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When I began collecting antique magic several years ago, I was always excited when I acquired a new piece. But I was always somewhat disappointed by the mechanics involved in the trick. The apparatus was colorful and performed a nice illusion, but it was usually anything but a precision piece. I was always impressed with the Magical Musical Automatons from the late 1800's and was hoping to find something in magical apparatus of that precision. When I first heard of the Stull pocket watch produced by the Stull Manufacturing Company in San Francisco during the 1940's, I was very excited. Here was an antique timepiece that performed a magical prediction over and over again. However when I acquired an original and looked inside, I was quite disappointed. Most of the insides of the watch had been removed and the actual working of the watch was difficult and crude. Click The original Stull watches could predict random settings by the spectator. This was accomplished by removing half the original mechanism, and installing a very crude set of brass cams, levers, and springs. The slip clutch in the original Stull watch was stiff and would not hold a setting accurately, therefore it was necessary to put a heavy drag on the hands. Although the watch worked well in its predictions, anyone turning the stem would feel the drag. When the watch reach the predetermined setting and was locked in place, the slip clutch had so much pressure on it, that the effort to turn the stem increased about 100 percent. The fact that you couldn't show the insides of the watch plus, the stem turning hard to begin with, and then getting a lot stiffer during the trick, would probably convince the spectator that the watch was heavily gimmicked. I decided to use my engineering ability to keep the same principles of operation, but miniaturized all of the components, keeping the aesthetics of the original watch mechanism intact. Click I also reengineered the operation of those parts, so they operated as precision and gently as the original pocket watch. The crude slip clutch has been redesigned using subminiature magnets to provide a delicate consistent drag when the clutch must slip. The mechanism is so delicate that the need for drag on the hands has been eliminated. The stem turns very easily when setting the hands as an original pocket watch would. The great advantage to the Gerlitz/Stull watch, is that when the preset time is reached, there is absolutely no change in the tension of the turning of the stem. Each watch is custom handbuilt and the tolerances balanced so no more force than necessary is used to accomplish the effect. Click The handling also has been changed to be more realistic. In the original Stull instructions, the magician explained that the watch was broken and the main spring had been removed. He was unable to show the insides of the watch. Instead of pulling out the stem to set the hands, you just turned the stem. This was necessary because when you closed the cover and then reopened it by pushing down on the stem, it would have been necessary to have the spectator pull the stem back out to repeat the trick. In our handling, the magician explains that it was his grandfathers watch, and it stopped working the same time grandfather did. He opens the back of the watch and shows the inside mechanism, noting the workmanship and tooling of the early craftsman. He then closes the back, and opens the front cover as he explains a game his grandfather would play when they were children. He pulls the stem of the watch out into the setting position and turns the stem showing that the hands move. Grandfather would then gently close the cover to hide the face of the watch, and while holding the cover closed with his thumb, would turn the stem several times to an unknown time. The children would then take turns guessing a time and grandfather would open the cover. Whoever was closest to the time would win. The watch is then handed to a spectator to repeat the procedure, but the magician is able to correctly guess the time. This can be repeated over and over. I feel this is a more realistic handling of an original watch and not one that was gimmicked. Please read the complete routine at another part on this site. |
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