Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B19/00—Indicating the time by visual means
  • G04B19/26—Clocks or watches with indicators for tides, for the phases of the moon, or the like
  • G04B19/268—Clocks or watches with indicators for tides, for the phases of the moon, or the like with indicators for the phases of the moon
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B19/00—Indicating the time by visual means
  • G04B19/26—Clocks or watches with indicators for tides, for the phases of the moon, or the like

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a timepiece of the kind comprising a clockwork movement, time indicator organs, a moon indicator member, driven by the watch movement and performing a turn during an integer number of lunations, indicator members calendar that are movable relative to the dial, and a calendar mechanism driven from the watch movement.
• the usual calendar watches are arranged to indicate the quantities specific to a solar calendar, more particularly the Julian calendar or the Gregorian calendar.
• the calendar mechanism is arranged essentially to total the number of days suitable for each month, and if necessary count the months and increment a counter of the years every twelve months. This mechanism is therefore simply driven once a day by the watch movement, by means of a wheel driven by the hour wheel with a ratio of 1: 2.
• the present invention aims to incorporate into a timepiece indicator organs of the traditional Chinese calendar, which is still used today to set the date of certain festivals and for Chinese astrology. But this calendar is very different in that it is primarily based on lunations, the average duration of which is not equal to a whole number of days.
• the known mechanisms for displaying the magnitudes of the Julian calendar or another solar calendar can not be used for this purpose.
• the Chinese calendar is of the luni-solar type, in that it is based on lunar months that correspond to lunations, while the Chinese years have a variable duration in order to get as close as possible to the tropical years. that is to say, the apparent movement of the sun on the ecliptic.
• This calendar comprises a nineteen-year cycle, called the Chang cycle, which roughly comprises whole numbers of lunar months (235) and tropical and Chinese years (19) and whose origin is fixed from in order to satisfy the historical condition of the Chinese New Year on the second new moon after the winter solstice, with rare exceptions.
• Each of these periods of nineteen Chinese years includes twelve ordinary years of twelve lunar months and seven so-called leap years of thirteen lunar months. If we number the years in the Chang cycle, leap years are typically numbers 1, 4, 7, 10, 12, 15 and 18.
• the present invention relates to a timepiece that can be made in the form of a mechanical calendar watch and capable of indicating the cycles of twelve and thirteen lunar months of the Chinese years.
• the mechanical calendar should also be able to indicate the names of the Chinese years, in particular the celestial trunks and the terrestrial branches defining the sexagesimal cycle of the years of the Chinese calendar.
• a timepiece of the type indicated in the introduction characterized in that said calendar is a luni-solar calendar, comprising ordinary years comprising twelve lunar months and leap years comprising thirteen lunar months, and what the calendar mechanism comprises a motive of months, driven by the moon motive so as to make a turn by ordinary year and by leap year.
• the month motive is associated with a month indicator and the moon motive is associated with an indicator of the age of the moon.
• the dial the respective numbers of the lunar day, that is to say the age of the moon, and the lunar month which is indicated by the month indicator.
• the calendar mechanism comprises a flip-flop arranged to abut against a so-called Chang cam comprising nineteen, or a multiple of nineteen, sectors. angularly of respective small or large heights to represent twelve to thirteen lunar months, the Chang cam being driven by the months motive so as to rotate at an angle corresponding to a sector at the end of each turn of said mobile.
• the rocker is actuated once a lunar month by a cam connected to the moon mobile and comprises a first spout arranged to advance the moving month a thirteenth of a turn each actuation of the rocker, and further the rocker is provided a second spout arranged to engage in a detachment of the mobile months to advance this mobile an additional thirteenth of a turn in each year that the flip-flop rests against a sector of small radius of the cam of Chang.
• said recess is on a spiral-shaped cam forming part of the moving month, the second spout being formed by a pawl mounted on the rocker and biased by a spring to be resiliently supported against said cam.
• the timepiece preferably includes other calendar indicator bodies, which are driven by the motive of the months and include: a first year indicator, which takes a turn in twelve years and indicates the earthly branches, a second indicator of years, which makes a turn in ten years and indicates the celestial trunks and the term Yang or Yin, and a third indicator of years, which is related to Chang's cam and indicates the position of the current year in the cycle of nineteen years.
• the combined indications of the first and second year indicators form in sixty years the complete cycle of denominations of years in the Chinese calendar.
• the third year indicator allows the user to see if the current year is leap and a watchmaker to adjust the positions of the elements of the mechanism, if any.
• FIG. 1 represents the upper face of a wristwatch, in particular its display members, according to a first embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 2 is a view in transparency schematically showing the calendar mechanism of the watch of FIG. 1;
• FIGS. 3 and 4 are views similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 and show a second embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and shows a third embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 2 and shows a fourth embodiment of the invention.
• FIGS. 7 and 8 are views similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 and show a fifth embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and shows a sixth embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic perspective view from below of a device for displaying the lunar month in the Chinese calendar; this device being able to be incorporated in different embodiments of the invention,
• FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic perspective view from above of the display device of FIG. 10, and FIGS. 12 to 14 are diagrammatic views from below showing different positions of the display device of FIG.
• the wristwatch 20 shown in FIG. 1 conventionally comprises, on its upper face, a dial 21 associated with a plurality of rotary indicator members such as needles or disks that rotate facing each other. of corresponding graduations affixed to the dial 21.
• These indicator organs are driven from the watchmaking movement of the watch 20, which may be mechanical or electromechanical.
• the watch comprises the usual control members of a calendar watch, in particular a control rod provided with an outer ring 22 and calendar correction means. In the example described below, all the indicator bodies rotate clockwise.
• the display members firstly comprise an analog time display, by means of a 24 hour hand and a minute hand 25, for which the graduation is a usual time lapse 26.
• a second hand may also be provided, but it is not present in this example.
• An indicator of the phases and age of the moon conventionally includes a moon disk 27 making a U-turn by lunation.
• the disk 27 is visible in a special shaped window 28 and carries two images 29 of the moon and two indexes 30 moving one after the other next to a semi-circular graduation 31 of the dial, which represents 29 , 5 days and allows to read the lunar date.
• a month indicator 33 comprises a needle 34 (or a disk on which is represented a needle) which makes one turn per year opposite a graduation 35, divided into thirteen equal numbered fields which represent the numbers of the lunations, in other words the lunar months.
• An indicator 36 of the nineteen-year cycle, or Chang cycle indicates by a needle 37 (or a disc on which is represented a needle) the rank of the Chinese year in the cycle on a scale 38 to nineteen equal fields.
• the letter B added to some of the year numbers indicates that they are leap years, that is, thirteen months. Needle 37 takes a turn in nineteen Chinese years.
• a central hand 40 making a turn in twelve Chinese years, indicates the terrestrial branches on a graduation 41 divided into twelve equal fields which correspond to the twelve terrestrial branches, that is to say to the twelve constellations of the Chinese zodiac, traversed in twelve years by Jupiter and bearing the names of twelve animals.
• the same fields of the graduation 41 are used to indicate the zodiac signs of the Chinese hours by means of another central hand 42 making a turn in twenty-four hours legal.
• the twelve fields of the graduation 41 are each facing one of the intervals of the hour turn 26, to simplify the appearance of the dial, but it is not essential.
• a needle of the celestial trunks 44 takes a turn in ten Chinese years and indicates the celestial trunks on a graduation 45 having ten equal fields, formed by five fields of the elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), each of which is divided into two equal parts Yang and Yin.
• the combination of the successive indications of the two needles 40 and 44 forms the sixty-year cycle of the Chinese calendar.
• a variant that achieves the same result would be to replace the Yang and Yin fields of the graduation 45 with a separate indicator, displaying alternatively Yang or Yin. This solution could allow larger inscriptions on the dial, but the mechanism would be more complicated.
• FIG 1 there is further shown a needle 47 making a tour per tropical year to represent the movement of the sun on the ecliptic, opposite four symbols 48 of the equinoxes and solstices.
• This indication is independent of the lunar calendar and can be obtained by means of a 1: 365.25 transmission from one element making one revolution per day.
• FIG. 2 shows the mechanism 50 driving the indicators 27, 34, 37, 40 and 44 of the luni-solar calendar from the hour wheel 51 of the clockwork movement of the watch, this wheel being secured to the needle of the 24.
• the wheel 51 meshes with a wheel 52 making a turn in twenty-four hours and having a finger 53 which advances by one step per day the toothing 54 to fifty-nine teeth of the moon disk 27, whose the position is stopped by a jumper spring 55.
• the disc 27 makes a U-turn in 29.5 days.
• the moon disk 27 is provided with a cam 56 having two spiral arms 57 arranged symmetrically, each of which corresponds to a lunation.
• a finger 58 of a rocker 60 whose pivot axis is indicated by 61.
• the finger 58 is mounted on the rocker 60 pivotally 91 and it comprises a spring blade 92 bearing against a pin 93 of the rocker.
• a not shown spring tends to pivot the rocker 60 in the direction of the arrow A, to maintain its finger 58 constantly bearing against the cam 56.
• Another finger 62 of flip-flop 60 serves as a feeler against a Chang 63 cam which represents the nineteen-year Chang cycle.
• the periphery of the cam 63 is divided into nineteen sectors having the same angular extension, but a radius which can have either a low value, representing an ordinary year to twelve months as the sector 64, or a high value corresponding to a leap year at thirteen months, as does the sector 65.
• the cam 63 is secured to the needle 37 ( Figure 1) and a wheel 66 to nineteen teeth that meshes with a wheel intermediate 67 whose number of teeth is an integer multiple of nineteen, in this case thirty-eight teeth.
• the month hand 34 shown in Figure 1 is integral with a mobile of the month 70 making a tour of the Chinese lunisolar calendar year, this year can count twelve or thirteen lunar months as indicated by the cam 63.
• mobile 70 comprises a thirteen-toothed wheel 71 held in position by a jumper spring 72, a spiral cam 73 having a recess 74, a pinion 75 and a finger 76 which, once a year, moves the wheel 67 tooth and thus rotates a ninety-one turn Chang's cam 63 and the needle 37 associated therewith.
• the rocker 60 has a first spout 77 arranged to advance one step the wheel 71, and a second spout 78 forming a pawl articulated on the rocker 79 and biased by a spring 80 which maintains it bears against the cam 73.
• the spouts 77 and 78 allow the rocker to rotate the mobile 70 step by step in the direction of the arrow B in the following manner.
• the flip-flop 60 is activated once a lunar month by the cam 56 and then pivots in the opposite direction to the arrow A, until its feeler finger 62 rests against that of the sectors 64 and 65 which represents the year chinese in progress.
• the feeler finger 62 and the rocker are stopped by a high sector 65 of the Chang cam, then the other finger 58 of the rocker is elastically pushed by the cam 56 which continues its rotation.
• Its pawl 78 then makes a relatively large movement along the cam 73 and, at the time of the year when this movement is carried out near the recess 74 of the cam, it moves the motive of the months by a further step 70, just before the normal step produced by the spout 77.
• the month hand 34 thus advances two steps and is placed on the value 1 of the graduation 35.
• the finger 62 of the rocker 60 rests against the Chang 63 cam in a sector 65 of large radius, so that the subsequent pivoting the rocker in the direction of A has a low amplitude and the pawl 78 can not abut against the recess 74. It then takes thirteen movements of the latch 60 to produce a lathe of the mobile 70 months.
• the finger 76 is placed on the mobile 70 in a position such that it advances the wheels 67 and 66 under the action of the latch 60 at the end of the last lunation of the Chinese year.
• the Chinese New Year is indicated by needle 34 jumping to month No. 1 and needle 37 jumping to the next year on graduation 38 of the Chang cycle. This movement is instantaneous since it accompanies that of the mobile 70.
• the needle 40 shown in Figure 1 is integral with a central wheel land branches 82 which makes a turn in twelve years.
• This wheel is driven by the mobile 70 with a transmission ratio of 1: 12 by means of an intermediate mobile comprising a wheel 83 which meshes with the pinion 75 and a wheel 84 which meshes with the wheel 82.
• the numbers of teeth of the elements 75, 83, 84 and 82 can be respectively 13, 52, 26 and 78 teeth.
• the needle 40 performs thirteen steps each Chinese year, two of these steps being made on the same day during a regular year.
• the needle 44 shown in FIG. 1 is integral with a wheel of the celestial trunks 86 which is driven from the central wheel 82 so as to make a turn in ten years, by means of a return wheel comprising two Wheels 87 and 88.
• the numbers of teeth of the wheels 82, 87, 88 and 86 may for example be respectively 78, 13, 9 and 45.
• the wheel 86 could be driven from the mobile 70 with a ratio of 1: 10.
• the needle 42 indicating the Chinese hours makes a turn in twenty-four hours legal, which is also the speed of rotation of the wheel 52.
• This needle can be secured to a wheel central not shown, which meshes with a wheel 89 of the same diameter, integral with the wheel 52.
• the position of the needle 42 could be based either on the lunar hour of Beijing, or on the lunar time local, or on any time zone, it would be desirable to interpose a friction device in the transmission driving the needle, to allow to adjust its position relative to the hour hand 24 depending on the location of the wearer of the watch.
• the calendar mechanism shown in Figure 2 may be equipped with various correctors for putting the different indicator organs in the desired position, especially after a period of stop the watch.
• Devices of this type operated by means of small pushers housed in the middle of the case, are well known in the field of calendar watches and do not need to be described in detail here.
• the calendar mechanism described above therefore automatically reproduces the 19 and 60-year cycles of the Chinese calendar, so that it can be described as perpetual.
• Other exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3-9 and using the same reference numerals for elements equivalent to those of the example described above.
• FIG. 3 schematically show a simplified embodiment of the invention.
• the display according to FIG. 3 is greatly simplified compared with the version of FIG. 1, by deleting the index 30 and the needles 37, 40, 42, 44 and 47, as well as the corresponding graduations.
• the index 30 is replaced by a lunar date hand 101 capable of making a turn in thirty days opposite a circular graduation 102.
• it is planned to display in a window 103 of the dial 21 the number ( reference 104) of the leap month during a Chinese leap year.
• the wicket may remain empty or display a sign of normality instead of this number.
• the lunar months are indicated by a needle 105 on a circular graduation 106 which has only twelve positions in this example.
• the corresponding mechanism, shown in Figure 4, is obviously devoid of cogs driving the needles of the first embodiment which are deleted here, but it also has several differences.
• the moon disk 27 actuated by the finger 53 has 60 teeth on its periphery. It carries a wheel 108 for driving, via a two-wheel return gear 109, 1 10 with a transmission ratio of 2, a wheel 1 1 1 integral with the lunar date hand 101.
• a manual manual corrector push, not shown, allows to advance step by step the disk 27 and with him the needle 101.
• a rocker 1 14 pivoted at 1 15 is biased in the direction of the arrow A by a not shown spring, so that its finger 1 16 remains constantly in sliding abutment against the cam 56 integral with the disk 27.
• the rocker has a spout 1 17 which actuates step by step the motive of the months 120.
• This is greatly simplified compared to the mobile 70 of the previous example, since it comprises only one wheel 121, having twelve teeth instead of thirteen, bearing the needle 105 and a finger 122 and held in position by a jumper spring 123.
• a ring of years 124 provided with an internal gearing not shown, has on its upper face any number N of equal fields which appear successively in the window 103 and may each bear an indication specific to the Chinese year concerned. As mentioned above, it is intended in this example to indicate in the window the number 104 of the leap month of each leap year of the Chinese calendar.
• the ring 124 can only be used for N years, then it must be replaced by a ring bearing the indications specific to the next N years.
• the number N of the fields of the ring can go to at least about sixty without the indication 104 becoming too small.
• the moon disk 27 advances one step per day under the action of the finger 53 and its cam 56 raises little by little the rocker January 14 during a lunation.
• the disk drives the needle 101 at the speed of a turn in thirty days to indicate the age of the moon, in other words the lunar date.
• the end of the arm 57 of the cam 56 reaches the finger 1 16 of the rocker 1 14, the spout 1 17 the teeth of the wheel 121, the latter and the needle 105 advance one step, then the finger 1 16 falls back into the next recess of the cam 56.
• the finger 122 is is next to the teeth of the ring 124 and it thus advances this ring a step to show the characteristic indication of the new year in the box 103.
• the number 104 of the extra lunar month (called the leap month) is indicated to the user in the window 103.
• the needle 105 arrives at the next month's number, the user must move backwards.
• One step is the motive of the months 120 by means of a conventional corrector (not shown) so that the needle 105 returns to the number of the leap month, since this number must be repeated for the next lunar month.
• the last lunar month of the leap year will always have the number 12 and the finger 122 will play its role at the right moment, but the mobile 120 has been activated thirteen times by the rocker during this year.
• the latch 1 14 has a dragging effect on the mobile 120. It could nevertheless be used in this mechanism an instantaneous rocker, of the kind of the latch 60 described above, but it would occupy more space.
• FIG. 5 represents an embodiment comprising the same elements as that of FIGS. 3 and 4, but supplemented by Chinese calendar indications that exist in the first embodiment, illustrated by FIGS. 1 and 2, namely: needle 40 indicating the terrestrial branch of the year next to the graduation 41 on a cycle of twelve years, the needle 44 indicating the element and the sign yang or yin of the year on the graduation 45 in a cycle of ten years, and the needle 42 indicating the zodiac sign of the Chinese time on the graduation 41.
• the corresponding wheels are the same as in FIG. 2 and are driven by the pinion 75, added for this purpose to the mobile of the months 120 shown in FIG. FIGS.
• FIGS. elements 103 to 106 and the mobile months 120 represent a device for displaying the lunar month that takes into account the leap years of the Chinese calendar and that can be incorporated in various embodiments of the invention, in particular those of FIGS. elements 103 to 106 and the mobile months 120.
• the display device shown in Figures 10 and 1 1 comprises three concentric parts rotatable about a common axis 200 oriented vertically in these drawings, namely a drive wheel 201 , a mobile lunar months 202 and a stopping piece 203 on which is fixed a needle B continuously indicating the position of the month bis. It should be noted in this connection that in the case of a year without a month bis, the needle B is positioned at noon on the graduation 204.
• the upper face of the dial is provided with a circular graduation of the months 204 divided into equal fields numbered from 1 to 12 from the Chinese New Year. On this graduation points an indicator formed by a needle 206 fixed to a plate 207 of the mobile of months 202.
• This mobile further comprises a toothed satellite wheel 208 rotatably mounted on the lower face of the plate 207, away from the center of the plate.
• the satellite wheel 208 is permanently braked on the plate 207 by a friction retainer, for example a spring washer clamped between these two elements.
• the satellite wheel On the opposite side of the plate, the satellite wheel has a series of stop elements 209, six in this case, which are distributed over its circumference to cooperate with a finger 210 of the stop piece 203.
• the stop elements 209 may be in the form of radial blades or teeth, for example.
• two successive stop elements 209 along the arc edge of a circle of a fixed blocking plate 212 which provides a precise orientation of the satellite wheel 208 and prevents it from rotating there.
• the drive wheel 201 has on the outside a first toothing 213 with twelve teeth and inside a second toothing 214 which meshes with the satellite wheel 208.
• the toothing 213 allows one element of the calendar mechanism of the timepiece, for example the rocker 1 14 of the embodiment according to Figure 4, to turn the wheel 201 by a twelfth of a turn at each new moon.
• the angular position of the stop finger 210 relative to the graduation of the months 204 corresponds to the position of a possible leap month in the sequence of the lunar months of the current year.
• This position is defined by an annular rotating cam of the year 215 whose inner edge has, for each year of the luni-solar calendar, a range 216 whose level (in this case the distance to the center of the cam) represents either the absence of a leap month or the rank of a leap month among the other months of the year. Since a leap month is never the last of the year in the Chinese calendar, the 215 cam has eleven levels for the leap months and one twelfth to represent the ordinary years.
• the cam 215 is provided for a 76-year (4 x 19) series of the Chinese calendar, but this number is arbitrary and could be different, for example 60. After this series of years, the cam will be replaced. 215 by a cam representing the following series of years.
• a feeler 218 pivoting 219 is held down by a spring against the corresponding bearing surface 216 of the cam 215.
• the probe 218 comprises as transmission means a rake 220 which meshes with a toothed hub 221 of the workpiece. stop 203 so as to position the finger 210 according to the level of said range.
• this level corresponds to an ordinary year, the finger 210 is positioned opposite the locking plate 212, in which position the stop piece 203 is moved axially downward by a fixed ramp so that the stop elements 209 of the satellite wheel 208 can pass over the finger 210 without interfering with it.
• the 215s cam must rotate around its center to advance one step when the display device changes from the last month of a year to the first month of the following year.
• This movement can be produced by a tooth 224 fixed on the plate 207 and acting on a gear mechanism (not shown) which is engaged with a toothing of the cam 215.
• This mechanism must further back the probe 218 to move it away.
• the rotation of the plate 207 at New Year brings the needle 206 to the number 1 of the graduation of the months.
• the probe 218 takes its extreme position to the left, against a range of twelfth level of the cam 215, so that the finger 210 is placed in front of the plate 212, as explained ci above, and therefore has no effect during this year.
• the rotation of the drive wheel 201 one twelfth of a turn in the clockwise direction displaces the planet wheel 208 and produces an equal rotation of the plate 207 and the needle 206, since the braked satellite wheel can not not turn on itself.
• the plateau 207 will have made a complete turn and the operations described in the preceding paragraph will be repeated.
• the probe 218 is stopped less by the cam 215 and keeps the finger 210 during the whole year in a position corresponding to the number of the month preceding the leap month, for example as shown in the figures 12 to 14. More precisely, this position is such that, when the needle 206 indicates the number of the said month preceding the leap month (position according to FIG. 12), the finger 210 forms a stop in front of the nearest of the stop elements. 209 of the satellite wheel.
• FIG. 13 represents this position of the display device.
• the new pitch of the drive wheel 201 completes the rotation of a fraction of a turn (of a sixth of a turn in the example shown) corresponding to the number of stop element of the satellite wheel 208 and the reduced rotation of the plate 207, so that the needle 206 passes to the next field of the graduation 204 to increment by one unit the number of the month by reaching the position of Figure 14.
• the finger 210 will have no effect during the rest of the year.
• the drive wheel 201 advances by 13/12 turn, while the mobile of the month 202 and its needle 206 make exactly one complete turn.
• the example described here is only one possible embodiment of the display of the months and it can be the subject of many changes and variants within the reach of a skilled person.
• the stop finger 210 instead of the stop finger 210 being axially displaced in its position corresponding to an ordinary year, it could be resiliently mounted on the stop piece 203, so that the satellite wheel 208, prevented from rotating by the plate blocking 212, pushes it back and crosses it at the end of the first month of the year.
• the elastic restraint of the finger should nevertheless be strong enough to overcome the braking of the satellite wheel at the beginning of a leap month.
• the 215s cam can be configured in different ways to fit the leap month and leap rules in different luni-solar calendars, allowing the principles of the present invention to be applied to Greek calendar displays. for example, Jewish or Indian.
• Fig. 6 shows an embodiment similar to that of Fig. 2 and operating in the same manner, with the differences described below.
• the Chang cam 63 of FIG. 2 is replaced by an annular Chang cam designated herein by 130, the inner side of which has a toothing 131 and low 132 and high 133 sectors of the same angular extension, respectively representing the ordinary years and the leap years of the Chinese calendar.
• the cam has three nineteen of these sectors and will complete a complete turn in fifty-seven years, three cycles of Chang.
• the finger 62 of the rocker 60 rotated 61 will abut against the sector corresponding to the current year when the rocker is sufficiently raised by the cam 56 of the moon indicator, as in the first embodiment.
• a two-wheeled double-wheeled gear train 135 and 137 the first of which is attacked at each Chinese New Year by the finger 76 of the mobile 70 months, while the second is in permanent engagement with the toothing 131 of the ring of the cam 130.
• This ring can also bear indications characteristic of the Chinese year, including the indication of 104 number of the leap month for the display in the window 103 as in the example of Figures 3 and 4.
• FIGS. 7 and 8 show a variant of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6.
• This variant includes the indication of the leap month, which is carried out here by means of a needle 140 of the retrograde type opposite a graduation 141 made of a sector of circle graduated from 1 to 12, and the indication of the current year number 142 in the Chang cycle, appearing in a wicket 143.
• This leap month cam 150 has an internal toothing
• the retrograde hand 140 is integral with a wheel 156 meshing with the rack 157 of a rake 158 pivoted at 159 and biased by a spring in the direction of the arrow C. A finger 160 of the rake will thus abut against the bleachers 151 of the cam 150 which corresponds to the current Chinese year. If the height of this step is zero, it means that the year is normal and the needle shows it being located next to a specific mark 162 at the end of the graduation 141.
• the step has a non-zero height which determines the proper positions of the rake and the needle 140 to indicate the number of the leap month.
• the wearer of the watch uses this indication in combination with the indication of the lunar months by the needle 34.
• the fall of the rocker 60 will produce instantaneous motions of the mobile of the months 70, the wheels 135 and 137 driven by the finger 76, as well as the two annular cams 130 and 150. It is therefore necessary, at at this time, briefly back the rake 158 to release the finger 160 of the cam 150.
• the base of the rake is provided with a wheel 164 (which can be reduced to a toothed sector) which is attacked by a rack 165 of a lever 166 articulated at 167 on the rocker 60.
• This device backs the rake at the beginning of the movement of the rocker in the direction of the arrow A and holds the rake until the stage where the finger 76 of the mobile 70 has completed its action.
• the rack 165 is then disengaged from the wheel 164, so that the rake is returned by its spring against the new step 151 of the cam 150.
• Fig. 9 shows an embodiment where a Chinese calendar display according to the present invention, particularly in the version of Fig. 7, is combined in the same watch with a Julian calendar display by means of a conventional calendar mechanism.
• This mechanism can be of a well-known type, driven from the hour wheel, and is therefore not represented here.
• the display of the ten-year Chinese cycle by the needle 44 and the graduation 45 (FIG. 7) is replaced by two concentric indicators, namely a needle 170 indicating the calendar julien next to a graduation 171 and a needle 172 indicating the Julian month next to a graduation 173.
• a four-year-old needle 174 indicates the year in the four-year Julian cycle, next to a graduation 175 with a LY sign identifying a year. Julian leap.

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