It’s a Sunday, and you’re out for coffee with a friend of yours, and eventually, they ask you to show them a trick. You’ve been patiently waiting the entire time for them to request such of you.
Moments later, a deck of cards is being riffle shuffled before their eyes and placed face down on the table. Then, you remove your incredibly good-looking analogue watch and look intently at its second-hand moving around-the-clock face.
You pause, you seem nervous, and then it all fades away as you pull out the crown of your watch. “I’ve just made a prediction,” you say calmly. “Now, I need you to make three decisions — first, red or black?”
You have your friend's full attention. First, the shuffling, then the watch prediction and now a choice of red or black. They choose Red, and then they choose hearts and then they choose the six of hearts. After deciding upon colour, suit, and value, they’ve now generated a randomly thought of playing card.
You, the magician, have not once touched the crown of your watch since you pulled it out to lock in your prediction moments ago. Slowly and fairly, you turn the watch to face your friend. They can see the second-hand points directly towards the number eighteen.
After a few moments of silence, you turn the focus and energy towards the shuffled deck on the table. You ask your friend to deal down eighteen cards. When they reach the eighteenth card, they turn it over…
It’s their freely named card.
It’s the six of hearts.
Thunderous applause from all coffee shop goers.
Time Prediction Watches
I adore the idea of using a watch for prediction effects. “Time Machine Watches” have been around for a very, very long time. They’re incredibly commercial because we like to buy and wear watches. We feel comfortable asking family members to gift us a watch. More so than we might do asking family members to give us any other magic trick.
And watches are an excellent prop for magic because they feel analogue by nature. They often tie to memories or have been passed down to us. The concept of time resonates and can be linked to important memories.
The most recently released time machine watches use digital remotes to trigger the hands to move to specific times. Earlier methods involve the hands moving at speed, with the performer starting and stopping the hands. My favourite self contained trigger for this was a simple button within the band.
This Christmas, I received a regular Timex watch. I’ve spent the last few weeks occasionally staring down at it and wondering how to adapt it for magic.
