WATCH .

The present invention relates to watches and, more particularly, to the means for attachment to a watch of fastenings such as chains, straps, ribbons or the like.

Most modern watches are designed for strapping to a person's wrist by means of a single or two-part strap which attaches to the watch at opposite sides and then passes round the wrist of the user. Watches are also designed with single attachment devices for use as pendant watches worn around the neck on chains or ribbons. Also, nurses usually have a watch attached by a ribbon to their tunic.

Modern watches also form items of fashion and personal jewellery, but because they are designed either as wrist watches or as pendant watches, they can generally only be worn in one position. This restricts their use as items of jewellery, fashion and also from their usefulness generally.

According to the present invention a watch includes a plurality of attachment means, at least one of which is movable relative to the other.

Preferably, the watch includes a one or more attachment means which are rotatable about the casing of the watch relative to one another. For example, the watch may include a single fixed attachment means and a single movable attachment means rotatable into a plurality of positions relative to the fixed attachment means, whereby the watch may be attached to a strap for use as a wrist watch, or to a chain or the like for use as a pendant, pocket or belt watch etc.. The movable attachment means would generally be able to rotate behind or in front of the fixed one in the 12 o'clock position so that, when used as a

pendant watch only one attachment is seen from the front.

The back of the watch may be formed with a central boss protruding from its outer surface, the watch also carrying in a fixed position, a first attachment means such as a loop. An adjustable mounting plate may be locatable on the back by means of the boss in any one of a number of relative rotational positions, the mounting plate carrying a similar attachment means and being held on the back plate by a snap-fit, fixing screw or similar means.

Preferably, a pair of relatively rotatable mounting plates may be provided for attachment to the watch by means of a boss formed on the watch, the watch itself otherwise being free of any attachment device. Alternatively, the attachment means may be provided on one or more rings attached to the periphery of the watch either at its front or its back, and rotatable to dispose the attachment means in a desired position.

By either of these means each of the attachment means can be rotated into a multitude of positions, thus giving the user many alternative ways of wearing the watch. For example in the '12' and '6' o'clock positions for wrist wear, '10' and '2' for wearing around the neck and '9' and '3' for wearing around the waist.

The boss may be sized to contain part of the watch movement and the watch may include a conventional crown to adjust the watch or an adjuster for the movable parts of the watch, located at least partially within the boss. In the case of an electronic watch, the battery hatch may also be located within the boss. It is envisaged that the invention will find particular utility in modern watches having plastics casings, but may also be applied to watches having conventional metal casings.

It will be appreciated that a wide range of mechanisms for providing adjustment of the position of the attachment means are possible, for example, the rear plate of the watch being formed with a plurality of radially extending grooves in which sliders carrying the attachment means may be selectively mounted for pulling out the or pushing back into their retracted positions as and when required or not required respectively. A further alternative is for the moving attachment means to be pivoted to the back of the watch. These can then be pulled out like the blades of a pocket knife and they too could be covered over by a cover plate. The latter two examples might be particularly suitable for certain non-circular watches.

A preferred example of a watch according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 shows the front view of the watch; Figure 1 shows the rear view of the watch; Figure 2 shows the side view of the watch; Figure 3 shows a partially sectioned side view; Figure 4 shows a rear view of the watch with the mounting plates removed;

Figure 5 illustrates one of the mounting plates; Figures 6A & 6B illustrate a mounting plate retaining plate, in face and side elevations; and.

Figure 7 shows a retaining screw for the mounting plate assembly.

The watch shown in Figures 1 to 7, which is preferably of conventional general construction, has a conventional clock face 1 in a generally circular casing 2, the rear 3 of which is formed with a serated boss 4 protruding slightly therefrom. Centrally of the boss is a screw-threaded aperture 5. A pair of mounting plates 6 of circular shape.

each having a central aperture 8 with a detent 9 to engage the serations on the boss 4, are mounted, one over the other, on the boss 4. The plates 6 are movable to any one of a number of relative angular positions defined by the detents 9 which provide a "click" action adjustment of the position of the respective mounting plate around the boss.

The first and second mounting plates each include an attachment means in the form of a loop or eye 10 and are retained on the boss by means of a washer-like retaining plate 11 that has a diameter larger than that of the boss 4 (and also, of course, larger than the apertures 8 in the mounting plates) . A grub screw 12 engages in the threaded aperture 5 in the boss 4 and extends through the retaining plate 11 to hold it in place on the back of the watch. An alternative, is for the mounting plates to have snap-on fittings.

Figure 3 shows the mounting plates arranged diametrically opposite one another, but they may be rotated to different angular positions to suit different methods of wearing the watch, and may be positioned so that one of the eyes 10 overlies the other to give the appearance of but a single eye. A wide variety of different fastenings (not shown) may be attached to the watch. These are not per se a part of the invention, but may, for example, be chains, flexible wire or plastic coils, ribbons, etc., each having a suitable clip or other means for connection to the eyes 10.