Watch Accessory

This invention relates to wristwatch or wristband accessories. It is a removable piece which is connected to the wristwatch via the pushpin, namely the pin connecting the wristband to the watch.

Using the current methods, wristwatch owners can only modify the appearance of their wristwatches by changing the wristbands or by changing the protective watch cover. The flexibility of these methods suffers because both wristbands and watch covers are made in many shapes and sizes and one must fit these items to each particular wristwatch individually. Furthermore, he who desires making some additions to the wristwatch cannot do so using today's methods without having a wristband or wristwatch made on contract by a specialist.

It is the main object of the present invention to provide an accessory which is not permanently fixed to either the watch or the wrist band and, therefore, can be removed from one wrist-watch and installed on another.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such an accessory which can add special creative touches to most conventional wrist-watches and or which can have a functional application, such as to constitute a medical alert tag that informs the public of special medical symptoms that must be respected during emergencies.

The wrist-watch accessory of the invention comprises a hollow open-ended cylinder for slidably receiving the push pin of a wrist-watch and a pair of flat, spaced-apart, generally parallel legs protruding from one side of said cylinder in superposed relation, both legs usually having a width greater than the length of said cylinder. The end loop of the watch band is provided with an opening through which the cylinder is inserted with the two legs in contact with the outer and inner faces of the wrist band and with the push pin inserted through the loop and the cylinder. The invention is also directed to the combination of a wrist-watch with the above-noted accessory.

In the drawings which illustrate the accessory, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the accessory to be installed onto the watch. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the wristband, the pushpin, and the accessory.

FIG. 3 shows the accessory fully installed on the wristwatch.

This accessory is comprised of a hollow open-ended cylinder 1, with the internal diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the conventional pushpin 2 which serves to attach wrist band 4 to wrist-watch case 4b. A U-shaped stopper element 3 surrounds cylinder 1 and is fixed to it. Stopper 3 consists of an outer leg 3a and of an inner leg 3b which protrude from one side of cylinder 1. Legs 3a and 3b are flat, spaced apart and generally parallel to each other and in superposed relation. Both legs usually have a width greater than the length of the cylinder. In the embodiment shown, both legs 3a and 3b are substantially co-extensive and extend above and below the wristband 4 to prevent the acessory from rotating. Stopper element 3 and cylinder 1 can be molded into one piece. The end loop 4a of wristband 4 must contain an opening 5 where cylinder 1 is to be inserted to receive pushpin 2. The width and depth of opening 5 in the wristband loop 4a must be sufficiently large so that the cylinder 1 can be inserted into opening 5 and the pushpin 2 can traverse both the wristband loop 4a and the cylinder 1. The legs 3b must exceed the dimensions of the opening 5 in the wristband 4.

An identification and/or alert label can be applied to one or both of the legs 3a as shown, 6. This eliminates the necessity of wearing a separate identification bracelet.