face of the tool being smaller than the acute angle formed by the second inclined surface with the mean plane.

[0007] The invention also relates to a tool intended to be used by a watchmaker to separate a bottom cover from the centre of a case, the bottom cover and the case centre together defining a case of a timepiece, inside which a watch movement is housed, the tool having the appearance of a wedge, i.e. an acutely shaped part formed by a first face and a second face, the first face and the second face intersecting at an angle of less than 90° and connected to each other by a rounded portion, the first face of the tool being oriented so that, when the watchmaker engages the tool between the bottom cover and the case centre in order to separate the bottom cover from the case centre, the first face extends parallel to a mean plane in which the watch movement is situated, the rounded portion being connected to the second face by a curved portion, the curvature of the curved portion being directed towards the inside of the surface defined by the first face and the second face.

[0008] The invention also relates to a timepiece comprising a case, inside which a timepiece movement extending in a mean plane is housed, the case being delimited by a case centre closed at a base by a bottom cover, the bottom cover being delimited on the outside by a periphery on which a slit is provided at at least one point, the slit releasing a space between the bottom cover and the case centre allowing a watchmaker to engage the end of a tool with which he will exert a lever action on the bottom cover to separate it from the case centre, the slit comprising a surface inclined at an acute angle relative to the mean plane when the bottom cover is fixed to the case centre, the inclined surface extending away from the case centre towards its bottom and being extended by a rounded portion which facilitates a connection between the inclined surface and the bottom surface of the bottom cover. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly on reading the following detailed description concerning an example embodiment of a tool intended to allow a watchmaker to separate a bottom cover from the center of the case of a timepiece, this example being given with reference to the accompanying drawings provided solely for illustrative purposes and not intended to limit the scope of the invention, in which:

[0010] - Already mentioned Figure 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a watch case of the prior art in a region in which a slit is provided, which enables the watchmaker to insert a tool with the help of which the bottom cover is separated from the center of the watch case;

[0011] - Figure 2A is a partial cross-sectional view of a watch case showing the engagement of a tool according to the invention inside the space between the case center and the bottom cover of the watch case, the space being freed by a slit made in the bottom cover, and

[0012] - Figure 2B When the bottom cover has been separated from the center of the case Figure 2A Similar view of . DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The invention proceeds from the following general inventive concept which consists in providing watchmakers with a tool allowing them to separate a bottom cover from the case centre of a watch case without leaving traces on the bottom cover which are visible to the owner of the watch after the bottom cover has been reassembled on the case centre. The invention also relates to a watch case bottom cover with a seam, the profile of which is arranged so that, despite the great care taken by the watchmaker when separating the bottom cover from the case centre of the watch case, if the bottom cover is marked by this removal operation, the traces left on the bottom cover by the tool are not visible to the owner of the watch once the bottom cover has been reassembled on the case centre.

[0014] like Figure 2A20 according to the present invention has a wedge appearance, i.e., an acute-angled shaped component formed by a first face 20a and a second face 20b, which intersect at an angle α less than 90° and are connected to each other by a rounded portion 20c. More specifically, the rounded portion 20c is connected to the second face 20b of the tool 20 by a curved portion 20d, the curvature of the curved portion 20d being directed toward the inside of a surface 20e of the tool 20 defined by the first face 20a and the second face 20b.

[0015] As will be better understood from the following description, tool 20 is intended to be used by a watchmaker to separate bottom cover 22 from case centre 24, bottom cover 22 and case centre 24 together delimiting case 26 of timepiece 28, inside which watch movement 30 is housed. More specifically, first face 20a of tool 20 is arranged so that, when the watchmaker engages tool 20 between bottom cover 22 and case centre 24 in order to separate this bottom cover 22 from this case centre 24, this first face 20a extends parallel to a mean plane P in which watch movement 30 is located.

[0016] Still according to the invention, bottom cover 22 of timepiece 28 is delimited externally by a periphery on which, at at least one point, a slot 32 is made, which frees, between this bottom cover 22 and case centre 24, a space 34 allowing a watchmaker to engage the end of a tool 20 by means of which he will exert a lever action on bottom cover 22 in order to detach it from case centre 24. To allow engagement of tool 20, slot 32 comprises a first planar surface 32a parallel to a mean plane P in which watch movement 30 extends, extended by a second inclined planar surface 32b via a first rounded portion 32c; this second inclined planar surface 32b forms an acute angle β with mean plane P when bottom cover 22 is fixed to case centre 24. This second inclined planar surface 32b extends away from case centre 24 towards its bottom and is extended by a portion 32d, for example rounded, which facilitates the connection between second inclined planar surface 32b and a bottom surface 36 of bottom cover 22.

[0017] To facilitate the engagement of tool 20 inside slot 32, the angle α between first face 20a and second face 20b of tool 20 is smaller than the acute angle β formed by second inclined surface 32b with mean plane P, which allows tool 20 to bear via its curved portion 20d in a region 38 of first rounded portion 32c of slot 32, which region 38 will not be perceptible to the owner of timepiece 28 once bottom cover 22 has been reattached to case centre 24. Thus, even if region 38 were to show signs of the operation to separate bottom cover 22 from case centre 24, this sign would no longer be visible when bottom cover 22 is reassembled.

[0018] It goes without saying that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and that numerous simple substitutions and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

[0019] Reference numerals list

[0020] 1. Case

[0021] 2. Case center

[0022] 4. Bottom cover

[0023] 6. Washer

[0024] 8. Sewing

[0025] 8a. Inclined Surface

[0026] 8b. Rounded part

[0027] 10. Space

[0028] 12. Tools

[0029] 12a. Page 1

[0030] 12b. Second side

[0031] 12c. Rounded part

[0032] 14. Watch movement

[0033] 16. Bottom surface

[0034] 18. Outer edge

[0035] P. Mean plane

[0036] α. Angle less than 90°

[0037] 19. Trace

[0038] 20. Tools

[0039] 20a. Page 1

[0040] 20b. Second side

[0041] 20c. Rounded part

[0042] 20d. Bend

[0043] 20e. Surface

[0044] 22. Bottom cover

[0045] 24. Case center

[0046] 26. Watch case

[0047] 28. Clock

[0048] 30. Watch movement

[0049] 32. Sewing

[0050] 32a. First planar surface

[0051] 32b. Second inclined plane surface

[0052] 32c. First rounded portion

[0053] 32d. Second rounded part

[0054] 34. Space

[0055] 36. Bottom surface

[0056] 38. Region

[0057] P. Mean plane

[0058] α. Angle less than 90°

[0059] β. Acute angle

Claims

1. A tool (20) intended to be used by a watchmaker to separate a bottom cover (22) of a timepiece (28) from a case centre (24), said bottom cover (22) and said case centre (24) together defining a case (26) of said timepiece (28), inside said case (26) a watch movement (30) being housed, said tool (20) having the appearance of a wedge, i.e. an acutely angled part formed by a first face (20a) and a second face (20b), said first face (20a) and said second face (20b) intersecting at an angle (α) less than 90° and connected to each other by a rounded portion (20c), said tool The first face (20a) of the tool (20) is arranged so that: when the watchmaker engages the tool (20) between the bottom cover (22) and the case center (24) to separate the bottom cover (22) from the case center (24), the watch movement (30) extends along a mean plane (P), the first face (20a) is parallel to the mean plane (P), the rounded portion (20c) is connected to the second face (20b) by a curved portion (20d), and the curved direction of the curved portion (20d) is defined by the first face (20a) and the second face (20b). The bottom cover (22) of the timepiece (28) is delimited externally by a periphery provided with a slit (32) at at least one point of the periphery, the slit (32) releasing a space (34) between the bottom cover (22) and the case center (24) allowing the watchmaker to engage the end of the tool (20) with the aid of which the watchmaker will exert a lever action on the bottom cover (22) in order to separate the bottom cover (22) from the case center (24), the slit (32) comprising a first planar surface parallel to the mean plane (P) (32a), the first plane surface (32a) is extended by a second inclined plane surface (32b), when the bottom cover (22) is fixed to the center (24) of the case, the second inclined plane surface (32b) forms an acute angle (β) with the average plane (P), the second inclined plane surface (32b) extends away from the center (24) of the case toward its bottom, and the angle (α) between the first surface (20a) and the second surface (20b) of the tool (20) is smaller than the acute angle (β) formed by the second inclined plane surface (32b) and the average plane (P).

2. A tool (20) intended to be used by a watchmaker to separate a bottom cover (22) from a case centre (24), said bottom cover (22) and said case centre (24) together delimiting a case (26) of a timepiece (28), inside said case (26) housing a watch movement (30), said bottom cover (22) being delimited externally by a periphery on which a seam (32) is provided at at least one point, said tool (20) having the appearance of a wedge, i.e. consisting of a first face (20a) and a second face (20b) ), the first face (20a) and the second face (20b) intersecting at an angle (α) less than 90° and connected to each other by a rounded portion (20c), the first face (20a) of the tool (20) being oriented so that, when the watchmaker engages the tool (20) between the bottom cover (22) and the case center (24) in order to separate the bottom cover (22) from the case center (24), the watch movement (30) extends along a mean plane (P) , the first surface (20a) is parallel to the average plane (P), the chamfered portion (20c) is connected to the second surface (20b) by a curved portion (20d), the curvature of the curved portion (20d) is directed toward the inner side of the surface (20e) defined by the first surface (20a) and the second surface (20b), the slit (32) includes a first planar surface (32a) parallel to the average plane (P), the first planar surface (32a) is extended by a second inclined planar surface (32b) via a first chamfered portion (32c), when the bottom cover (22) is fixed to the center (24) of the case, the second inclined planar surface (32b) forms an acute angle (β) with the average plane (P), the angle (α) between the first surface (20a) and the second surface (20b) of the tool (20) is smaller than the acute angle (β), and the tool (20) is supported in the region of the first chamfered portion (32c) of the slit (32) via its curved portion (20d).

3. A timepiece (28) comprising a case (26) inside which a timepiece movement (30) extending along a mean plane (P) is housed, the case (26) being delimited by a case centre (24) closed at the base by a bottom cover (22), the bottom cover (22) being delimited externally by a periphery on which a slit (32) is provided at at least one point, the slit (32) releasing a space (34) between the bottom cover (22) and the case centre (24) allowing the watchmaker to engage the end of a tool (20) of the acute angled shape formed by a first face (20a) and a second face (20b), the first face (20a) and the second face (20b) intersecting at an angle (α) less than 90°, with the aid of the tool (20) A lever action is applied on the tool (22) to separate the bottom cover (22) from the case center (24), the gap (32) comprising a first plane surface (32a) parallel to the average plane (P), the first plane surface (32a) extending from a second inclined plane surface (32b) via a first rounded portion (32c), the second inclined plane surface (32b) forming an acute angle (β) with the average plane (P) when the bottom cover (22) is fixed to the case center (24), the second inclined plane surface (32b) extending away from the case center (24) toward its bottom, the angle (α) between the first face (20a) and the second face (20b) of the tool (20) being smaller than the acute angle (β), which allows the tool (20) to be supported in the area of ​​the first rounded portion (32c) of the gap (32).

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