Brag of the year (surely!)

[slydc]

Hi folks,

I finally received today my "mystery" WWG that i've brought on Ebay about 2 weeks ago.
The seller had put a mention "for parts - sold as non-functional" but saw by the pictures
he posted that the watch seemed ok so took the risk of buying it and the long waiting
to get it started.

So once i received it today, the first thing that i did was to inspect if anything wasn't
broken. So far so good, everything is like on the pictures of the auction. So next step
was putting a battery...nothing. OK so i check the battery connectors and had some
rust on them, scraped it and reinserted the battery...still nothing. But the plate that
is holding the battery in place had some slack, so put a very small piece of aluminium
between the battery and the holding plate and...SUCCESS!! It works! :D

So here's finally the watch i was keeping a secret until it arrived:

747

Yes, you are not hallucinating, it's a Burger Time WWG!

When i first saw it on Ebay, i thought i was hallucinating. In 15 years of collecting WWG,
video games, etc...this is the first time ever saw or had proof that a Burger Time WWG
really exists. And strange, it was released by a company called "Diamant" but it has the
same type of casing/design than a Nelsonic Super Mario Bros./Zelda/Pac-Man/etc.

Still don't know the year it was released but i am assuming 1983 since the arcade game
came out in 1982.

Sorry but no time to write, i have some burgers to make! :P

[GameWatchGuy]

HI.
A huge Wow! Wow! and Wow again!

That's amazing!

This rivals my Jungle Kong, or even better!

You have to make a video. I'd love to hear sound and see it in action.

Also I'd love you to have a spot in the main site where you can showcase it. Just PM me and I'll send details.

A big Congrats to you!

There's gonna be some drool for this one.

Oh, get ya some of this. It works great for a fix on almost any board. It's better than wire glue and more conductive. Place a blotch on negative side of board too. One tube lasts for many repairs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-2ML-New-Silver-Conductive-Wire-Glue-Paste-for-Electronics-repair-applications-/251057286532

~John

[urbanflyman]

Thats fantastic!
Pleased you got it working!
Nice one!

[slydc]

Hi John,

Thanks very much! :) When i saw it, i just HAD to buy it since i also collect handheld games and classic video games.
I'll put the Burger Time between to my Omni Space Defender and the Nelsonic Pac-Man and all other classic arcades WWG's.

I wished i could do a video of this watch but i don't have any video camera (except for a damn cheap webcam). I'll try to
borrow the HD digital camera/video of my friend to take better pictures and do a video but i don't know when. You'll have
to wait for a video, sorry about this.

And thanks about the silver conductive wire glue, i'll buy one in case any WWG brakes in the future. :)

And here some new pics until i've made a scan of the bezel:

751752753754755

But i have a burning question that will surely never be answered: WHY that Nelsonic never released this watch under their own brand ??!???!
I could replace the "Diamant" brand name and replace it by "Nelsonic" since it is the same casing/design as many Nelsonic ones. So that leaves
another question: Did Nelsonic manufactured all their WWG themselves or was it a Hong Kong company ??

Anyone lives in New York city or nearby ? The old office of Nelsonic are still operational but they are under "M.Z.Berger". Maybe someone
who works there could answer these questions (and others) ?

[slydc]

Thanks urbanflyman! :)

[slydc]

Here's a scan (at 600 dpi) of the watch like you asked John:

756

:)

[GameWatchGuy]

Hi.
Appearing small still. Maybe the forum downsampled?
~John

[GameWatchGuy]

Good it seems to use Pacman/frogger parts too!
~John

[slydc]

DRAT!!! Seems that it was indeed downsampled, the real size of the scan is 891 x 1006.

Ok resized it to 600 x667, hope it says that way:

763

Compared the Burger Time with Pac-Man and Frogger, same thing! (except of course game and bezel)

Ah cr@p! Still resized...i'll send it to your e-mail instead John.

[Z3ldanator]

Wow! Nice score Sly. You keep making me add stuff to my wish list. I like!

[GameWatchGuy]

Wow! Nice score Sly. You keep making me add stuff to my wish list. I like!

Yea. This one takes the cake. I don't think we will be seeing one for sale anytime soon though. :(
~John

[slydc]

Thanks Z3ldanator :)

I don't want to discourage anyone but in 15 years of collecting, it's the first one i ever saw.
This one is even better than all the prototypes combined i had previously.

If anyone wants to know how i fell of having this watch: i've been farting rainbows since i got it! LOL!!

But seems i have a little small problem: I tried to open up the watch and take out the circuitry so that i
could clean it where is the window but the circuitry doesn't want to come out like if it was glued ?!?
Think there is 1 or 2 screws holding the circuitry under the label "Diamant" but i don't want to scrap the
label by taking it off.

I notice also that when a game is over, it keeps the high score and to view it (under normal mode), just
have to push on the mode/advance button to see it. So this watch plays Burger Time, keeps the high score,
can set the time but no indication for AM or PM and there is no alarm whatsoever.

[GameWatchGuy]

HI.
The only screw holding the module is the one right next to the battery in the center of the watch.
It looks exactly the same as the pm/frogger.

768
~John

[slydc]

Hi John,

Thanks very much for the tip! The watch is now clean as a whistle and now that i was able to pull-out the circuity assembly, i can make a better scan since the buttons are not in the way.

P.S.: I took the picture before cleaning it. :)

[GameWatchGuy]

Hi.
Wow. It's amazing that it even works! I've never seen one so dirty.

Be careful. My friend Robbie said you probably have the last one on the planet!

Just some more tips from things I've learned repairing pacmans and froggers.
The green casing cracks very easy. Don't over tighten screws 1-6. Don't remove lcd in case you absolutely have to.

Good luck.
~John

[slydc]

?? Last one on the planet ?? :eek:

I know that this one is pretty rare but THAT rare ? If so then i'm a lucky S.O.B.! :p

And tips duly noted! But i will have to open up the green casing (circuit assembly) since the RIGHT button doesn't respond well (must be dirty as hell inside the green casing). As for LCD screen, i know these can be a real "pain in the butt" since i had experience with small electronic handhelds so be sure i won't touch out no matter what. :)

[GameWatchGuy]

HI.
Good luck!
The contacts come of of the board pretty easy but if you run into problem areas you might be able to fix with your silver glue.
~John

[slydc]

Hi John,

Thanks for the good luck, can't have too much of that with a rare watch. ;)
I'll order a tube of silver glue ASAP just to be sure! :)

[robg]

Woah! I never seen that one before! You must make a video because you're the only one on earth that can.

[urbanflyman]

Nelsonic made watches for other companies like Waltham,Nintendo etc
This must be another example I'm guessing!

[urbanflyman]

Hi Slydc
As for year on Burger time? that style made by Nelsonic (Branded for others) with the two rectangle shaped side buttons?
They were all made 1982-1985 possible 1986!
By the later 80's the side buttons changed to a round shape!
Regards

[slydc]

Hi urbanflyman,

Thanks for the infos for the year. I still don't know which year exactly it was made but should be between 1982 and 1984.
The arcade game was released in 1982 so there is a very slim chance it was made in 1982, so it leaves 1983 (which i think
is the year but can't confirm it) or 1984.

When i'll can, i'll make a video of this WWG. ;)

[urbanflyman]

Yes I think 83,84 most of that style were made.
Video would be great!

[Game Watcher]

Incredible find, slydc! I've never seen one of these. Were you able to make a video of it?
Also, does the sound work? It looks professionally made, as if from Nelsonic, not like
some sort of cheap imitation or ripoff.

[slydc]

Thanks Game Watcher. :)

Sorry about the delay making a video of the Burger Time WWG. I just moved a month ago and most of my stuffs is
still packed, so much that my apartment looks like a storage unit. But fear not, once i'll be settled in and opened
my WWG box collection, it will be the first thing i'll do! ;)

I was thinking that Nelsonic didn't made the Pac-Man ones, Frogger, Q*Bert, etc... but a Hong Kong company
that Nelsonic was a big client. If you check out the handhelds made by Cresta, Halion and Ectron. The games
are identical (but just bigger). Not only that, just take Planes and Tanks: This one was released by so many
companies as well as Sea Ranger.

Solving this mystery gonna take a while but i'm sure we will figure it out eventually. ;)

[urbanflyman]

The Cresta/Halion Jungle kong game is indeed exactly as the watch!
Nelsonic were an electronics company but may have used a Hong Kong factory for certain works as you say? makes perfect sense to me.
Who invented/holds the license to 'jungle kong' though? I cannot find this out?
Looking at the Cresta game? someone suggested Bandai might have been the source?

[Game Watcher]

It'll be interesting to find out where this Burger Time came from. Maybe it was a prototype for a watch that never got the green light for one reason or another. Did you get it at a BIN price or did you have to fight through a bidding war? It's surprising how little information is available on the web about these WWGs!

[slydc]

urbanflyman: Pretty sure now that Nelsonic brought watches form various companies. Just an example:
873
Was made by a still unknown HK manufacturer or this one:
874
Which was released by 3-4 other watch companies.

Or take the Pac-Man 4-Button version: It was also released by Trafalgar, Timex and reported
also that Halion released it as a WWG also. And OMNI Chompers, same game but different name
and artwork. I could go on with WWG clones or LCD-HH counterparts.

But talking about clones and staying on the subject, the one WWG that was released in various
names/companies/cloned is the Nelsonic Space Attacker with all these to match:

* Advance Cosmic Wars
* Argus Cosmic Wars
* Armitron Martian Wars
* Artron Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
* Beta Cosmic Wars
* Collins Star Trek II
* Collins Martian Wars
* Criterion Chips Ahoy! Cookies Game Watch (Promo)
* Jupiter Alien Attacker
* Majestron Cosmic Wars
* Microsonic Cosmic Wars
* Piratron Space Game
* Tomy Watchman Martian Wars
* Zeon Space Invaders

So the Nelsonic is really in fact a clone of "Cosmic Wars" made by Cheong Koon Co. Ltd.
which this company also released the infamous "Sexum" (for adult) animated watch.



Game Watcher: I tried to find some information about the "Diamant" company and even as
today...nothing. Usually when a company wanted to show a prototype back then in the 80's,
they made a "mock-up" watch which has no electronic parts (so not functional in any way).
But the Burger Time i have is not a mock-up nor a prototype. If you check out this picture:
875
You see that the Frogger is the same one as Nelsonic so is my Burger Time.

They must be other WWG Burger Time out there but these will be very hard to find. If in
15 years of collecting WWG`s i've never saw or heard about it until i won mine on Ebay,
i can qualify those as Extremely Rare without a doubt but a prototype ? Don't think so.
Oh and they were no bidding war or stinking snipers, i was the sole bidder for it! ;)

[urbanflyman]

Hi Slydc
I was under the impression Nelsonic made watches under their own name and also for other watch companies eg- Trafalgar.
Trafalgar were a british watch company.They didnt actually produce game watches themselves.

[Game Watcher]

Great info, Sly. So the Burger Time module was actually released with that quirky looking cartridge game handheld. Never seen that before either. :)

[slydc]

Game Watcher: Thanks, just trying to figure out where many WWG's really comes from.

urbanflyman: Well, Nelsonic did made watches, no question about that BUT not all the watches under their brand name. If you take Pac-Man
or Frogger (as an example), those were made by another company which Nelsonic asked to put their logo on it. Same freaking thing with multitude
dedicated Pong console. Like if you take Hanimex as an example, Hanimex was a picture camera and accessories worldwide distributer, but Pong
consoles were made by Unisonic and so Hanimex distributed those Pong consoles worldwide under their brand name instead of Unisonic.

So a company sells/distribute stuffs and a manufacturer manufactures/assembles stuffs for a company. Now the big problem is to find
the manufacturers who made those WWG's...(a lot of future headaches). ;)

[urbanflyman]

Very confusing isnt it?:confused:
Be good to know who created 'Jungle kong' not just who made it?
We know who created burger time,donkey kong,frogger,pacman,space invaders etc!