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mister hand or can i call you sponge, though o dont do the watch steal myself i have on ocassion loaded a coin under someones watch whilst engaging them with the coin on shoulder routine, which is ideal for getting them used to the invasion of there personal space and contact with there shoulders, arms and wrists, so i sugest you learn this nice coin routine.

it never seaces to amase my how often you can blatently go into there pockets on the pretense of looking for there coin and steal there wallet and wile ther looking for the coin on there right shoulder openly place it on there left, ive even managed to pull off a tie steal.

when i have done this routine with steals i'll have a friend posing as a spec eagerly looking over there shoulder so i can hand them things to place on there shoulder wile i engage them to there oposit side if that makes sense to you, which is a classic move with pickpockets, and also employ them for the coin vanish in the hankerchief routine that david roth uses so well as a setup for the coin on shoulder routine.

If folks are getting a sucess rate of 30% then they need to refine their method because that is really low. I don't really like the watch steal because it involves touching people. But I have done it just to see if I can. The best tip I have heard is to do the watch steal infront of others, whisper to your spectator that you are going to steal the watch and just go along with it for the show, (obviously done on a stage) and go through the motions of stealing the watch. Eventually you will just be able to steal the watch without making a stooge.

My first attempt I chickened out I was in front of a group of friends and I used a stooge. I told him a minute before that I was going to steal his watch and he said, no problem. I took the watch during a sponge ball routine. I took the watch he never flinched. I finished up the routine. Later he told me that he thought I had changed my mind because he never felt or saw it go. It wasn't until I sent him away that he looked at his wrist and was suprised to see it gone.

I think it was because I knew I had the techinque down and I had no worries because the 'spectator' was in on it so my confidence was there. Now if I happen to be doing the cups and balls and I think I can get the watch, I go for it and make that my final load. And remember the motto, 'no guts, no glory'

The chap I spoke to was getting a 100 percent success rate in the actual stealing of the watch. He was getting a 70 percent (Not 30%) rate at getting away with it. It was a 30 percent rate of getting caught. He felt that it didn't matter if you get caught which I thought was a novel concept.

I quite like the idea of whispering to a spectator that I am going to take their watch and they should play along. In fact I was thinking along those lines already.

I want to learn Potassy's marvellous pickpocketing routine which actually is not all that hard. However the watch steal is the hardest part. I actually had some e-mails from Potassy giving me a few tips about his routine. Veru useful stuff from a great maestro.

The idea of telling a spec that you're going to take the watch is excellent, and (I believe) is a fairly well-used ruse amongst pick-pockets. Lee Thompson is excellent, if you ever got to meet him at a gig, he's always happy to give advice.

Stealing watches gives you a buzz, although I don't do it anymore more as the insurance risk is TOO high these days!

Best,

Lee

Beardy wrote:heh - I never practiced once, never got a dvd, just watched Blaine do it. I went out and...well...did it.

This isn't something you can really practice - your watch will be unlike anybody elses (bar those who have the same) - even some buckles are nigh on impossible to get off.

So basically - screw the practice element and fear of them fealing it - just go out and bloody well nick the damn thing. If you fail - who cares?

and when it comes to covering the watch as you take it off? haha - I don't! If, for example, the watch is on their left wrist, I take that, grab it with my right hand, remove it, move by body forwards as i take the watch back, behind my back, give it to my left hand, and plant it either in my pocket/on their shoulder as i move them forwards.

Never fails

when i do the steal i am having trouble maintaining a grip on their wrists whilst stealing their watch sometimes i nearly drop their wrists what video did you see of blaine doing it that you learned from?

mrmagician1000 wrote: what video did you see of blaine doing it that you learned from?

As the post referred to was over 8 years ago you might have to wait a bit for Beardy to see and answer.

Just one on YouTube on 'the street'. It isn't a long video. They are holding two cards in it (though I get them to hold a coin in the other hand when I do it)

Mandrake wrote: you might have to wait a bit for Beardy to see and answer.

Or perhaps not.....

Mandrake wrote:

Mandrake wrote: you might have to wait a bit for Beardy to see and answer.

Or perhaps not.....

It was more luck than judgment! Apart from my recent few posts I think it has been many, many months!