Exterior component for watch or jewellery, and method for manufacturing such exterior component

Abstract

To provide an exterior component for a watch, especially a dial, crystal, or back crystal with complex decoration.SOLUTION: An exterior component 10 for a watch or jewellery comprises a substrate 100 manufactured of transparent material, and the substrate 100 includes an outer face 102 and an inner face 101 on the opposite side. The inner face 101 has a structure processing part 103 extending over its entire surface. The exterior component 10 includes at least one metal layer called "inner metal layer 104" deposited on a portion of a surface of the inner face 101 so as to form decorations. A portion on the surface of the inner face 101 not covered with the inner metal layer 104 is covered with an anti-reflection coating 107.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention is in the field of watchmaking or jewellery, more particularly in the field of watches or jewellery. The present invention relates to exterior components for jewelry, and to a method for manufacturing such exterior components. It concerns the method. [Background technology]

[0002] In particular, in the field of watchmaking, exterior components for watches, in particular dials, Generally, the substrate has the decoration made of thin layers deposited on the surface.

[0003] Depending on the level of detail, these decorations can be complex to produce and can be very time-consuming. The work can require a level of precision that is difficult to achieve. Fabrication requires the use of automated tools, e.g. digitally controlled machining means. There is, which is characterized by the implementation of arts and crafts skills to obtain unique timepieces, This may not be compatible with the production of luxury watches.

[0004] Moreover, certain decorations are difficult to achieve even with automated tools due to their complexity and the Due to the precision required to manufacture it, it may be technically impossible to produce. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Within this context, the object of the present invention is to provide a watch, in particular a dial having a complex decoration, The second step is to make exterior components, such as crystal or back crystal.

[0006] More generally, the present invention aims to simplify the creation of jewelry having intricate ornamentation. Insofar as this is the case, it addresses the same challenges in the field of jewellery. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks and for this purpose provides a watch or piece of jewelry that is A decorative component comprising a substrate made of a transparent material, the substrate having an outer surface and a reflecting surface. The present invention relates to a sheath component having an opposing inner surface. The exterior component has structuring that extends over the entire surface, and the exterior component is decorative. at least one metal layer deposited on a portion of the structure to form an inner The parts of the structure not covered by the metal layer are covered with an anti-reflective coating. do.

[0008] The present invention relates to any method adapted to generate reliefs or irregularities on the surface of an inner surface. This makes it possible to fabricate structured parts. In fact, the effect of anti-reflective coating Eliminates the visual appearance of the structure present on the part of the inner surface that is not covered by the metal layer. This allows, for example, the manual production of structured parts.

[0009] More specifically, only the metal layer, which is transparent through the substrate, has a textured appearance. In order to mask the internal structures that may be present on the parts of the surface that are not covered by the metal layer, In other words, the present invention seeks to provide a method for, with the exception of metal layers, It makes it possible to guarantee the transparency of the entire exterior component. It will be appreciated that the present invention allows for a great deal of flexibility.

[0010] The purpose of the structured portion is to reduce the reflection of light, especially the metal layer, in order to diffuse the reflection more. The object of the present invention is to reduce specular reflection caused by

[0011] In a specific embodiment, the present invention relates to any of the above compounds, alone or in any technically possible combination. The present invention may further include one or more of the following features, implemented by:

[0012] In certain embodiments, the inner surface includes a structure across its entire surface; It includes a metal layer called the "inner metal layer."

[0013] In certain embodiments, the outer surface of the substrate is polished.

[0014] In certain embodiments, the exterior component is deposited on a portion of a surface of the exterior surface of the substrate. and at least one metal layer, referred to as the "outer metal layer", comprising: an anti-reflective coating covering said exterior surface or an anti-reflective coating covering said exterior surface; is deposited on the coating.

[0015] In certain embodiments, the inner metal layer is covered with an anti-reflective coating.

[0016] According to another aspect, the present invention provides a housing formed by an exterior component as described above, Pertaining to the face, crystal or back crystal of a watch.

[0017] According to yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing exterior components of a watch or piece of jewelry. 13. A method of comprising: Structuring an entire surface of an inner surface of the substrate to create a structuring portion; At least one metal layer, called an "inner metal layer," is applied to a portion of the inner surface to form a decoration. depositing another metal layer; on the inner surface of the substrate, at least on a portion of the inner surface of the substrate that is not covered by the inner metal layer. depositing an anti-reflective coating; The present invention relates to a method comprising the steps of:

[0018] In a particular implementation, the method includes depositing an "exterior" layer on a portion of the exterior surface of the substrate to form a decoration. depositing a metal layer, called the "side metal layer," on the outer surface; The method includes steps performed before or after depositing a coating.

[0019] In a particular implementation, the exterior surface is polished during a pre-polishing step.

[0020] In a particular implementation, during the step of depositing the anti-reflective coating, the inner metal The layer is covered with an anti-reflective coating.

[0021] In a particular implementation, the structuring step is performed by laser processing or mechanical processing. This is carried out by:

[0022] Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: This will become apparent from the following detailed description. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exterior component of a watch according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the exterior component shown in FIG. 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the exterior component of FIG. 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4]2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the exterior component of FIG. 1 according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] The present invention relates to a watch or jewelry item, as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 to FIG. The present invention relates to a mounting component 10.

[0025] The exterior component 10 is a substrate 10 made of a transparent material such as sapphire or glass. 0. The substrate 100 is transparent to light whose wavelengths lie at least within the visible spectrum. The substrate 100 has an inner surface 102 opposite an outer surface 102. Has 01.

[0026] In a preferred application of the invention, the exterior component 10 is a watch face, a crystal, , or a back crystal. At that time, the inner surface 101 faces the watch movement. The outer surface 102 is intended to be disposed opposite a watch crystal. is.

[0027] Advantageously, the inner surface 101 or the outer surface 102 has a structure 103 over its entire surface. has.

[0028] Preferably, in the embodiment, as seen diagrammatically in FIGS. 2 to 4, the inner surface 101 is The structure processing portion 103 is, for example, engraving, guilloche, etc. By hand, by qualified workers, through engine-turning, etc. Alternatively, the surface of the inner surface 101 may be machined, chemically processed, laser processed, or the like. It can be produced by any material removal operation by creating leaves or irregularities. As a result, the structured portion 103 can be formed by engraving, machining, slatting, etc., on the inner surface 101. This can be achieved by finishing, etc.

[0029] The structure processing portion 103 of the inner surface 101 is formed on its entire surface so as to simplify the structure processing work. It has spread to.

[0030] Further, to improve the transparency of the substrate 100, the outer surface 102 is preferably The entire surface may be polished.

[0031] The exterior component 10 has a decoration over at least a portion of the surface of the inner surface 101. The outer casing includes at least one metal layer that is deposited to form a In an embodiment in which the component includes a decoration formed by a single metal layer on the surface of the inner surface 101. Of course, in other embodiments of the invention not described, multiple may be superimposed or juxtaposed on said surface of the inner surface 101.

[0032] More specifically, the metal layers are deposited to embody the graphic representation that forms the decoration. The metal layer may be made of any metallic material, or of any metallic material alloy, or of any It can be made from an oxide of a metallic material.

[0033] For example, the metal layer may be made of chromium oxide or chromium, palladium, gold, silver, etc. Good too.

[0034] In the embodiment shown in Figures 1-3, the exterior surface 102 also includes a decoration on a portion of its surface. In the present application, the exterior component has at least one metal layer that forms an outer surface. An embodiment is described that includes a decoration formed by a single metal layer on the surface of 102. Of course, in other embodiments of the invention not described, multiple metal layers may be provided on the outer surface. 102 may be superimposed or juxtaposed on said surface.

[0035] In the remainder of this document, the metal layer deposited on the inner surface 101 of the substrate 100 will be referred to as the “inner metal layer 1 104” and the metal layer deposited on the outer surface 102 of the substrate 100 is referred to as the “outer metal layer 105.” Oink.

[0036] An example of a decoration formed by an inner metal layer 104 and an outer metal layer 105 is shown in a perspective view in FIG. .

[0037] Furthermore, the inner metal layer 104 and the outer metal layer 105 are not covered by the The surface portions of the inner surface 101 and the outer surface 102 of the substrate 100 are referred to herein as “free regions 10 It is called "6".

[0038] Advantageously, all or part of the inner metal layer 104 is As with the structured portion 103 of the inner surface 101 on the part, it is visible to the user. Therefore, thanks to the structure processing portion 103, the inner metal layer 104 is Texture due to leaves or bumps (not shown in Fig. 1 for reasons of clarity) It has a visual appearance that is

[0039] The inner metal layer 104 and the outer metal layer 105 are respectively formed on the inner surface 101 of the substrate 100. and can be easily deposited on the exterior surface 102 to produce luxurious decorations. More specifically, this feature adds a depth effect between the two metal layers, thus This allows to add a depth effect to the decoration, said depth effect being achieved by dividing the two The distance separating the side metal layer 104 and the outer metal layer 105 from each other is proportional to the thickness of the substrate.

[0040] As shown diagrammatically in cross-section in FIGS. 2 to 4, the exterior component 10 has an inner surface 101 2. The optical fiber 100 includes an anti-reflective coating 107 that covers all of the free area 106 of the optical fiber 100. As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the anti-reflective coating also extends across the entire exterior surface 102. In particular, the outer metal layer 105 is a metal layer that is formed on the anti-reflective coating 10 as shown in FIG. 7 or is covered by an anti-reflective coating 107 as shown in FIG. It is believed that.

[0041] The anti-reflective coating is applied on or near the free area 106 of the inner surface 101 and the outer surface 102. Note that it may be possible to deposit on only selected surfaces, such as one of these.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 4, the exterior surface 102 may include an anti-reflective coating 107 and / or a metal layer. In other words, the outer surface does not include an anti-reflective coating 107. Alternatively, the metal layer may be included but not the anti-reflection coating. The coating 107 may be omitted or may include a metal layer or an anti-reflective coating 108. It does not have to include 07.

[0043] The anti-reflective coating 107 is a coating that is well known to those skilled in the art and is used for watch crystals. It may be of the same type as that used.

[0044] Advantageously, the effect of the anti-reflective coating 107 is reduced in the free area of ​​the inner surface 101 of the substrate 100. The objective is to eliminate the visual appearance of the structure 103 present on the surface 106. The anti-reflective coating 107 is deposited on the structure 103 as shown in FIG. The structure processing portion 103 is made invisible to the naked eye, and as a result, the inner surface 101 is The substrate 100 is uniformly transparent in the free area 106 as if it were polished in place. In doing so, an optical effect is produced.

[0045] The exterior component 10 as described above can be produced by the following steps of a manufacturing method: The entire surface of the inner surface 101 of the substrate 100 is structured to generate a structured portion 103. Steps and At least one inner metal layer 104 is applied over a portion of the inner surface 101 to form a decoration. In one embodiment of the present invention, the outer metal layer 105 is deposited on the substrate. The plate 100 is then subjected to a second metal layer deposition operation by depositing the second metal layer on a portion of the outer surface 102 of the plate 100. Tep and At least on the free area 106 of the inner surface 101, i.e. the inner surface not covered by the metal layer. depositing an anti-reflective coating 107 on the portion 101; Preferably, the anti-reflective coating A layer of 107 is also deposited on the inner metal layer 104 .

[0046] Advantageously, in one embodiment of the present invention, the anti-reflective coating 107 is as shown in FIG. Then, a possible outer metal layer 105 is deposited on the entire surface of the outer surface 102. 3, or on the outside of the anti-reflective coating 107. In addition to being deposited on the metal layer 105 , it may also be deposited on the free area 106 of the exterior surface 102 .

[0047] The inner metal layer 104 and possibly the outer metal layer 105 are preferably formed by physical vapor deposition (PVD) It is deposited by law.

[0048] The anti-reflective coating 107 is preferably deposited by plasma enhanced physical vapor deposition. can be.

[0049] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the anti-reflection coatings 107 are As with the deposition run, the time for the mutual deposition run of the inner metal layer 104 and the outer metal layer 105 is It should be noted that the sequence is not important.

[0050] Advantageously, the outer surface 102 is pretreated with a pre-treatment step, which is carried out before or immediately after the structural processing step. It is polished during the pre-polishing step.

[0051] More generally, the implementations and embodiments discussed above are described as non-limiting examples. It should be noted that other variations are possible, as a result.

[0052] In particular, in other embodiments of the present invention, the inner surface 101, the inner metal layer 104 and All of the arrangements regarding the outer surface 102, the outer metal layer 105, and the front surface 106 are connected to the structure 103. It is noted that the same method can be applied to possible structural features of the outer surface 102. stomach. [Explanation of symbols]

[0053] 10 Exterior Components 100 Substrates 101 Inside 102 Exterior 103 Structural processing department 104 Inner metal layer 105 Outer metal layer 106 Free area 107 Anti-reflective coating

Claims

1. In an exterior component (10) of a watch or piece of jewelry, a substrate made of a transparent material The substrate (100) includes an outer surface (102) and an inner surface (101) opposite the outer surface. A component (10), One of the inner surface (101) or the outer surface (102) has a structure extending over its entire surface. (103), and the exterior component (10) is configured to form a decoration. At least one metal layer is deposited on a portion of the structure (103), said inner metal The portions of the structure (103) that are not covered by the layer (104) are coated with an anti-reflection coating. An exterior component (10) characterized in that it is covered with a coating (107).

2. The inner surface (101) includes the structured portion (103) over the entire surface thereof, The exterior component of claim 1 further comprises a metal layer, referred to as "inner metal layer (104)". component (10).

3. The exterior component of claim 2, wherein the exterior surface (102) of the substrate (100) is polished. component (10).

4. An "outer metal layer (105)" is deposited on a portion of the surface of the outer surface (102) of the substrate (100). The outer metal layer (105) comprises at least one metal layer, which is called the outer metal layer (106). or covered with said anti-reflective coating (107) covering said surface (102). on said anti-reflective coating (107) covering said outer surface (102).

3. An exterior component (10) as described in claim 2.

5. The inner metal layer (104) is covered with the anti-reflective coating (107). The exterior component (10) of claim 2.

6. Characterized in that it is formed by an exterior component (10) according to claim 1. A clock face.

7. A method for manufacturing an exterior component (10) for a watch or piece of jewelry, comprising the steps of: The entire surface of the inner surface (101) of the substrate (100) is etched to produce a structured portion (103). A step of processing the structure of the An "inner metal layer (101)" is applied to a portion of the surface of the inner surface (101) to form a decoration. depositing at least one metal layer, referred to as "metal layer 4" (hereinafter referred to as "metal layer 5"); On the inner surface (101) of the substrate (100), at least the inner metal layer (104) on the portion of the inner surface (101) of the substrate (100) that is not covered by an anti-reflective coating. depositing a coating (107); A manufacturing method comprising:

8. "External" markings are applied to a portion of the outer surface (102) of the substrate (100) to form a decoration. Depositing a metal layer, called "metal layer (105)" on said outer surface (102). ) a step carried out before or after depositing an anti-reflective coating (107) on the substrate (102). The method of claim 7, comprising:

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the outer surface (102) is polished during a pre-polishing step. Law.

10. During the step of depositing the anti-reflective coating (107), the inner metal layer ( 104) is covered by the anti-reflective coating (107). Manufacturing method.

11. The structuring step is carried out by laser processing or by mechanical processing; The method of claim 10.

Images