When I think atomic, I usually think Japanese. Traditionally Casio, and increasingly Seiko. I’m happy to report, however, that it’s time to start thinking German, as well.
Not only is the new Junghans Mega 1000 atomic, but it’s a worldwide atomic watch, as well, which means it is capable of receiving time signals transmitted by almost all the atomic clocks in the world. The Junghans Mega 1000 can calibrate with atomic clocks in Mainflingen, Germany, Fort Collins, Colorado, and the two atomic clocks in Japan (the only one missing is the one in Rugby, England, but I think the theory is that the one in Mainflingen has Europe pretty well covered). Multi-time signal functionality definitely the new trend in atomic watches as evidenced by the new Seiko Brightz worldwide atomic watch, and the new Casio Triple-region Waveceptor.
Features of the Junghans Mega 1000 include:
- World-wide atomic functionality.
- Manual synchronization (meaning that instead of waiting for the watch to synchronize in the middle of the night, you can force it to synchronize at any time — pretty standard feature for atomic watches).
- Automatic DST adjustment.
- Easy time zone adjustment when traveling.
- Dual time (monitor the time in a second time zone).
- Automatic date.
- Reception indicator (lets you know whether the watch has been synchronized recently).
- Stopwatch with split time memory and a resolution of 1/100th of a second.
- Countdown timer.
- Daily alarm.
- Electro-luminescent backlight.
- Low battery indicator (expect about 2 years out of the Mega 1000’s battery).
- Multiple display languages (English, French, and German).
- Mineral glass crystal.
- Water-resistant to 5 bar, 50 meters, or 165 feet.
If you can read German, check out Junghans’ site for more information, or you can download the Mega 1000 instruction manual (PDF, multilingual).
Pepebcn
radioreception problems with some models. solved by the company in a new model.
Telmo
Junghans actually invented the radio-controlled (atomic) watch, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise there 🙂
Jdricho
I have a Junghans Megasolar Ceramic, beautiful watch, but expensive to own, and the only UK service agent is Jon Vincent and their customer service is terrible. The strap required repair due to normal wear at 7yrs – cost £80. At 9yrs a new capacitor – cost £30, returned by Jon Vincent still not working and who now say a new movement at £150.
Buy a beautiful Junghans watch if you can afford the on-going maintenance and accept poor customer service from the agent in the UK – Jon Vincent