The present invention is directed generally to coupling assemblies for coupling a wristworn device to a strap, and in particular, to a sleeve that is designed to fit over a spring bar, conventional or otherwise, and facilitate the removal and attachment of the strap to the wristworn device. In a preferred embodiment, the wristworn device is a wristwatch but as will be understood from the disclosure herein, the invention is not so limiting.
Constructions that attempt to facilitate a user's ability to couple and decouple the wristwatch to/from the strap are well known. For example, one known solution has spring bars where a pin is radially fixed on one of the two axially movable spring-loaded pins and the radial pin protrudes through a slot of the tube of the spring bar. The watchband/strap has a longitudinal slot allowing the radial pin of the spring bar to protrude and allow for manual movement within the longitudinal slot of the strap until the strap can be disassembled from the watchcase. Some other prior art constructions are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,194,484; 2,870,511; 2,901,806; 3,824,783; 4,285,450; 4,564,308; 5,483,505 and 6,647,593. However, all of the foregoing constructions have perceived deficiencies.
It is thus believed that further advances to the state of the art are both desirable and achievable. In particular, it is desirable to provide users with an ability to more easily couple and decouple a strap to and from a wearable device, such as wristwatch by way of example. Accordingly, constructions and methodologies for attachment in accordance with the present invention are set forth herein.