JPS599635B2 - Manufacturing method for watch side with electroformed shell structure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a timepiece having an electroformed shell structure.

Many watch sides having conventional electroformed shell structures are known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 51-108665, but these watch sides require the provision of an undercut portion during molding of a plastic mother mold. This was impossible, and the resin on the back side of this type of watch was visible, making it look cheap.

Furthermore, it is also possible to provide a metal outer shell, back cover, or other enclosure member to hide the resin on the backside.However, the drawback is that it is extremely difficult to process the shell and enclosure member together, resulting in high costs. It was hot. The present invention provides a process for assembling an upper mold having an inner surface forming an upper profile of a watch case and a lower mold having an inner surface forming a lower profile of a watch case, and conductive treatment and electrification of both inner surfaces. A process of forming an electroformed shell by sequentially performing casting, a process of separating the lower mold from the electroformed shell and filling the inside of the electroformed shell with resin, and a process of processing the resin part to form the watch case. This is an attempt to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks with a timepiece manufacturing method comprising a step of forming an inner diameter portion and a step of separating the upper mold from the electroformed shell.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 4 are process diagrams showing the manufacturing method of the present invention.

Figure 1 is an assembly diagram of the plastic matrix. Reference numeral 1 designates an upper plastic mold having an inner surface Ib forming the upper profile of the watch case, and has a positioning recess 1a on the lower surface.

2 is the inner surface 2 forming the lower profile of the watch case.
It is the lower mold of the plastic matrix having the shape b, and has a convex part 2a for positioning on the upper surface.
2a may be reversely provided on the upper mold and the lower mold.

As shown in Figure 2, the assembled plastic mother mold upper and lower molds 1
．． The surfaces of the inner surfaces Ib and 2b formed on each of the electrodes 2 are coated with a conductive film 3 by known vapor deposition or electroless plating.

The conductive film 3 may be made of Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, or the like. Thereafter, a shell 4 is formed on the surface of the conductive film 3 by electroforming to a predetermined thickness. The material of the electroformed shell 4 is Cu, Ni,
There are Fe, Ag, etc. After the electroforming is completed, the lower mold 2 of the plastic master mold is removed, and the void surrounded by the electroform shell 4 is filled with a castable resin or a low melting point metal 5, as shown in FIG. After the resin etc. 5 has completely hardened, the electroformed shell 4 is removed from the upper mold 1 by cutting along the cutting line A, and then protective plating is applied to the surface of the conductive coating 3 that is in close contact with the electroformed shell 4. Form layer 6 to complete the watch side. The protective plating layer 6 is A
There are u, Pd, Rh, Cr, etc. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the watch side according to the present invention.

The outer circumferential surface of this watch side is integrally covered with an electroformed shell, and has a so-called reverse taper section 9 and a lower surface section 10, which are particularly problematic in conventional shell cases. On the watch side, the back cover 8 is fixed by biting by applying the taper 7 that is used when molding the plastic mother mold. As described above, the present invention includes a process of assembling an upper mold having an inner surface forming the upper profile of the watch case and a lower mold having the inner surface forming the lower profile of the watch case, and applying conductive treatment to the inner surface. and electroforming to form an electroformed shell;
A step of separating the lower mold from the electroformed shell and filling the inside of the electroformed shell with resin or metal, a step of processing the resin part to form the inner diameter part of the watch case, and separating the upper mold from the electroformed shell. By using a manufacturing method that includes a step of separating the case from the cast shell, an electroformed shell case that has a reverse tapered part and in which the resin is not visible on the back side can be obtained.

Further, the process of assembling the shell and the envelope member, as in the past, is no longer necessary, resulting in cost reduction.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an assembly diagram of a plastic matrix, FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views of the timepiece during the manufacturing process according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the timepiece. 1...Plastic matrix upper mold, 1a...Concave part,
1b...Inner surface part, 2...Plastic matrix lower mold, 2a...Convex part, 2b...Inner surface part, 3
... Conductive treatment film, 4 ... Electroformed shell, 5 ... Resin or low melting point metal, 6 ...
・Protective plating layer, 7... Extraction taper part, 8.
...Back cover, 9...Reverse tapered part, 10.
...Bottom part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Assembling an upper mold having an inner surface part forming the upper profile of the watch case and a lower mold having an inner surface part forming the lower profile of the watch case, and performing conductive treatment and electroforming on the inner surface part. a process of separating the lower mold from the electroformed shell and filling the inside of the electroformed shell with resin or metal; and processing the resin part to form the inner diameter part of the watch case. A method for manufacturing a timepiece having an electroformed shell structure, comprising the steps of: separating the upper mold from the electroforming shell.