Suc a mechanical clockwork la provided with a mechanical driving gea with one or more outgoing spindles to drive poin ers or a pointer module for indicating the time. The driv ng gear is provided with a winding s s m with a spring or similar that mz&t egularly wound u * eit er manually by turning a 'c ow he l* , or semi~au omatical1y by the movements of the hand* Mechanical clockworks are relatively expensive, especially when they a e precision clockworks that must be manufactured with a ve y high accuracy. k disadvantage of mechanical clockworks is that they generally have to contend with a variation, ow ve si¾alX, that can increase over time on accou t of ag ing, wear and similar, disadvantage cou led to this is that the person, is never certain of the precise time and that the clockwork must he inspected now and again, and if necessary set to the actual ime _*

This setting always requires an external operation, a d an external c nn ction to the driving gear, whereby this ex ern l connection caa give ise to undesixed infiltration of a d dust and we r.

Anot er disadvantage of a conventional mechanical clockwork is tha when changing txa summertime to ¾i»te ia¾ and vice versa, he time mus fee d usted on each occasi * likewise when avel! inn: from one time zo to another time zone . &not er dis dvan age of a conventional echanical clockwork is that it must e wound op manually «md or automatically _* If the clockwork stops, it must foe aet again.

Digital clockworks generally work on the foasia of a qua z clock and are generally much more accurate and in principle mus he set much le s, excep when, the cl ckwork sto ^* for ex m le as a result of a dead battery or similar.

Many people c ose a mechanica clockwork on account of the image that it creates, despite the lowe r cision _*

WO 2008/007048 h2 describes an adjustment apparatus for a mechanical watch in which the mechanical clockwork is coupled not. only to a mec nical oscillator, but also to an electrical generator, sensor compares the frequency of the mechanical oscillator to reference sign l such an a quart oscillator o a radio signal and adjuets if necessar the frequency of the mechanical oscillator so that the indicated time is corrected. The s stem is suitable for continuous ad ustment with small corrections so as to kee the position of the i ers in agre men with the real ime♦

CM 202 304 231. describes ft adjustment ap s to 5 adjust the orientation of the pointer. A differential coupling 1 s d duri g the adjustment of the pointer in order not to influence the normal operation of t e clock- The pointer can be s if d in a electrical ay* but is limited to the a ustm nt of the pointer of seconds.

ID

US 5 751 6 6 A desc s ls e adjustment apparatus t ad ust the s ed of the pointer. The adjustment apparatus comprises an XC ( integrated circuit} in which the r quency of a time base such as a quarts; oscillator s compared with

IS the mechanical drive of the mechanical clock, when th wound spring gets exhausted the ensuing error of the pointer position is immediately and the user is invited to rewind the sp ing The d stme t is suitable for small corrections, but does not replace the crown of a mechanical

20 watch with which the exact hour can be set after a period in which th watch was stopped for instance.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a solution to the aforementioned and other disadvantages _*

25 o this end the i dent o concerns a pointer module for the pointers of a clockwork driven by a mechanical driving ge , whereby the clockwork is a hybrid clockwork that in addition to the mechanical dri ing gea , also at least comprises an additional driving gear with a motor and an

30 electric or electronic- controller that is internal and which is qui ped to toe able to drive and/or adjust the ine s or the pointer module in p llel o« in seri s with the mechanical dr ing gear, n advantage of such clockwork according to the nv n ion is that the pointers are not only driven in t « conventional mechanical w , but can also be driven or adjus d by at least one additiona controlled drive of. the motor that can i e electrical or mec anical♦ This additional drive can he controlled by an internai or an external signal.

This characterist c o ern m ny extra possibilities with respect to a conventional mechanical clockwork ^i h mechanical pointers, for example when the electrically or electronically controlled driving gear can receive signals from a pr eisa clock and can influence the operation of the clockwork as a function thereof,, for example to automatically synchronise the indicated time with the signals originating from a precise clock _*

Such signals ca originate fo example fro an integrated internal Qua t clock o from an external signal of an atomic clock transmitted by a radio mast cr originating f a the internet or similar _*

This makes it possible to make a clockwork fros¾ a mechanical clockwork with mechanical pointers or with, a mechanical pointer module with the precision of a guart clock or a atomic clock or similar, which in practice is excluded fo a c ventio l m ch nical clockw k, not o n with h moat ex ensi e and mee accurate embodiments .

The pointer module according to the invention can be added S posteriori to any existing mechanical clockwork as an add-on or ping-in _? in order to provide any conven iori&l mechanical clockwork with the ecis n and automatic adjustment of a Qu ts clock or of an atomic clock,

ID For the precision use is made either of an external aignai of an atomic clock for instance a radio signal indicating the correct time, or of an internal signal of a built-in quart;; cl ck with a program oi the correct time on the basis of this internal built-in ciu&rta clock,

IS

he pointer module measures the position of the pointers continuously and will set the i ers on the programmed Or desired hour<

2D Mo e v * it can aut mat!cally adapt to the transition from summer im to wintertime or adjust the time h n, travelling from one time zon® to another, or adjust the date at the end of a month that does not have 31 d&ya, and similar.

35 Moreover, it is no longer necessary to reset the time show by the clockwork after the clockwork has stopped A clockwork according to the invention will indeed be automatically reset when it is again set in operation _*

30 A pointer module according to the invention also offers the possibility to adjust the clockwork ia the additional drivi g gear via a wi el ss connec io , for example via Bluetooth by means of a smartphone, ?C oz similar.

An addition adventage is that no external mechanical operation is needed to set the clockwork, which cars create pro etus with r gard to waterproofing and dust proofinc the number one enemy of a m chanical clockwork. The pointer module replaces de facto the adjustment function of the c ow of any mec anical clockwork, that is equipped with it.

With the intention of bette showing the characteristics of t o invention, a few preferred esshodlments of a hybrid clockwork according to the invention asee describ d hereinafter by way of an example without any limiting nature, with referenc to the accompanying drawings wherein; figure 1 schematically shows the mechanism of a hybrid clockwork according to the invention with two driving gears;

figure 2 shows a perspective view o a l rger scale of the differential that is indicated by 2 in figure 1; figure 3 ahows a cross-section according to line III- HI of figure 2;

figures 4 and 5 show diagram of two variant embodiments of a clockwork according to figure 1 with three driving gears in parallel;

figure 6 ahow a top view of a pointer module of the clockwork according to the invention; figu e 7 sh ws a c oss-section according to line VII- Vil of figure 6.;

figure 8 sh s a c oss-sectio according to line

VIII of figure 7*

figure § s ows not e variant of a hybrid clockwork according to the inv ntion with wo dri i gears in seriesί

figure 10 shows another variant of a hybrid clockwork according to the in ention..

The clockwork 1 In the form of a wristwatch of figure 1 comprises a housing 2; a conventional mechanical driving gear 3 that is fastened in the housing and which for escassple is driven b the impetus i a wound- p spring and which in this case is provided with an outgoing rotating spindle 4 for d ivi g a pointer modul 5 with mechanical pointers via a differential 6 that is fastened in the housing 2 and which is driven directly by the aforementioned outgoing spindle 4 of the mechanical driving gear 3, and which is provided with an outgoing spindle 7 for the direct drive of the pointer module 5»

Άη example of a pointer module S can fee illustrated on the basis of figures ? and 8, which will he discussed further, in addition to the echanical driving ge r 3 the clockwork 1 is also eg ipped with an additional driving gear 8 with motor 9 that is an electric motor in the ex m le shown, for example a stepper motor, that is incorporated internally i the housi g 2 and is fastened therein, and which for am le is supplied by a battery 10 or similar. The driving gear 8 is fur er r vid d with a drive gea 11 that is fastened to the spindle 12 of the ssotot ® d hi h is permanently coupled to the aforementioned di ferential 6 to e able to dri e the outgoing s in le 7 of the differential ¾ ^ia this di ferential 6, and this in parallel to and independen ly of the mechanical d iving gear 3 _*

Ass sh wn in n?o detail in the example of figu es 2 and 3, the differential 6 is formed toy tw coaxial planetary gear transmissions positioned b e one another, respectively a first gear t ansmissi n 13 and a seco d gear transmission 2.3b, each composed of a a n gear 14a and 14b respec iveiy, a coaxial crown wheel 15 that is common to both planetary gear t ansmissions 13 ₁ and two satellites 16a and 16b respec ively engaging in between for each gear transmission .13, that ar rotatahiy mounted on bearings on or in a satellite support 17a and 17h respectively.

The satellite support 17a. has a fixed connection to the housing 2 of the clockwork 1 while the satellite support 17b is rotatatoiy affixed around the fixed satellite support 17a by means of a bearing 18.

The rotatable satellite support 17b is provided along its outer periphery with an external toothing 19 that can mea with the gear 11 of the additional driving ge 8 to transfer torque. The fixed satellite support 17a is also a support of the common crown wheel 15 that is freely rotatably mounted on bearings 20. The satellites 16a and 16b are rotatably mounted by their shafts 21a and 21b on bearings in their respective satellite supports 17a and 17b.

The sun gear 14a of the first planetary gear transmission 13a is directly coupled to the outgoing spindle 4 of the mechanical driving gear 3, while the sun gear 14b of the second planetary gear transmission 13b is directly coupled to the outgoing spindle 7 of the differential 6. The operation of this differential 6 enables the outgoing spindle to be driven independently by each of the driving gears 3 and 8, either separately from one another or together so that their influences on the movement of the outgoing spindle 7 are added together or that these influences entirely or partially counteract or eliminate one another, with this depending on the direction in which the driving gears 3 and 8 are driven.

The independent operation of the differential can be explained in the following way on. the basis of figures 2 and 3 ,

On the assumption that only the mechanical driving gear 3 is driven and the additional driving gear is not driven and thus the gear 11 and the satellite support 17b have a fixed position, the transfer of the torque of the outgoing spindle 4 of the ssec an.ical. d iving gear to the goi g spindle 4 of the differential proceeds in the following vay;

- the outgoing spindle 4 end the sun gear 24a fastened thereto enables the satellites 16a to rotate around their fix d shafts tlmt

^>» because the shafts 21a ate f ϊ sod, the freely rotating cORan . crown IS is driven in rotation around its axis X- ' ?

- the com&on crown 3.5 in turn d i es the aatelltt.es

16b around their shafts 21 that are held in a fixed position by the satellite support 17b

~ due to the rotation of the satellites 16b around their fixed shafts 2l * the sun gear 14b is driven and as result also the outgoing spi dle 7 to the pointer module 5.

The differential can be designed such that In this case h outgoing spindle 7 of the differential 6 rotates at the same speed and in the same direction as the outgoing epindle 4 of the mec ical dri ing gear 3 and consequently both spindles 4 and 7 turn synchronously.

On the other assumption that only the additional driving gear 8 ia drive and the mechanical driving gear 3 is kept stationary* then the following situation arises:

- beca se the sun gear 14a and the satellite support

17a are fixed* the satellites 16a ate also fixed and as a result also the common crow wheel 15* - by d i i g th additional driving gear 8 the satelli e suppor 1? is ow driven in rotation around its ax X~X* ί

- because the aemon crown wheel 15 la fisee _* aa a resnit the aun gear 1 b together with the outgoing spindle 7 of the differential 6 are driv n to drive the pointer module 5 its this way _*

It ia thus clear that hoth driving gears 3 and 8 can drive the pointer module S independently from one another.

When both driving gears 3 and 8 are driven together, then, depending on the direction of rotation in which and the speed at which the additional driving gear 8 Is driven, the outgoing spindle 7 of the differential 6 will turn faster or more slowly t an the outgoin spindle 4 of the mechanical drivin ge r. his cornss down to eystem of parallel driving gears as schematically shown in igure 4 in which, in addition to the isechanieai driving gear 3 and the additional driving gear B, a second additional driving gear 8* is also connected in parallel > This thus enables the pointers or pointer module to turn more quickly or more slowly to thus correct the indicated ime if neo asary <

As schematically shown in figure 4 _f the clockwork can foe provided with an electric or electronic cent oller 2 for controlling the additional driving gear 8 as a function of the s gnal rigina g a precise internal clock 23, for example a q t?; clock 23<

In the controller 22 for the additional driv ng, gear 8 an algorithm is provided that records the indicated ime con inuously or periodically for e mple with a sensor 24, and compares it to fc « tim data received from the internal clock 23, and, if here is time di ference between the two, adjusts the indicated time by driving the additional driving gear 8 in the one or the other direction to make the indicated ti in the pointer module 5 correspond to the time data received from the internal clock 23. In this way a hybrid clockwork 1 can be realised with the precision of a uar z; clockwork-

It is not excluded that the driving gear 3 and the additiona d ivi g gear 8 form one single unit, or in other words that the additional driving gear 8 is incorporated in the driving gear 3. figure 5 shows a variant embodiment of a hybrid clockwork 1 according to the invention that is additionally provided with a receive 25 with respect to the clockwork of figu e 4 to pick up ireless signals, for x mple from an ext nal clock 23, for example via Bluetooth connection t a sisattphone 26, FC or similar, that can be connected to the internet 2? to collect such signals from the internet, whereby the external clock 23' can be a very precise atomic clock for exam le, e re eive 5 is provided t e ros to adj s the internal r s clock 23 if n cessar as a func ion of the ext nal s gn l from the clock 23* _* In this way a hybrid clockwork 1 an he obtained with the ecision of an atomic clock.

It is not excluded that th<& internal clock 23 is omitted and that the er 5 is directly connected to the controller 22 to control the additional clockwork 8,

The receiver 25 also makes it possible, for example to control the clockwork 1 in order to adjust the time by means of a smartphone application or as a function of the location dat of the smartphone 26 to adjust the time to the ime &ona, nd similar,. he motor ¾ of the additional driving gear 8 does not necessarily have to be an electric motor, but can also be a mechanical drive that is driven by eans of a spring or simila . This mechanical drive can vary its speed of rotation by means of an electronic controller.

The invention also applies to a mechanical clockwork with a mechanical driving gear with, or than one outg ing spindle _t for example one for the hours and one for the minu es, whereby for example a dif erential ca be applied to each or at least a part of these outgoing spindles _* .

!ri ure 6 shows a pointer module 5 that can be driven by a single spindle 4 of a mechanical driving gear 3 _* Such a pointer module is for exam le described in the Belgian a ent BE101911 of the es nt in en , the description of whic is hereby incorporated: b r f re ce.

This poin e isodule 5 comprises a pointer plate in the form of a m ut disk 28 with a minute pointer 29 that is driven in notation with reapect to a fixed minute scale 30 by the outgoing spindle 4 of the mechanical driving gear 3.

In a rec ss of the disk 28 a ring-shaped hour scale 31 is rot iabiy affixed with rota able hour disk 32 th n hoar pointer 33 therein _* gear s s m 34 as illustrated in figure ? and as explained in BE101911 ensurea that the turning movement of the minote disk 28·, the hour scale 31 and the hour disk are driven at a suitable speed to foe able to read off the ime.

It is specific to the invention that in this case,- in c t ast to BEI0 S11, the minute disk 28 is not directly driven by the outgoing spindle 4 of the mechanical driving gear 3, but is indirectly driven via an additional d iving gear 8 as shown by the dashed line in figure 6 and as shown in figures 6 and 7. In this case the minute disk 28 is freely rotat&bly affixed cm the outgoing spindle 4 of the mechanical driving gear 3 and the additional driving gear .8 is formed by an electric stepper motor that is fastened to the minu e disk 28, and which is provided o its spindle with a wo m 38 that meshes with a worm wheel 36 engaging therewith that is fastened to the outgoing spindle 4 of the han cal d iving gear 3. If the additional driving ge r 8 is not driv n, then the m nu e disk 28 turns jointly and synchronously with the tg in spindle 4 of the mechanic i driving a so that in this case the s ua ion is the s me as when the mi ute disk 28 is dri en directly by the mechanical driving gear.

However, when the indicated time is ahead o ehind the actual tit , then the clockwork 1 ca be adjusted by driving the worm 33 with the motor 9 in the one or the other direction, such that the mi e disk 28 can be turned with respect to the outgoing spindle 4 to correct the i dicated ime. In fact this comes down to the fact that .in this cace the mechanical driving gear and the additional driving gear 8 engage in series, as schematically shown in figure 9. the electric motor 9 can itself be provided with a battery that turns with the adnui disk 2 , or can obtain its power frost a battery or another suppl that is fastened in the housing 2 in which case slip rings must be provided to tr smit the power from the i^ed batter to the motor 9 on the rotatahis minute disk 28.

According to a specific aspect of the invention,, for the receiver 22 for the control of the additional, driving gear, use can also be made of a transparent touchscreen 37* which, as shown in ?, covers the pointers as a watch glass according to certain touch movements to he able to adjust the indicated time. It is clear that the touc acreen 37 can also fo an interactive t sc een on which symb ls or similar can e tem orarily or permanently displayed. he touchscreen 37 can also be used to operate or so other functions of the clockwork 1 uch as the date, a chronograph function o simila ,

Figure 1.0 s ows a simple mbodime t of a s ial hybrid clockwork according to the inventio > in this ease it concerns clockwork i with a conventional pointe 38 that is fastened to a spindle ?* tha is rotatably affixed In e housing 2 of the clockwork 1 and which is provided with an arm 3$ on which motor is fa tened with a worm 35 on its s i dle, whereby the worm 35 me es with a worm wheel 36 that is fastened directly to the outgoing spindle 4 of the mechanical driving aear 3.

If the motor 9 is not controlled, then the pointer 38 turns at the same sps¾ed as the outgoing spindle 4 of. the mechanical d iving gear 3» If the motor is dr ven, then the rotation of the pointer 38 can foe accelerated or de elera ed according to the direction of rotation in which the motor § is driven. The worm-worm wheel 35-36 ansmission is of a permanen n tore.

It is clear that in all cases the additional driving gear 8 can be implemented in different ways, for ex m l by means of linear motor or simila , whether elect ic l or mechanical . The differential can also be realised in other ways.

A combination of serial and parallel controls is not excluded.

The internal or external signal for controlling the controller 22 can be an analogue or digital signal, whereby an external mechanical operation, by pushing in or pulling out a crown wheel, does not belong to the objectives of the invention .

The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiments described as an example and shown in the drawings, but a hybrid clockwork according to the invention can be realised in all kinds of forms and dimensions without departing from the scope of the invention.