Day-date calendar mechanism

Claim 2

A day-date watch including drive means to rotate the hands of the watch comprising: an hour wheel coupled to the watch drive means to make a complete rotation every 12 hours, a day-date wheel coupled to the hour wheel and driven thereby to make a complete rotation every 24 hours, said wheel including an upwardly projecting day tab and an upwardly projecting date tab, a day dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of downwardly extending teeth positioned on the face thereof, one of said teeth being engaged by the day tab during each 24 hour period to rotate said day dial, and, a date dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of internal teeth corresponding to the days of a month, said teeth extending downwardly and having rearwardly extending faces which are engaged by the date tab to be rotated in a forward direction during normal operation of the watch and which are not engaged by the date tab during movement of the tab in a reverse direction during a setting operation so that the date may be set relative to the day.

Claim 3

A day-date watch including drive means to rotate the hands of the watch comprising: an hour wheel coupled to the watch drive means to make a complete revolution every 12 hours, a day-date wheel coupled to the hour wheel and driven thereby to make a complete rotation every 24 hours, said wheel including an upwardly projecting date tab and an upwardly projecting day tab, said day tab and said date tab project upwardly in planes which are substantially at right angles to each other, a day dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of downwardly extending teeth positioned on the face thereof, one of said teeth being engaged by the date tab during each 24 hour period to rotate said day dial, and, a date dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of downwardly projecting internal teeth, one of said teeth being engaged by the date tab during each 24 hour period to rotate said date dial.

Claim 4

A day-date watch including drive means to rotate the hands of the watch comprising: an hour wheel coupled to the watch drive means to make a complete revolution every 12 hours, a day-date wheel coupled to the hour wheel and driven thereby to make a complete rotation every 24 hours, said wheel including an upwardly projecting date tab and an upwardly projecting day tab, said day tab and said date tab project upwardly in planes which are substantially at right angles to each other, a day dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of downwardly extending teeth positioned on the face thereof, one of said teeth being engaged by the date tab during each 24 hour period to rotate said day dial, and, a date dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of downwardly projecting internal teeth, one of said teeth being engaged by the date tab during each 24 hour period to rotate said date dial.

Claim 5

A day-date watch in accordance with claim 2, wherein: the teeth of the day dial lie in substantially the same plane as the teeth of the date dial and said day tab is located closer to the periphery of the date wheel than the day tab so that the teeth of the day dial and date dial may be in substantially the same plane.

Claim 6

A day-date watch including drive means to rotate the hands of the watch comprising: an hour wheel coupled to the watch drive means to make a complete rotation every 12 hours, a day-date wheel coupled to the hour wheel and driven thereby to make a complete rotation every 24 hours, said wheel including an upwardly projecting day tab and an upwardly projecting date tab, a day dial having indicia thereon and including seven downwardly extending teeth corresponding to the days of the week positioned on the face thereof, one of said teeth being engaged by the day tab during each 24 hour period to rotate said day dial, said downwardly extending teeth having substantially evenly sloped faces which are engaged by the day tab to be rotated in a forward direction during normal operation of the watch and being capable of being rotated in a reverse direction by the day tab to effect a day change during a setting operation, and, a date dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of downwardly projecting internal teeth, one of said teeth being engaged by the date tab during each 24 hour period to rotatee said date dial.

Claim 7

A day-date watch including drive means to rotate the hands of the watch comprising: an hour wheel coupled to the watch drive means to make a complete rotation every 12 hours, a day-date wheel coupled to the hour wheel and driven thereby to make a complete rotation every 24 hours, said wheel including an upwardly projecting day tab and an upwardly projecting date tab, a day dial having indicia thereon and including seven downwardly extending teeth corresponding to the days of the week positioned on the face thereof, one of said teeth being engaged by the day tab during each 24 hour period to rotate said day dial, said downwardly extending teeth having substantially evenly sloped faces which are engaged by the day tab to be rotated in a forward direction during normal operation of the watch and being capable of being rotated in a reverse direction by the day tab to effect a day change during a setting operation, and, a date dial having indicia thereon and including a plurality of downwardly projecting internal teeth, one of said teeth being engaged by the date tab during each 24 hour period to rotatee said date dial.

Claim 8

A day-date watch in accordance with claim 4 wherein: the date dial includes thirty one internal teeth corresponding to the days of a month, said teeth extending downwardly and having rearwardly extending faces which are engaged by the date tab to be rotated in a forward direction during normal operation of the watch and which are not engaged by the date tab during movement of the tab in a reverse direction during a setting operation so that the date may be set relative to the day.

Claim 9

A day-date watch in accordance with claim 5 wherein: the watch further includes separate resilient restraining members one engaging the teeth of the day dial and the other engaging the teeth of the date dial, and, wherein the teeth of the date dial are dimensioned to engage the date tab and be advanced for about one-third pitch prior to midnight and to overcome the resilient members and to jump the rest of the pitch at midnight, and, wherein the teeth of the day dial are dimensioned to engage the day tab and be advanced starting at about midnight for one-half pitch and Then to overcome the resilient member and to jump the rest of the pitch prior to 1:00 a.m., whereby the loading on the watch drive means due to the day-date change is distributed to lessen the peak loading.

Claim 10

A day-date watch including drive means to rotate the hands about an axis of the watch comprising: a day-date wheel coupled to the drive means to effect a rotation thereof every 24 hours, said wheel including a day tab and a date tab extending outwardly therefrom, a day dial, having day indicia thereon, mounted for rotation about the axis of the watch, a date dial, having date indicia thereon, mounted externally of the day dial for rotation about the axis of the watch, and, wherein the day dial is engaged by the day tab to load the drive means prior to midnight and the date dial is engaged by the date tab to load the drive means after midnight.

Claim 11

A day-date watch including drive means to rotate the hands about an axis of the watch comprising: a day-date wheel coupled to the drive means to effect a rotation thereof every 24 hours, said wheel including a day tab and a date tab extending outwardly therefrom, a day dial, having day indicia thereon, mounted for rotation about the axis of the watch, a date dial, having date indicia thereon, mounted externally of the day dial for rotation about the axis of the watch, and, wherein the day dial is engaged by the day tab to load the drive means prior to midnight and the date dial is engaged by the date tab to load the drive means after midnight.

Claim 12

A day-date watch in accordance with claim 7 including: means to change the day indicia relative to the date indicia by permitting rotation of the day dial in a counterclockwise direction while the date is inhibited from said rotation.

Claim 13

A day-date watch in accordance with claim 7 wherein: the day dial and the date dial each include a plurality of teeth laying in substantially the same plane below the dials to be engaged by the day tab and date tab respectively to effect a day and date change in the indicia during the operation of the watch.

Claim 14

A day-date watch in accordance with claim 7 wherein: the watch further includes manual setting means, coupled to the date wheel, and, wherein the day dial includes means engaged by the day tab during a setting operation to effect a day change by movement of said dial in a counterclockwise direction and wherein the date dial is not detented by the date tab when the date tab is moved in a counterclockwise direction so that the day and date may be readily set relative to each other.

Claim 15

A day-date watch in accordance with claim 10 wherein: the day dial includes gear means having a predetermined configuration to be engaged by the day tab during a setting operation in a counterclockwise direction and during normal operation of the watch in a clockwise direction, and, the date dial includes gear means having a predetermined configuration to be engaged by the date tab during normal operation of the watch in a clockwise direction and said gear means not being engaged when the date tab is moved in a clockwise direction during a setting operation.