Ebauches S.a.

Asulab S.a.

Hubert Portmann

Eric Saurer

Claude Laesser

Ali Schneiter

Jean-Georges Michel

Pierre Hersberger

Rene Viennet

Willy Droz

Jean-Luc Beguin

Remy Chopard

The case 1 of the watch comprises elements consisting of ribbed zones 3, 4 and 5 of different structures which can supply mechanical vibrations when they are rubbed by the user of the watch. A transducer transforms these acoustic vibrations into an electric signal. An electronic circuit comprising generator means, a pulse shaper, counters, a register and a comparator allows the vibration message generated by the activation of one or the other of the ribbed zones 3, 4 and 5 to be decoded and one or the other of the functions appearing on the display 2 of the watch to be controlled.

Device for controlling the functions of an electronic watch

A multistage counter 3, 5, 7, 10 normally counts seconds pulses from a frequency divider 2. Counters 5 and 7 are units and tens minutes counters and are set by shifting a counter 21 by button B to provide a '1' on output 21d. When a button A is then held down the seconds pulses pass through gates 17 and 22 and count the units counter 5 up to the numeral 0. A flip-flop 19, 26 is then set to disable gate 22 and enable gate 23 so that the units counter stays at the numeral 0 and the tens counter advances to the desired value, when button A is released, which resets the flip-flop. Button A is pressed again to count the units counter from the numeral 0 to the desired value. The invention in one embodiment simplifies the setting of a digital watch and reduces the time (number of pulses) needed to preset the units and tens of minutes counters. The invention can be extended to more than two counters and used for counters other than in clocks and watches.

Presettable digital time-piece display system

A passive electro-optical display cell comprising, on the internal face of each of its plates, at least one of which is transparent, sets of control electrodes and sets of screen electrodes, the control electrodes and the screen electrodes being separated by an insulating layer. The screen electrodes and the insulating layers have apertures therein facing the control electrodes. In order to reduce the number of conducting tracks, the cell is controlled by multiplexing. This type of control is made possible by virtue of the particular combination of the control electrodes and the screen electrodes. The control and screen electrodes of either plate will select two segments for display, but a selection between the two segments is made possible because they face different screen electrodes of the other plate. Such a cell makes it possible to display more data than a normal cell and may be used in an electronic watch which has a large number of functions.

Passive electro-optical display with screen and control electrodes

A liquid crystal display cell with thermal compensation of the degree of contrast comprises a measuring capacitor 12, 13 and a reference capacitor formed by two constituent reference capacitors 13, 15 and 14, 15 connected in series. The areas of the surfaces of the electrodes are so selected that the capacitances of the measuring and reference capacitors are approximately equal. The measuring and reference capacitors of the cell can be operated by excitation voltages of the same amplitude. The voltages which then appear at the terminals of the constituent reference capacitors are of lower amplitudes, corresponding to a region of the characteristics in which the capacitance is independent of temperature.

Liquid crystal display cell having capacitance compensation

An electrochromic display cell has several electrode segments 1 spaced from a common counter-electrode 3 by an electrolyte 2 and disposed to represent different symbols according to those segments on which a coloured or effaced state is conferred by application of a current in one direction or in the other between the segments and the counter-electrode. To achieve one of the current directions a bias voltage provided by a generator 16 is applied for a fixed time by a switching circuit T1, T2 to a field-effect transistor T6 which completes a circuit through the cell 4, electrode 3, electrolyte 2 and segment 1. The transistors 6 have channel widths proportional to the segment areas so that all segments receive the same charge per unit area. The segments whose state is to change in the other direction are short-circuited with the counter-electrode by transistors T7. The display is particularly useful for the display of time data on watches.

Novel control means for an electrochromic display

The invention relates to an electronic device for charging an accumulator from an electric energy source, more particularly one or more solar cells, intended in particular for an electronic wristwatch. The device represents the equivalent of an ideal diode inserted between the source of electrical energy and the battery. A solar cell (1) feeds a charging current to the accumulator (2) via a transistor (3) and, if desired, a diode (7) in parallel with the transistor (3). The conduction state of the transistor (3) is monitored by a differential amplifier (4) which has an off-set voltage (U.sub.off), the value and polarity of which are determined by a generator (5). This off-set voltage (U.sub.off) defines the voltage drop between the energy source and the accumulator (2) which is selected to be between 20 and 50 millivolts.

Device for charging an accumulator from an electrical energy source more

An electronic battery-powered watch including an oscillator followed by a chain of frequency divider stages, said chain being composed of two parts with an interface circuit between said two parts, said interface circuit multiplying by a predetermined amount the voltage of the battery and the amplitude of the pulses issued from the last stage of the first part of the division chain in order to feed and control the second part of the chain and the decoding and display circuits of the watch.

Electronic watch

A safety device for battery-operated watches including an indicator device and an accumulator connected in parallel with the battery supplying the electronic circuit of the watch. The battery charges up the accumulator during normal use and when the battery runs down the indicator device gives a visual indication of battery condition and the accumulator continues to provide current to the electronic circuit of the watch for a time to enable the battery to be replaced.

Safety device for battery-operated watches

An electronic timepiece provides photo-electric cells disposed behind a passive electro-optic display cell for recharging a storage battery. The timepiece includes in its display a polarizer, a passive electro-optic device such as a liquid crystal, a quarter-wave plate, a cholesteric liquid crystal reflector and photo-electric cell arranged in superposition upon each other. Ambient light passing through the cholesteric reflector is used to energize the photo-electric cells which recharge the storage battery. Ambient light reflected by the cholesteric reflector is used to indicate the displayed information.

Electronic instrument

A device for enabling an accumulator to be recharged from a source of electrical energy, such as photo-cells. The device includes a converter circuit and a diode, the converter circuit being capable of adapting the current and voltage supplied by said source to the charging conditions of the accumulator. The converter circuit is arranged to be saturated from a certain value of the current delivered by the source, the stronger currents passing directly through the diode.

Device for enabling an accumulator to be recharged from a source of

A universal electronic timepiece including a movable indicator for the twenty-four time-belts of the earth. A moving element includes control contacts which are movable into engagement with a plurality or bed of electric contacts in synchronism with the movable indicator of the time-belts. The contacts and the control members are spaced radially from one another and the control members are also spaced circumferentially from one another. The timepiece includes a display device which receives information which is a function of the time and of the condition of the control members and contacts such that it may display at least at request the time of the time-belt selected by the movable indicator of the time-belts.

Universal electronic timepiece

A voltage multiplier for an electronic time-measuring apparatus comprising cells, each of which including two capacitors, a pair of complementary field-effect transistors (FET'S) acting as switches, and an inverter comprising a pair of FET'S. The elements of the cells are such that they are capable of being integrated together with the rest of the circuit of the time-measuring apparatus. The voltage to be increased is fed via a first capacitor to the first pair of FETS'S and at the same time to the input of the inverter whose output drives with the correct phase the first pair of FETS'S, which alternatively switches the input signal to a common point of the cell and to an output terminal of the cell, thus charging a second capacitor with the opposite polarity than that of the input signal respective to the common point of the cell. In order for the input voltage to be further increased, the cells can be cascaded in a chain, the common point of one cell being connected to the output terminal of the preceding cell. Each cell will add to the preceding one an amount of voltage equal to that of the input voltage.

Voltage multiplier for an electronic time apparatus

A control device for an electronic wrist watch to enable resetting of the display. The device includes a pushbutton switch providing a control signal to a memory device. The memory device is connected to a delay means which transmits the information from said memory device in synchronism with a clock signal to provide an output pulse or pulse train dependent upon the length of time for which the pushbutton is actuated.

Control device for an electronic wrist watch

A control and correction circuit for an electronic watch involving three push-buttons which are actuable to select and/or correct the information displayed by the watch. The push-buttons provide actuating signals to a delay device and to logic selection circuits which provide outputs to control the counters of the watch circuit. The delay device enables a secondary display to be displayed for a predetermined time after which the device returns to its initial state. During the predetermined time the information displayed may be corrected by actuation of the second or third push-button in which case the secondary display is held unitl the correction operation is complete before returning to its initial condition.

Control and correction circuit for an electronic watch

The present invention relates to an indicator for the condition of a battery and more particularly for a battery with voltages between 1 and 3 Volts. The indicator comprises an electronic device in which a stable reference voltage is provided by a semi-conductor device compensated in temperature by the combination of a diode voltage with a multiple of the difference between two other diode voltages, and a positive feedback circuit which drives a passive display device according to the condition of the battery.

Growing community of inventors

Colombier, Switzerland

Hubert Portmann