PERIMETRICAL WATCH PROTECTOR

Abstract: A perimetrical watch protector (20) has a protector or guard portion (22) located perimetrically of the face of the watch and has resilient retainer lugs (28) formed in­ tegrally with said protector or guard potion (22). The retainer lugs (28) include downwardly extending resilient legs (32) which overlie the adjacent portions of the edge (14) of the watch, and retainer bands (34) are formed in­ tegrally therewith which engage the back (16) of the watch.

Description: This invention relates to a perimetrical watch protector which incorporates a perimetrical protector or guard portion located adjacent the perimeter of the crystal of the watch, and being so formed as to isolate said crystal from abrasive contact. There are numerous prior art devices intended to accomplish the desirable end of crystal protection, among them being applicants' US-A-4,592,660. Although US-A-4,592 660 discloses a watch protector which is a major advance over the prior art in that it is, among other advantages, centrally located over the crystal to isolate the crystal from abrasive contact, it is possible that the crystal may be abrasively engaged at the edges of the crystal. Moreover, US-A-4,592,660 discloses a centrally-located guard member which prevents the reading of the watch hands when they are located in the central position on the watch. This is not a major disadvantage in that the owner of the watch can determine from other conditions what the location of the hands should be. However, if the watch has stopped in this critical position, it will be some tine before perception of such stoppage occurs. Other prior art devices include metal shells which cover the face of the watch making the reading of the time, as indicated by hands of the watch, extremely difficult. These metal shells are intended to convert a pocket watch into a wrist watch, but do not afford any protection to the crystal of the watch since they are disposed outwardly of the crystal and are located, generally, in the plane of the crystal. The protection of the crystal of the watch becomes extremely important when, as in many high-fashion or mass-produced watches, the crystal is fabricated from synthetic plastics and, thus, is more prone to be readily abraded or scratched, thus obscuring portions of the watch face and, in addition, detracting from the decorative effect of the watch. A watch protector according to the precharacterizing portion of independent claim 1 is disclosed in GB-A-110 048. This known watch protector is of the recited type having an apertured metal shell or cover overlying the face of the watch and engaging the watch along the entirety of its circumferential extent. In GB-A-101 164 there is disclosed a watch protector having a transparent cover supported by a metal rim that fits on the bezel of the watch case. The metal rim has diametrally opposed loops through which the straps of the watch are adapted to be passed. A similar watch protector is also disclosed in GB-A-117 30. In both of these known watch protectors the rim also engages the watch along the entirety of its circumferential extent. Reference is also made to GB-A-1705 which discloses a wrist watch protector consisting of a domed cup of transparent material adapted to be passed over the watch and engaging the rim or edge of the watch case around its entire circumference, and to FR-A-501 070 which discloses a resilient ring for mounting to the rim of a pocket watch or wrist watch to protect it against chocks. The protector engages the entire circumferential edge portion of the watch case. The object of the invention is to provide a watch protector that does not, in any way, obscure the face of the watch, that does not require the straps of the watch for affixing the protector to the watch, and that can be readily mounted on and removed from the watch, while avoiding or limiting abrasive contact between the protector and the watch and isolating the watch from impact. According to the invention, to achieve this, there is provided a watch protector for a watch having a watch case, a face and a crystal overlying said face, said case having an edge and a back, said protector having a surface confronting said crystal when said protector is in place on said watch, a pair of resilient retainer lugs adapted to snap over the edge of the watch and each including legs projecting transversely to the surface of said protector and adapted to engage the edge of the watch and a band joining the ends of said legs and adapted to engage the back of said watch, characterized in that said protector comprises a perimetrical guard portion adapted to be disposed adjacent the perimetrical edge of the crystal to encompass said crystal without obscurement of the face of said watch, and that said legs each have a land facing away from said surface confronting said crystal and engageable with the upper surface of the watch case surrounding said crystal, said lands being spaced from said surface confronting said crystal a distance sufficient to space said surface confronting said crystal from said crystal and said watch case when said protector is installed on said watch. By having the surface of the protector confronting the crystal spaced from the watch case and the crystal abrasive contact therebetween is reduced or prevented. The spacing between the protector on the one side and the watch case and the crystal on the other side is provided by the lands formed on the legs and spaced from the underside of the perimetrical guard portion and engaging the watch case to secure the watch in recesses between lands and the retainer bands. The spacing also isolates the crystal from deleterious contact with abrasive elements of the environment. The perimetrical protector or guard portion is of sufficient height to isolate the face of the watch and the overlying crystal from such abrasive contact. Since the guard is perimetrically located, the possibility of edgewise intrusion of an abrasive article is eliminated. Because of the provision of resilient lugs formed integrally with the protector or guard portion of the perimetrical watch protector, the watch protector can be readily mounted on and dismounted from operative relationship with the associated watch. Moreover, the perimetrical watch protector is preferably fabricated from synthetic plastic which is resiliently deformable, thus permitting the deformation of the perimetrical protector or guard portion of the perimetrical watch protector further preventing both abrasive contact with the watch crystal and the shattering of the protector during such abrasive contact. The resilient characteristics of the synthetic plastic from which the watch protector can be fabricated permit the lugs to be readily spread apart to release the watch case from operative engagement with the perimetrical watch protector, thus facilitating the replacement of one watch protector with another watch protector of a different design or color. Other features and advantages of the watch protector will be apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawings, which are for the purpose of illustration only, and in which: Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the watch protector mounted in overlying relationship with an associated wristwatch; Fig. 2 is an isometric view illustrating the manner in which the resilient lugs of the watch protector engage the edges and back of the watch; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the watch protector; Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the watch protector taken from the broken line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a view taken from the broken line 5-5 of Fig. 3. Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1-2 thereof, we show a wristwatch 10 incorporated in a case 12 having a generally circular configuration and including an edge 14 of correspondingly circular configuration with a back 16. Straps 18 facilitate the securement of the watch 10 to the wrist of the wearer of the watch. Mounted upon the watch case 12 is a perimetrical watch protector 20, said perimetrical watch protector having a perimetrical watch or guard portion 22 which is disposed adjacent the perimetrical edge of the watch crystal 24 through which the hands 26 of the watch can be observed. Because the watch case 12 and crystal 24 of the watch 10 are of circular configuration, the perimetrical guard or protector portion 22 is correspondingly circular in configuration, but it is not intended that all embodiments of the watch guard or watch protector of the invention be limited to that configuration since it can be fabricated to conform to other watch case shapes, such as rectangular, square or the like. Moreover, the protector or guard portion 22 can be fabricated in any desired cross-sectional configuration, although it is imperative that the vertical thickness A-A, FIG. 4, of the perimetrical protector or guard portion be sufficient to satisfactorily isolate the watch crystal 24 from abrasive contact. However, unlike prior watch guards or protectors, no obscurement of the face or hands 26 of the watch 10 occurs. Although it is preferred that the perimetrical watch protector 20 be fabricated from synthetic plastic material such as polyethylene, polypropylene or other plastic materials having resilient characteristics, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that a wide variety of different materials can be utilized in substitution therefor. It is also intended that the protector 20 be provided in a wide variety of colors and surface textures. In addition, the area of the protector or guard portion 22 may be extended outwardly to provide various artistic configurations such as flower petals or the like. Formed integrally with the protector or guard portion 22 is a pair of retainer lugs 28 which include legs 32 extending rearwardly across the relevant portions of the edge 14 of the watch case 12. Formed integrally with the legs are retainer bands 34 which underlie the back 16 of the watch 10. It will be noted that the retainer lugs 28 as constituted by the legs 32 and retainer bands 34 define elongated apertures which permit the protrusion of the relevant portions of the watch case through the lugs 28 and which permit the secure engagement of said watch case. Each of the legs 32 is provided with a watch case engaging land 36, as best shown in FIGS. 4-6 of the drawings. The lands 36 engage the upper surface of the watch case, as best shown in FIG. 5, and securely locate the case in recesses or receptacles 38 defined between the retainer bands 34 and the lands 36. Consequently, a space B is created between the top of the watch case 12 and the underside of the perimetrical guard or protector portion 22. Therefore, the case 12 is normally isolated from abrasive or other deleterious contacts. The space B, as best shown in FIG. 5, permits the underside of the perimetrical guard or protector portion 22 to totally isolate the crystal 24 in the same manner as the watch case 12 is isolated and breakage and abrasion of the crystal 24 are substantially eliminated. As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, the perimetrical watch protector 20 can be formed in a wide variety of alternative configurations and designs, and it is not intended that the circular configuration of the guard or protector be considered as limiting. The installation of the perimetrical watch protector 20 upon the watch 10 is accomplsihed with ease previously unknown in watch protectors since the highly resilient retaining lugs 28 may be spread to permit them to be snapped over the relevant edge portions 12 and back 16 of the associated watch. As a matter of fact, one of the most desirable ways of installing the watch protector 20 is to engage one of the retaining lugs 28 with one area of the edge 12 of the watch 10 and then engage the opposite retaining lug 28 over the opposed portion of the edge 14 of the watch case 12. Therefore, it is not necessary, as in many prior art devices, to mount the watch guard in operative relationship with the watch face by engagement of portions of the guard with the straps of the watch.

Claims: 1. Watch protector for a watch having a watch case (12), a face and a crystal (24) overlying said face, said case (12) having an edge (14) and a back (16), said protector having a surface confronting said crystal (24) when said protector is in place on said watch (10), a pair of resilient retainer lugs (28) adapted to snap over the edge (14) of the watch (10) and each including legs (32) projecting transversely to the surface of said protector and adapted to engage the edge (14) of the watch (10) and a band (34) joining the ends of said legs (32) and adapted to engage the back (16) of said watch (10), characterized in that said protector comprises a perimetrical guard portion (22) adapted to be disposed adjacent the perimetrical edge of the crystal (24) to encompass said crystal (24) without obscurement of the face of said watch (10), and that said legs (32) each have a land (36) facing away from said surface confronting said crystal (24) and engageable with the upper surface of the watch case (12) surrounding said crystal (24), said lands (36) being spaced from said surface confronting said crystal (24) a distance sufficient to space said surface confronting said crystal (24) from said crystal (24) and said watch case (12) when said protector is installed on said watch (10). 2. Watch protector according to claim 1, characterized in that said perimetrical guard portion (22) is circular and is resilient to permit the deflection thereof to absorb inadvertent blows to which said crystal (24) and case (12) might be subjected. 3. Watch protector according to claim 1, characterized in that said perimetrical guard portion (22) is a frame member surrounding an aperture for viewing said watch face and having a configuration substantially the same as the peripheral configuration of the crystal (24) of the watch (10) on which the protector is to be installed. 4. Watch protector according to claim 1, characterized in that said perimetrical guard portion (22) has an annular configuration.

Inventors: HARTMAN, JAMES, SCHWARTZMAN, BLAKE
Applicants: HARTMAN, JAMES, SCHWARTZMAN, BLAKE
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G04B37
IPC codes: G04B37