New Junghans Mega Futura.

[holly35]

Check it out on the net,available july 2011.I want one! a true successor to the Mega 1.

[rewolf]

Yes, looks nice



026/4100.00, 026/4101.44, 026/4102.00, 026/4103.44, 026/4104.00




Diesel DZ7008:

[holly35]

Is this a pic of your watch?it looks cool, although i think it looks nicest in negative display . Any wrist shots of these?

[rewolf]

Is this a pic of your watch?

The Diesel DZ7008 yes, the Junghans Mega Futura not. Just photos I (easily) found on the web.
My favourite is the all steel negative version, 026/4103.44

[lars]

Beware the negative contrast! If you are familiar with these watches in white-numbers-on-black face variant you will soon realize that they are not easy to read in bright light. Yes, in the sun or in well lit jewelry and watch shops in Germany they look just fantastic. In the end, I had to trade my Mega 1000 for the normal black-numbers-on-white model just to be able to read it in normal office/home light.

I agree that they look great but the surface area available to capture light is just too small to make them very useful - just my two cents (or euro-cents).

[holly35]

As far as i know ,the lcd screens have been improved over the 1000,and of course offer the contrast adjustment.The display is larger and with less cluttered display should make it better surley?

[rewolf]

Beware the negative contrast! If you are familiar with these watches in white-numbers-on-black face variant you will soon realize that they are not easy to read in bright light. Yes, in the sun or in well lit jewelry and watch shops in Germany they look just fantastic. In the end, I had to trade my Mega 1000 for the normal black-numbers-on-white model just to be able to read it in normal office/home light.

I agree that they look great but the surface area available to capture light is just too small to make them very useful - just my two cents (or euro-cents).

You're right. "Negative" LCDs are always less readable than "Positive".
With negative LCDs it is important to have wide segments to gather enough light and to reduce shadows.
I do have a Mega 1000 with negative LCD, it is not as good as other displays but still ok IMO, and it has a nice EL backlight, but I only need it when it's really dark, never in office or at home - ok, I have 500-1000lx lighting in both places .
The Diesel DZ7008 pictured above is worse, and worst of all is the Hamilton MIB II.
EPD / e-ink display work equally well in both variants.

[Huertecilla]

The Diesel DZ7008 pictured above is worse, and worst of all is the Hamilton MIB II.
EPD / e-ink display work equally well in both variants.

The Hamilton MiB II ís pretty bad yes but it does have very cool and clear night lighting

It must be noted though that it is not just negative LCD like with the polarising filter at 90 degrees. It does have a reflecting background which gives it vastly beter readeability under lighted conditions than a normal reverse display.
The MiB II suffers from small segments and a display quite deep below the cristal.
If one would ceterus paribus compare the LED, LCD, reverse LCD, reflective backed reverse LCD and matrix EPD, then the last is the best with the second last second.

The refelective backed reverse LCD with big segments makes up quite a bit of ground.
The reverse LCD of the Ventura RX is good visible. As you remark, because of the wide segments ánd because the are direct under the crystal so have virtualy no shading.
Have a look directly under the relentless mediterranean sun:



E-ink and the reflecting reverse lcd are the only displays that stand up proudly against this.
Even the rather shady and minute numbers of the MiB II stand to attention then.

This one is inside, north window, no artifical lighting without flash. With the EPD in reverse, all three are at the worst conditions.

[list=]

I thus would not notch up a negative for the Mega on the grounds of a reverse LCD straight away. It could be véry good.[/list]

[holly35]

Just spoke with junghans uk.The mega 1000 has been withdrawn from sale,due to continual problems with syncing.There seams no immediate plans to return it.
Has anyone purchased the futura? Has the reception problems been addressed? How does it look in the "flesh," is it up to 1000 quality.I am quite taken with the pvd version since i once had the blue/black mega 1.

[rewolf]

The Futura isn't available yet - at least all online stores where I looked last weekend said "delivery in August". But they all still sell the Mega 1000.
The Futura will cost 350€ with bracelet - a bit too much IMO. In 2005 I paid exactly half of that for the Mega 1000 (026/4502.44, steel bracelet).

[Huertecilla]

It is on par with the Swiss price development Wolfgang.
Seiko has increased prices of many (newer) models too.

When a model upgrade is involved like in this case, difference háve been even larger.
We also do not know yet if quality of manufacture and -finish of the new model have improved.

This is not to say that I disagree with you.
I find it most surprising that in a difficult market many watch prices seem to do their own thing independant of world economy.

[rewolf]

Futura arrived yesterday, model 026/4103.44
Some quick shots I made on arrival:







Can't say any more at the moment, haven't even found the time to "play" with it yet. More infos later (and better photos as well).

[Huertecilla]

In your pictures it looks a lót better than in any illustration I have seen sofar.

Congratulations.

[retroleds]

Very nice pictures Rewolf

I look forward to hearing about it's features, but it has me already on styling.

[holly35]

Quite possible the most striking watch ever!
Junghans have obviously put much thought into its design. I love the combination of the brushed top surface and polished back and links.
That world map on the case back looks great.i wonder how its performance shapes up? Quality looks very high through out though.

[Huertecilla]

Hey!!
It does NOT list Anthorp.
That is the simplest way to solve any problem with this station´s aberrand (lacking) DST signal

[LEDluvr]

Nice catch Rewolf - I am sure you will be wearing this latest aquisition wtih pride.

[rewolf]

I am sure you will be wearing this latest aquisition wtih pride.

... not pride, but joy

Why did they omit Anthorn? The Futura already has a 60kHz receiver for JJY60 and WWVB60, so why not use it for MSF as well? Just a bit of software... Maybe they wanted to avoid the watch switching between MSF and DCF77 when used in the UK or France - but OTOH they implemented a nice feature to avoid associated problems (sudden time zone and DST changes...): You can select your preferred station, and you can even exclude others if you want. And if this still doesn't help (or you want to save batteries), you can disable the receiver altogether.

There's just ONE thing that bothers me a bit: it does NOT show leading zeros for minutes and seconds.
This is, it shows 7 9 : 5 instead of 7:09:05. I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. IMO it makes the time look like a date.

LCD contrast is excellent under all viewing angles - way way better than the Mega 1000. Only the contrast adjustment feature doesn't seem to do anthing, I couldn't spot any difference in display appearance.
Nice backlight, bluish, very even. Similar to Mega 1000.
No stopwatch.
No alarm (like my Mega 1000 since I lost the contact spring when I changed battery last time...)
Can be set manually (unlike the Mega 1 that is almost useless without radio signal).
Timezone adjustment relative to time signal.
DOW selectable in English or German.
12/24h mode selectable.
In date display mode it also shows receiver status and calendar week - a nice "business feature" the Mega 1000 also has.
Weight is 136g with 4 bracelet links removed. Lighter than a Mega 1000 but heavier than many other watches. See below.
The back is glass printed on inside.

Inside:
The black module cover and the antenna coil are the same as in the Mega 1000; the empty hole near the battery is where the Mega 1000 has its alarm "amplifier" coil. The PCB is different. Some apparently hand-soldered capacitors, two in parallel where the PCB was designed for only one, make it look a little "prototypish". My Mega 1000 (1st version) has the same "feature", but well hidden under the black cover.

Reception: well, errr... consider this: it switches the LCD off during sync (pressing any button immediately turns the LCD on but also aborts reception). The manual says this is done for 60kHz transmiters only (WWVB+JJY60), but I observed it at 3am though I'm on DCF77. OTOH when I triggered a manual sync the LCD was on while it tried JJY40 and DCF77 and off while it tried JJ60 and WWVB - as the manual states. I watched this happen three times. Why so often? Because it didn't sync! That was around 2AM, a perfect time to receive a signal. The Futura was lying untouched on a wooden table. However, after rotating it 90 degrees it immediately started recieving. Maybe the HF-driven 60 Watt flourescent tube hanging above the table isn't making things better, but a Mega 1 syncs no problem at the same place in ANY orientation and even in a tin box!
Apparently at my place the Mega Futura does not sync better than the Mega 1000. Could of course be different for others and/or elsewhere.

Build quality:
Hm. Doesn't have the sharp super-precisely machined edges of the Mega 1000. It looks more polished and rounded. Could be a 200€ Diesel. IMVHO the Mega 1000's case looks like better quality. Mind you, the Mega 1000 (all stainless steel, titanium look) in 2005 cost just about half of the Mega Futura today (183.20€ vs 349.00€).
The Futura isn't hardened in any way and after having worn it one day at work I can already clearly see traces of use on the bracelet where it always touches the desktop when typing - and it is NOT a glass or granite desk...

These are the negative aspects.
For the positive, just look at the photos
I will definitely keep this watch though I could return it at no cost, and I had promised myself to not buy more than one watch per year anymore - so this is my 2011 watch

Enough talk, now look:



Multilingual manual is "hidden" in bottom of box:

Interesting effect on right image above: segments appear to have different colour. Not visible to the eye or on other photos. Maybe some weird interference between lighting, exposure and LCD multiplexing.
LCD contrast under really extreme angles:

Comparing weight with other "fatties":


I note I made many detail shots, but no nice overall photo. Maybe later...

[Huertecilla]

Thank you for the wonderfull shots Wolfgang.

The Anthorn signal does not offer a significantly extended range and does lead to problems with customers in the UK.
As simple as it seems to be to us, customer setting issues have pretty much deflated the image of the SBPG00x in the UK and I have also read several questions of UK based buyers concerning Junghans models.
The DFC77 can be received even in Ireland so why bother with this aberrant signal ?
The two customers in Iceland can buy a Citzen wave receiver and presto!

[rewolf]

Oh, I forgot to mention one thing: what I like most about the Junghans Mega Futura is that is has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRITTEN ON THE DIAL! No "Radio controlled multi frequency suder duper", no model name or number, not half a user manual, simply NOTHING.
That makes me SO happy. Finally my greatest wish fulfilled. The more I look at it the more I love it

[Huertecilla]

I totally get your infatuation.

The lacking zeros in the display may be out of the box but soóóó clean.

I never understood why it is quite customary for the hours but not for minutes or seconds. Big FAT thumbs up from me for that.
It is a unique selling point in mý eyes.

[rewolf]

It is a unique selling point in mý eyes.

That it is. I know no other digital watch with this feature. The seconds bother me much less than the minutes. There's quite a large space between hours and minutes from 0...9. That looks a bit odd, especially when the hours are 2 digits which is true for half of the day (in 24h mode that I prefer).
Oops, had forgotten to mention above: 12/24h mode selectable. Updated