Timepiece Indicator Mechanism with Segmented Dials
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing timepiece mechanisms, such as the 'Freak' mechanism, often result in the hour index being obscured, making time reading non-intuitive and difficult, especially for elderly wearers, due to the alignment of the rotating bridge covering the index.
Innovation Solution
A timepiece movement with a single index and separate dials for indicating hours and minutes, where the first dial is immobile and the second dial is movable, allowing direct drive from the motor member to the index without additional parts, ensuring all indications remain visible and easy to read.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a rotating bridge is used to indicate minutes while the hour index is fixed on the barrel, then the mechanism achieves a modern design with direct drive from the motor member, but the hour index becomes obscured and invisible during certain positions
Solution Approach 1:
The dial is segmented into two separate components: a fixed first dial attached to the barrel for hour indication, and a movable second dial for minute indication. This segmentation allows the hour index to remain permanently visible on the fixed dial while the minute dial rotates independently, resolving the obscuration problem.
Solution Approach 2:
A transparent or translucent window is introduced as an intermediary element between the crystal and the dials. This window allows light to pass through while maintaining the visual separation between the fixed hour dial and the rotating minute dial, ensuring the hour index remains visible despite the overlapping dial structures.
2Ease of operation
If separate dials are used for hours and minutes with a single index, then readability is enhanced and all indications remain visible, but the mechanism requires additional parts for dial movement
Solution Approach 1:
The minute indication function is merged with the existing rotating bridge mechanism. The second dial is attached to the rotating bridge, so that the bridge's rotation simultaneously performs its original function and drives the minute indication, eliminating the need for separate drive mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating bridge is given multiple functions: it continues to carry the escapement and regulating organ, and simultaneously serves as the drive mechanism for the second dial that indicates minutes. This multi-functionality reduces the overall number of parts required in the mechanism.
3Measurement precision
If the barrel rotates at one twelfth revolution per hour to drive the hour index, then the mechanism maintains accurate time indication, but the hour index becomes aligned with and covered by the rotating bridge several times during a barrel turn
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of rotating the hour index to indicate time, the invention inverts the approach by keeping the hour index fixed on the rotating barrel and allowing the dial to rotate. This inversion ensures the index remains stationary and visible while the dial rotates beneath it, maintaining accurate time indication without obscuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The indication system transitions from a single-plane rotation to a multi-dimensional arrangement with fixed and rotating elements at different functional levels. The fixed hour index operates in one dimensional context while the rotating minute dial operates in another, allowing both to coexist without interference.
Data Source
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AI summary
The mechanism (1) has a mobile pointer (15) moved with respect to first and second dials (12, 17) such that the pointer simultaneously indicates first and second time information and displacement of the pointer is induced by a driving element i.e. barrel (14), of a timepiece movement. The pointer is integrated with the driving element. The second dial is made of a transparent material. The first dial is fixed on a plate of the movement, where outer diameter of the second dial is smaller than inner diameter of the first dial.