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Hi guys,
I've been roaming on the forum for quite some time now, but only now did I decide to create an account. And since it's my first post, I'll introduce myself.
My name is Alex. I live in Quebec, Canada, and I've been practicing magic for almost 2 years now. I mainly do card magic, with only 1, but solid, coins routine. I've recently(well, somewhere this summer), been practicing watch steal and put-pocketing.

And here's my problem. I've been practicing watch steals for quite some time now, and only do it on watches with leather band and buckle. I finally got the guts of going out, and performing it, and surprisingly, I'm able to remove it most of the time. I use a simple card trick taught on the James Coat DVD. Basically, two cards switch places inside the spectactor's hand while you criss cross his arms. The thing is, I find this effect to be innefective, because if I am unable to remove the watch, the only wow factor left is the transposition. I don't think this particular transposition is that great of an effect.

I was wondering : Has anyone else used this motivation to get to the wrist? What else can be used as a motivation to get to the wrist, while still maintaining the 'wow' factor? I've ordered some sponge balls, but I don't really have an idea with those. Do you have any ressources/suggestions for those?

Get the World's Greatest Magic Sponge Balls DVD. Not only a great resource for sponges, but it contains a watch steal by Michael Finney. I'd say that's exactly what you need.

The effect is also available on Michael's DVD set, but then you'd need to buy two DVDs (performance and explanations are on different discs, as I recall).

Hey another from Quebec, my home town. Montreal to be exact. Sponge balls is perfect. Just the basic move of yours vanishing from your hand and ends up in the spectators hand so they now have two is pretty 'wow'.

I second Part Timer's advice.

coin on shoulder alows you to be very touchy feely with your mark and still if it fails alow for a good coin under watch ending.

sponge ball tool kit definatly going on my list.

magicdiscoman wrote:sponge ball tool kit definatly going on my list.

I'm sure that is just a slightly OT comment relating to sponge balls, but that's not the one with Michael Finney's routine on it. Just making it clear for everyone!

yes well erm
still getting it though, I'm sure some of the routines will have aplications for the watch steal .... erm possibly.

I saw once a routine that involved the bending of a spoon in the spectator's hand while the magician was holding his wrist, if that helps =)

Basically what he did is he kept squeezing the spectator's hand while he told him to concentrate on the spoon, doing a watch steal meanwhile
Since the spectator couldn't bend the spoon, the magician took it, used misdirection to bend it and put the spectator's fingers on the bent spot, then he moved the spoon as if melting it; by then the watch was stolen.

It still keeps the "wow" factor even if the watch steal doesn't work

bmat : Great! I'm not alone. Actually, I'm from Qc City. If you ever go to Qc City, tell me.

The spongeball transposition was what I had in mind originally, but I couldn't quite get the "feely touchy" feel that I needed to get to the wrist unsuspected. I think the coin on shoulder idea is a good idea to get someone to get used to you touching him.

Thank you all for your time and ideas. I've ordered the World's Greatest Magic Spongeballs dvd. Looking forward to Michael Finney's routine

Alex

edit : Updated to name to reflect the correct person.

TheCell wrote:Part-Timer : Great! I'm not alone. Actually, I'm from Qc City. If you ever go to Qc City, tell me.

Careful! I might do that. [I think you meant to address that to bmat; I'm from the other side of the Atlantic!]

Thank you all for your time and ideas. I've ordered the World's Greatest Magic Spongeballs dvd. Looking forward to Michael Finney's routine

Michael is quite a boisterous person, so his style might not be quite yours, but it's a well-taught routine, and you should be able to adapt it to suit you.

Part-timer : erm..well, yeah...but you're still welcome if you want to come over here.

Depending on your style, you can usually get away with holding someone by the wrists as you guide there arms/hands to do something else "Here, hold your hand out, no the other way up, now put your other hand here, etc."

If you are into this kind of magic, I can't recommend highly enough "Still Fancy A Pot Of Jam" by James Brown, it covers lots of this stuff.