Overall this is an impressive piece of craftsmanship and will allow you to perform temporal
predictions in the fairest possible manner. If the effect excites you, the price point should not be
prohibitive, so I would absolutely recommend buying this.
That all being said, I've found
from performing this many times now that it isn't quite as impactful as you might think. I have yet
to be caught, however I've noticed when I perform for people who are technologically savvy, they
basically come to the conclusion that the watch is special and you have some way of inputting the
time secretly. Again, this has nothing to do with the presentation and everything to do with the
fact that there really isn't any other explanation. For the average person this gets pretty good
reactions, and even the engineers I've performed for still really enjoyed it, but I've found the
impact overall is diminished by virtue of the fact that many smart people know what's going on even
if they don't catch the input method or can't see anything obvious about the watch. I had one guy
say, "That's kind of a thick watch, I bet you could fit some fancy electronics in there."
I'm going to try to find ways to incorporate this into other effects or find a use that isn't
simply a prediction of a time/date as a stand-alone effect. My hope is that making it part of a
bigger routine will take attention away from the method.
Additionally, when I received the
watch, the small metal piece that is used to set the time on a normal watch (which is supposed to
come glued into place) was detached from the watch and could not be connected without some form of
glue. While that wasn't a huge deal, I definitely expect a product at this price point to come
without any problems and the first thing I do with it shouldn't be a repair.
The input
device vibrates pretty loudly and the watch itself makes some audible noise as the hands move into
place, but of any normal amount of ambient noise will be more than enough to cover that. I haven't
had any problems with sound even indoors with just a few people.
The method of input can be
hidden pretty easily, and as I've indicated I have never been caught, even when doing it pretty
blatantly. The feedback mechanism is very useful and I've only had one mishap, which was my fault
for not making sure I felt the feedback. I also managed to screw up the positions of the hands
before performing the effect for the first time, but resetting it and tweaking the positions of
hands was easy enough that I snuck away for five minutes and was up and running again.
Great trick, probably needs some thought as to how it fits into your routine, but if you like
the idea, jump on it, you won't be disappointed!
I've performed time-predictions a lot, and I've used trick watches a lot. I have to say, the performance counts for a lot. The story you tell, the setup, how you transition into performing it, etc.
Also, I would say that if you haven't been wearing the watch regularly, and it still looks shiny new, that's always a tell-tale sign that something up. Wear it, get some scratches and wrinkles in the strap.
It's an analogue-looking watch. Old-school. It doesn't scream technology. The thickness is on par with what's fashionable today and shouldn't be an issue.
Also, I'd make an effort to not have technology around.. One of the huge strengths of this product is that it doesn't need an "app" or iPhone to be in your hands. Make sure it isn't! Put away your phone, have your spectator put away their phone. It's subtle, but just make this as non-technological as possible.
Give this one the time it deserves. It's a powerful tool.
I have done this trick hundreds of times and I love it, but in the beginning my routine was not as impact-ful as I had hoped, much like the situation that this magician describes. However, I have found a routine that absolutely blows people away. Using this routine, I have actually had people track me down after my show to ask how I did the watch trick. Do they care how the rabbit got from my table to the back of the room instantaneously? Or how 300 yards of silk came from a tiny box? No, they want to know how that watch trick worked.
Here is the routine I use:
I take off the watch and I turn the hands to a random time. Then I give a pen and paper to two spectators and have them each right down the time. (I have them write down the time, to eliminate any possibility that the watch might be voice activated.)
I explain that this is a contest to see you who can get closest to guessing the time that I set on the watch.
when the first spectator writes down their time, I punch that into the remote then I immediately switch the remote to the 15-second delay mode, Now, I key in the time that the second spectator has written and bring my hands out of my pocket. As the first spectator turns over the watch, they see that it is an exact match for their time. I now have 15 seconds to show everyone else that is nearby that indeed, it is an exact match for the time that they wrote. When I feel the remote vibrate I know I have two seconds until the time changes to what the second spectator wrote. So I set the watch back on the table and point to the time that was written by the second spectator, and I tell that spectator, "Oh I'm sorry. You were way off." Then I turn back to the watch which now has the second spectator's time and I say, "Oh. No, wait. Look. You had it exactly right." and of course everyone realizes that the watch has changed time even though I was not near it, and my hands were occupied holding the sheet of paper that they had written their times on.
This is a great routine that is easy to do, and absolutely baffles people completely.
Give it a try, and I believe you will find this trick has more impact than anything else in your arsenal.
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Solid product, decent trick
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