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As anyone either raised on, or by assimilation, had to watch Sesame Street (and, with a granddaughter, I’m on yet another round of Big Bird, Count, and those other inhabitants of — as Chevy Chase pronounced it in the film, “Follow That Bird“ — “Sess-Same Street”) one of the educational bits was a game, the lyrics to which song went something like:

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things doesn’t belong.
Can you guess which thing is not like the other before we finish our song?

Mentalism is generally regarded as magic without the props, although that’s not entirely accurate. It’s just that the props are generally not “magic-y” looking. (For the most part, anyway.) When a prop is used in great mentalism, even when it is the focus, its place is relegated to a necessity to the degree that its use is functional. Typical magic props, however, find themselves the focus of a routine, which naturally leads to the logical remark by spectators, “If I had that thing, I could do that magic, too.”

Ah, from the mouths of babes. (Redheads, in particular.)

In a post I made a couple of days ago, I mentioned the subject of watches. Specifically the remarkable similarity between Bazar de Magia’s Watch & Wear and Magic Makers The Time Machine. I use neither of those watches, opting instead for Collector’s Workshop’s Perfect Time. Why? Well, let’s play the Sesame Street game:

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things doesn’t belong. Can you guess which thing is not like the other? (hint: second from the left is a Collector’s Workshop Perfect Time. The watch on the right is Magic Maker’s The Time Machine.)

I’m working on an article about these types of watches in magic, and part of that research led to a great chat I had a couple of days ago with George Robinson of Viking Magic/Collector’s Workshop in McAllen in the Great State of Texas. In 2000, George bought outright and moved to McAllen the assets of Collector’s Workshop, a going concern built to honorable and mythic proportions in the world of magic by Nick Ruggiero and Rich Bloch. If there is someone else in this world more appropriate than George and Carol to take the reigns of Collector’s Workshop, I can’t imagine who it might be.

Among the many beautiful, functional, professional-quality pieces of magic built and offered by Collector’s Workshop you’ll find Perfect Time. From the instructions included with the trick:

Performer removes wristwatch, sets time and places watch down on table in front of him. Spectator announces freely chosen time. Spectator then picks up performer’s watch, which matches perfectly the selected time.

The watch is a simple, elegant man’s watch. It’s not a bling-bling. If you know what I mean. (And I’ll bet you do.)

It’s also not been available since George took the reins of Collector’s Workshop. The fact is, until recently, George couldn’t locate a suitable movement for the watch. Being somewhat of dangerous watch afficionada (which is to say, I not only collect them, but subsequently open them up to see what makes them tick) I understand the dilemma George faced. You can hotwire many quartz movements to do what needs to be done, but they won’t take licking and keep on ticking. The motors will burn out, plain and simple. They aren’t made for the sort of abuse magicians dish out — and I’m not talking about the verbal kind.

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario: you begin your presentation with a cheaper quality watch. As you talk with your spectator, you are also watching the watch. Then you begin staring at the watch. Apparently, it’s stopped. I mean, it’s really stopped. For good, swim-with-the-fishes stopped. What’s your backup plan, Sparky?

Granted, when you use mechanical props, things occasionally go south. But generally the difference between a professional and others is the professional will mitigate those possibilities as best he can. In this case, you want a quality watch.

Durability and, naturally, reliability may not be real high on the list of features clung to in dear life by buyers reluctant to spend anywhere near even one, solitary Benji on a watch. But I assure you, those of us who turn a few coins using a prop like this are perfectly happy to spend what is necessary to get something on which we can rely.

In part, it’s this fact — reliability — that propelled Collector’s Workshop to the stratosphere of pro-quality magic manufacturers. Nick and Rich, and now George and Carol, actually care about the reliability of the props they sell. That’s one primary reason you haven’t seen a Perfect Time being sold new in almost five years. There’s a substantial warranty that accompanies a prop you buy from Collector’s Workshop, so you’re not going to buy something that requires regular round trips to and from McAllen. (In the Great State of Texas.)

Back to my chat with George the other day.

He told me he finally located a movement that he’s happy with. Not only that, but he’s been working on prototypes of the next generation Perfect Time. Two models, actually. And would I like to play with one?

Excuse me?

Isn’t that like asking a kid if he wants another piece of candy? Asking a dog if he’d like another bone? Asking Gerry McCambridge if he’d like to create another pseudo-anonymous Internet handle with which he can prowl the web boards pimping an NBC network show that finished in the 71st position in the ratings? (Who could have predicted that?)

Do I want to test the new Perfect Time prototype? Uh, I think that would be, “Affirmative, Ghostrider.”

One day later Mr. UPS Man delivers a red-label, next-day-air package from McAllen in the Great State of Texas. Once I finished a brief bout of hyperventilating, I gazed at the package like Ralphie on Christmas morning, fondling his new official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time. (“You’ll shoot your eye out.”)

In short: Hoe. Lee. Cow.

George warned me that the strap attached to the prototye wouldn’t be the final selection — which is okay by me — but in prototype-ville, this is not about appearance as much as it is about performance. And, while I’ve only had the watch a couple of days to play with this version of Perfect Time, I can say I am already excited.

In use, you hold the watch dangling from it’s buckle between your thumb and forefinger. That’s a very natural position to insinuate the thing is as far from manipulation as possible — and it is, you know, more or less. When you’re ready to show the face to the spectator, you simple twirl the buckle around. There’s no tilting, no funny business. Very clean, very fair, very nice.

One of the complaints of these types of watches has been the hit-and-miss issue with getting the exact time, every time. Often you overshoot or undershoot which, really, is not much of an issue. Let’s face it: if a spectator calls out 3:29 and you hit 3:25, that’s impressive. But, as most of us already know, there are times when it’s not that close. If you overshoot by quite a bit because you’re not paying attention…well, you’d better start telling your story. If you undershoot, there’s a tendency to compensate and that sometimes leads to overshooting because of the way things work.

This new version of Perfect Time, without going any deeper into things than I already have, allows you to adjust things by the minute. Now, in my opinion, this precision is less about hitting the nail on the head than it is knowing you have absolute control no matter what you want the outcome to be. From a performance standpoint, that’s one less variable to worry about.

I’ll be playing with it for the rest of the week and I may update this later. But I can tell you this much: if you are currently in the market for a watch like this, hold tight to your money for just a little while longer; I assure you it will be well worth your wait.

UPDATE (11/15/2004): There’s an interesting thread about these types of watches over on The Magic Cafe. Mike Giusti was kind enough to put a link back to this blog — thanks Mike! (The thread is here.)

UPDATE (11/18/2004): George Robinson’s latest newsletter for Viking Magic/Collector’s Workshop mentions the updated Perfect Time. Before anyone asks, George gave me permission to break the news here. Take a look at George’s newsletter here.