Water-proof Wrist Watch Case Having Non-circular Glass Profile

Abstract

A watch glass having a non-circular glass element laminated on an ordinary round glass element. The watch glass is placed on a main body of the watch case with an O-ring interposed therebetween and a rim member having an inner profile complementary to the profile of said non-circular glass element is force-fitted over the main body of the case to surround said non-circular glass element, whereby the non-circular glass element only of the watch glass is exposed to the surface of the watch case.

Description

The present invention relates to a water-proof wrist watch case having a non-circular glass profile.

Round glasses have widely been used in the conventional water-proof cases of wrist watches but few non-circular glasses have been used heretofore because the production of such glasses involves much difficulty. Particularly in the production of a non-circular water-proof case by shaping inorganic glass, the working of the glass is extremely difficult and even a slight working error adversely affects the water-proofness of the watch case. Speaking more practically, in working the inorganic glass which has a hardness at least three to four times as high as that of the ordinary plastic glasses, cutting the glass is almost impossible and the glass can be worked only by grinding it with diamond or the like. Therefore, an extremely high working precision is required for accurately fitting the glass in the non-circular water-proof case without spoiling the water-proofness of the case, rendering mass production of the case difficult.

The present invention is intended to eliminate such difficulties of the conventional non-circular water-proof watch cases and has for its object the provision of a water-proof watch case having a non-circular glass profile, which comprises a main body of the case, a watch glass consisting of an ordinary round glass element and a non-circular glass element laminated thereon, and a rim member having an inner profile complementary to the profile of said non-circular glass element, said watch glass being liquid-tightly secured to said main body of the case by means of said rim member which is fitted over said watch glass surrounding said non-circular glass element. Namely, according to the instant invention, the water-proofness is ensured by the round glass element and the profile of the exposed watch glass can be varied optionally by changing the profile of the non-circular glass element which is exposed through the rim member. Therefore, by practicing the present invention it becomes possible to obtain a water-proof wrist watch having a non-circular dial, such, for example, as an oval, rectangular or triangular dial.

The present invention will be described in further detail hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the waterproof wrist watch case according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the wrist watch case with a portion shown in vertical cross section taken on the line A--A' of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the wrist watch case with a portion shown in horizontal cross section taken on the line B-B' of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing, reference numeral 1 designates a main body of the case, 2 a rim member of the case, 3 a round glass element, 3' a non-circular glass element, 4 an O-ring cooperating with the rim member, 5 a dial, 6 an hour hand, 7 a minute hand and 8 a crown.

The water-proofing structure of the watch case according to the present invention is the same as that of the conventional waterproof wrist watch case comprising a round glass. In the present invention, however, the water-proofness of the rim member is achieved in the following manner: Namely, the O-ring 4 is disposed beneath and along the peripheral edge portion of the ground glass element 3 and the rim member 2 is force-fitted over the main body 1 of the case while compressing the O-ring 4 between said round glass element and said main body of the case, whereby a liquid-tight engagement is produced between said rim member and said main body through said glass and O-ring. As described above, according to the present invention the water-proofness of the case is ensured by the employing the round glass element and the non-circular glass element 3' is laminated on top of said round glass element. Therefore, a water-proof wrist watch having a non-circular dial of beautiful appearance, as shown in the drawing, can be obtained.

Since the water-proofness of the case is positively secured by the round glass element, an aesthetic factor only need be considered in the fabrication of the irregular glass element to be laminated on the round glass element and the rim member. Therefore, by employing the water-proof wrist watch case of the invention, wrist watches having "faces" of many different profiles can be produced on the basis of mass production and in addition, the assembly of the case is very simple since the other parts are the same as those of the conventional round cases.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A waterproof wrist watch case having a non-circular glass profile comprising a case with a main body, a watch glass having a circular glass element and a non-circular glass element laminated thereon with said watch glass extending over the face of the watch, and wherein the circular portion is of a single thickness and the non-circular portion is the combined thickness of said circular element and said non-circular element laminated thereon.

2. A waterproof wrist watch case according to claim 1, wherein the watch glass is affixed to the case such that a sealing member is interposed between said circular glass element and the main body of the case.

3. A waterproof wrist watch case according to claim 2, including a rim member having an inner profile complementary to the profile of the non-circular glass element.

4. A waterproof wrist watch case according to claim 3, wherein the rim member is placed in a predetermined position such as to be in a force-fit over the main body of the case surrounding the non-circular glass element, and compress the sealing member between the round glass element and said main body of the case.

5. A waterproof wrist watch case having a non-circular glass profile comprising a case with a main body, a watch glass having a circular galss element and a non-circular glass element laminated thereon and said watch glass extending over the face of the watch, a rim member having an inner profile complementary to the profile of said non-circular glass element, with a sealing member disposed beneath and along the peripheral edge portion of the circular glass element and the rim member disposed in a force-fit over the main body of the case in such a manner as to compress the sealing member between said round glass element and said main body of the case, and wherein the circular portion is of a single thickness and the non-circular portion is the combined thickness of said circular element and said non-circular element laminated thereon.