Mega 1000 Battery Replacement Tip

[lars]

This forum is just a bit quiet but in case it helps someone down the line, here's my tip...

Just about 14 months after the first battery replacement, it's time again. I'm neither surprised - used the light a bit less in the second year I suppose - nor upset - hey, it's a battery.

Here is however something that I had forgotten. There are two tiny, gold colored, springs near the battery. They are meant to contact the watch back when it's screwed in place. The first time, I was very careful and pulled them out with a fine pair of tweezers and put them aside during replacement. This time around - Hey, I had done this before - I just pressed the new battery into place. Well... there is a catch. Literally actually, there is a catch that holds the battery and when it snaps past this little tab - sproinggg.... There went the two gold springs into outer space. I found both after some concerted searching of my desk and carpet.

I'd recommend that you pull these rascals out and put them somewhere safe while replacing the battery and put them back just before closing the back. All is well for the moment but nobody needs to spend the time searching for these miniscule and presumably necessary springs.

Cheers,
Paul

[rewolf]

Sounds like a good tip, thanks
Though I don't remember having had any problems with those springs during battery replacement - maybe I was just lucky...

[Fergus]

There are two tiny, gold colored, springs near the battery. They are meant to contact the watch back when it's screwed in place. The first time, I was very careful and pulled them out with a fine pair of tweezers and put them aside during replacement. This time around - Hey, I had done this before - I just pressed the new battery into place. Well... there is a catch. Literally actually, there is a catch that holds the battery and when it snaps past this little tab - sproinggg.... There went the two gold springs into outer space.

Thanks for this. Like an idiot I thought I would do my own Mega 1000 battery replacement and, yes, they sproinggged. And for the life of me I can't identify the trick to getting the dead battery out of its little bed. So, please, can you be a little bit explicit about (i) where the springs should reside and (ii) what catch needs to be freed to get the battery out? Thanks very much.
Next time: I'll take it to a shop. I find old-fashioned jewellers the best for Junghans stuff. They have all the tools, and the interest, to pursue this kind of thing maximally carefully. Took a different battery watch to a shopping arcade. Teenagers in charge. Did I regret that visit.
Fergus

[lars]

Hi Fergus,

Sorry but I don't check in here very often...

The catch if I recall was just a snap. I'm recalling that the battery replacement needed just a small screwdriver to lift out the battery but I don't do this every day so don't recall exactly. I had posted the warning when the sproinging incident was very fresh in my mind That happened when I pressed one of the batteries back into place.

That said, do you actually have the springs I.e. did you find them? If you need to know where they go, I'll have to get the macro rig set up and take a photo when I have the watch apart again. Of course, if you have taken it to a shop for spring replacement, we are past that point.

Let me know if I can help you. Cheers,
Paul