The Card Clock by Franz Bieman, McGee Magic

This is a faithful remake of Franz Bieman’s masterpiece the Card Clock, made in the UK by McGee Magic for the legendary performer Paul Daniels (Paul even signed the instructions).  With the exception of yellow dots instead of green and the smooth dial vs textured I could not tell any difference in the mechanism or quality of manufacture between this and the original.  And boy is this a clever and amazing item that will fool anyone not in the know.  Although there are similarities to Dial-X, it very quickly surpasses anything you can do with Dial-X.

Firstly, although you can certainly feel the difference in friction it is more subtle than Dial-X.  Next, the brilliant ruse to remove the “clock-hand” after you have selected the card throws anyone off the scent.  That is a genius idea by Franz Bieman.  In fact when I first tried it I could not really fathom how it could possibly work 🙁 Finally having the four phases that use a combination of three different methods just really confuses them all.

You can perform this with standard playing cards (the originals are included) but if you use the special ESP cards I have included six from Vince Wilson’s great ESP Deck it becomes even more mystifying.  The four stages are easy to do and build on each other to produce a really amazing miracle.

You’ll like this a lot 🙂

Effect: This is the classic Dial-X but taken to an entirely new level. Precision made apparatus with an incredible four phase routine that would fool any magician familiar with the standard effect!

Stage 1:
A disc of plastic is shown to have a central brass hub into which is fitted a removable pointer. Six cards are placed face up around the disc and, while the magicians back is turned, the pointer is turned towards one of the cards. The pointer is then removed, and the central hub is spun around before the magician turns around. Only then does the magician insert the pointer and name the chosen card.

Stage 2:
This is the same as Stage 1 except that the cards are dealt face down and the magician still names the card.

Stage 3:
As Stage 2 except that before the magician turns around the face down cards are exchanged with each other around the ‘clock’. The correct card is named after the usual procedure of the magician reinserting the pointer and giving it one full turn of the ‘clock’.

Stage 4:
This stage of the effect is the one that you have been working towards. Properly performed it will ‘kill’ all theories as to how the effect could possibly be done. It starts out like the other Stages the cards are laid out face down and the pointer is turned whilst the back is turned, the chosen card is looked at and exchanged with any other of the cards. More cards around the clock may be exchanged and the pointer is removed before spinning the central hub and then the disc itself is picked up and turned around on the table! Despite all these ‘precautions’ by the audience the magician is still able to turn around and find the chosen card.

Found something wrong? Help us improve things by clicking here!