Seiko Instruments Inc

Other

Asahi Glass Company, Limited

Seiko Instruments R & D Center Inc.

Takashi Niwa

Yasuyuki Mitsuoka

Nobuyuki Kasama

Kenji Kato

Manabu Oumi

Norio Chiba

Susumu Ichihara

Hidetaka Maeda

Yoko Shinohara

Kunio Nakajima

Masahiro Nakajima

Masayuki Koda

Matsuo Kishi

Takuma Kawauchiya

Koichiro Jujo

Hiroyuki Hoshina

Sachiko Tanabe

Hiroki Uchiyama

Miei Sato

Masataka Shinogi

Norihiro Dejima

Miei Konishi

Masashi Hiraoka

Kazuo Sato

Minoru Sudo

Toru Ozaki

Yoshiki Hamatani

Hisashi Fujieda

Mitsuhiro Shikita

Toshiya Kubo

Hiromitsu Nakayama

Terunao Hirota

Toshifumi Ohkubo

Kiyoshi Itao

Hiroshi Hosaka

Mamabu Oumi

Yasayuki Mitsuoka

Kenji Shinohara

Makito Morii

Manabu Shinke

Natsuki Miyoshi

Naoki Amano

Takuya Murazumi

Akiko Araki

A timepiece is equipped with a movement, a timepiece case accommodating the movement, and a hollow tubular structure portion having a connection proximal portion directly or indirectly in contact with the movement. The hollow tubular structure portion is formed such that a space defined between itself and the timepiece case is hermetically sealed. The inner space of the hollow tubular structure portion communicates with the exterior of the timepiece case via an external opening of the timepiece case. The timepiece can secure a sufficient waterproof performance and can transmit sound from a sound source efficiently to the exterior.

Timepiece

To provide a mechanical component, a mechanical component manufacturing method, a movement, and a timepiece allowing the forcing-in portion to be firmly fixed to the shaft member, providing a sufficient buffer effect, and capable of precisely determining the outer diameter dimension. Provided is a mechanical component rotating around a shaft member. This mechanical component includes: a component main body having a through-hole through which the shaft member is passed; and a forcing-in portion formed on the inner surface of the through-hole and fixed to the shaft member through the forcing-in of the shaft member. The component main body has a retaining recess constituting an anchor structure regulating displacement of the forcing-in portion with respect to the component main body. The forcing-in portion is formed of a metal material.

Mechanical component, mechanical component manufacturing method, movement, and timepiece

A mechanical component includes a component main body having a through-hole through which a shaft member is passed, and a forcing-in portion made of metal material formed on the inner surface of the through-hole and fixed to the shaft member through the forcing-in of the shaft member. The component main body has a retaining recess and the forcing-in portion fills the inner space of the retaining recess so that the retaining recess constitutes an anchor structure regulating displacement of the forcing-in portion with respect to the component main body.

Mechanical component, movement, and timepiece

A mechanical component configured to rotate with a shaft member includes a component main body having a through-hole through which the shaft member is passed, and one or more shaft support portions formed on the inner surface of the through-hole to fix the shaft member to the component main body. The one or more shaft support portions protrude from the inner surface of the through-hole and are capable of retaining the shaft member due to an elastic force. The one or more shaft support portions are made of material having a larger elongation percentage than that of the material of the component main body thereby preventing breakage of the mechanical component due to stress created when the shaft member is forced through the through-hole in the component main body.

An electric generator device includes a swinging part, a storage part, a vibration energy generating part, and an electric generator part. The swinging part swings in position due to external swing. The storage part stores a swing power of the swinging part. The vibration energy generating part generates, by the power stored at the storage part, vibration energy having its amplitude and frequency adjusted. The electric generator part converts the vibration energy generated at the vibration energy generating part to electric power. The vibration energy generating part comprises a pendulum to be in contact with a rotary part which is rotated by the power stored at the storage part, thereby to adjust the rotational speed of the rotary part.

Electric generator device, timepiece movement, and timepiece

To provide an operation stabilizing mechanism, a movement, and a mechanical timepiece allowing a reduction in size while achieving an enhancement in rate precision. An operation stabilizing mechanism includes: an outer carriage and an inner carriage provided so as to be mutually rotatable; a constant-force spring provided between the outer carriage and the inner carriage and configured to impart a rotational force to the inner carriage such that the inner carriage rotates with respect to the outer carriage; a stop wheel provided on the outer carriage; and a stopper configured to perform engaging and releasing operations on the stop wheel upon the rotation of the inner carriage, wherein the rotational axis of the outer carriage and the rotation axis of the inner carriage cross each other.

Operation stabilizing mechanism, movement, and mechanical timepiece

A metal structure includes, by mass %, Fe: 10% to 30%; S: 0.005% to 0.2%; and the balance consisting of Ni and unavoidable impurities, in which a maximum grain size of the metal structure is 500 nm or less. The metal structure preferably has one or more of a stress relaxation rate of 10% or less, a lattice constant of 3.535 &#x212b; to 3.56 &#x212b;, a yield stress of 1500 MPa or more, a Young's modulus of 150 GPa or more and a Vickers hardness of Hv 580 or more.

Metal structure, method of manufacturing metal structure, spring component, chronograph coupling lever for timepiece, and timepiece

A temperature compensation-type balance includes a balance staff, and a balance wheel having a plurality of bimetal portions disposed in parallel to each other in a circumferential direction around a rotation axis of the balance staff. Connection members connect respective ones of the plurality of bimetal portions and the balance staff. Each bimetal portion is a layered body in which a first member and a second member are radially overlapped, and one end portion in the circumferential direction is a fixed end connected to a respective connection member and the other end portion in the circumferential direction is a free end. The first member is formed of a ceramic material, and the second member is formed of a metal material having a thermal expansion coefficient different from that of the first member.

Temperature compensation-type balance, timepiece movement, mechanical timepiece and manufacturing method of temperature compensation-type balance

A balance includes a balance staff pivotally supported rotatably and a balance wheel arranged around the balance staff. The balance wheel has one end portion fixed to a connection arm radially connected to the balance staff and a free end portion configured to be radially deformed. The balance wheel has a first rim connected to the connection arm and a second rim in overlapping relation with the first rim and formed of a material having a linear expansion coefficient different from the first rim. The first and second rims are arranged in a circumferential direction and are bonded together by melting portions formed of melted materials of the first and second rims. The melting portions are formed on upper and lower surfaces of and in an intermediate position between the first and second rims.

Balance, timepiece movement, timepiece and manufacturing method of balance

An operation stabilization mechanism has a first carriage to which a rotational drive force of a train wheel is transmitted and which is rotatably supported with respect to a main plate, and a second carriage rotatably supported with respect to the first carriage. A constant-force spring is provided between the first carriage and the second carriage and is configured to impart a rotational force to the second carriage so that the second carriage undergoes rotation with respect to the first carriage. An escapement/governor mechanism is mounted in the second carriage and is configured to be driven by a rotational torque generated through rotation of the second carriage and transmitted to the escapement/governor mechanism. A stopper lever is mounted to undergo rotational movement relative to the first carriage for suppressing fluctuations in the rotational torque transmitted to the escapement/governor mechanism.

Operation stabilization mechanism, movement, and mechanical timepiece

To provide a timepiece balance with hairspring capable of changing the moment of inertia of the balance wheel without involving generation of a one-sidedness in weight. There is provided a balance with hairspring including a balance staff, and a balance wheel arranged around the balance staff, wherein there are provided a first rim constituting the balance wheel and having a guide portion configured to vary in the distance from the balance staff in correspondence with a peripheral direction around the balance staff, an elastic portion arranged so as to be slidable along the guide portion and capable of elastic deformation in the radial direction around the balance staff, and a second rim having a plurality of weight portions arranged in the peripheral direction.

Balance with hairspring, movement, and timepiece

There are provided a constant force device, a movement, and a mechanical timepiece which can decrease a loss of power for controlling rotation of a stop wheel & pinion. A constant force device includes an inner carriage that outputs an output torque by being rotated around a tenon of a first inner rotation body and a tenon of a second inner rotation body, a constant force spring that supplies a rotation force to the inner carriage, an outer carriage that stores a resilient force in the constant force spring by being rotated around a tenon of a first outer rotation body and a tenon of a second outer rotation body, a stop wheel & pinion that is supported to be rotatable around a stop wheel axle body in the outer carriage, and that is rotatable around the tenon of the first outer rotation body and the tenon of the second outer rotation body, and a stopper that is rotated around the tenon of the first inner rotation body and the tenon of the second inner rotation body together with the inner carriage, and that engages with the stop wheel & pinion in response to rotation of the stop wheel & pinion which is rotated around the stop wheel axle body.

Constant force device, movement and mechanical timepiece

A timepiece part, such as a balance staff, an oscillating weight or a dial, is made of polycrystalline material having a plurality of crystals each having a size of 0.7 &#x3bc;m or more and 3 mm or less. The crystals at a surface of the timepiece part have mirror-finished surfaces, and the surfaces may be anodized to provide corrosion resistance. The normal directions of the mirror-finished surfaces are different from one another and provide a metallic luster to the timepiece part.

Manufacturing method of timepiece part and timepiece part

In a method of manufacturing an electroforming mold, a first photoresist layer is formed on an upper surface of a bottom conductive film of a substrate, and the first photoresist layer is divided into a first soluble portion and a first insoluble portion. A conductive material is thermally deposited on an upper surface of the first photoresist layer within a predetermined temperature range, to thereby form an intermediate conductive film. An intermediate conductive film is patterned. A second photoresist layer is formed on an exposed upper surface of the first photoresist layer after the intermediate conductive film is removed, and on an upper surface of the intermediate conductive film remaining after patterning. The second photoresist layer is divided into a second soluble portion and a second insoluble portion. Next, the first and second photoresist layers are developed, and the first and second soluble portions are removed.

Method manufacturing electroforming mold

A detent escapement for a timepiece includes an escape wheel, a balance having an unlocking jewel, and a blade. A rotation reference line is formed by a straight line passing through a rotation center of the blade in a state where the balance is at an oscillation center. In order to balance (1) a sum total of the effects on rotational movement of the balance caused by 'impulse before dead point' and by 'resistance after dead point', which together comprise the total effect causing the timepiece to advance, and (2) a sum total of the effects on rotational movement of the balance caused by &#x201c;resistance before dead point&#x201d; and by &#x201c;impact after dead point&#x201d;, which together comprise the total effect causing the timepiece to slow, the unlocking jewel is aligned with the rotation reference line and positioned at a position facing towards a direction farthest from the escape wheel.

Detent escapement and mechanical timepiece

Growing community of inventors

Chiba, Japan

Takashi Niwa