magicmarc wrote:If I note people are not wearing watches, I will always ask "is anyone wearing a watch" before performing, attempting to stop the question of examining the watch.
I always add my own little patter to try and make it look like that I am "forcing" them to pick a certain time, although I stress that they have a completely free choice of time.
For anyone that's interested, the patter would be something along the lines of:
"I want you to picture a watch or a clock that you are very familiar of. Maybe it's a clock sitting on your mantle piece or hanging on your wall, but I want you to be able to visualise the clock very clearly. Next, I want you to picture the clock/watch with no hands, visualise the bare face showing no time. Okay, next I want you to picture that same clock showing the time ten to eight. Picture the clock in your mind and imagine seeing the hands of the clock pointing to ten to eight. Form a very distinct image in your mind."
Then I'd get them to picture the clock blank again and then I'd repeat the above twice more so that, in total, you've asked them to visualise 3 separate times in their mind. Then I'd ask them to clear their mind and now visualise their clock and this time they pick their own time and form an image in their mind, but they don't reveal to you what it is.
You then go through the process and reveal their selected time using the Time Machine.
I usually explain that the 3 times I asked them to visualise were not random times but were in a sequence (albeit a complicated one !!) and even though they thought they had a 100% free choice of time, I always knew what time they were going to choose
Since I started performing this trick in this way, no-one has never asked to examine the watch. Everyone always tends to think that it's some kinda weird mentalist trick
