Kronos is a gimmick that allows the magician to control a borrowed battery operated quartz watch while the watch pin is completely covered by a strip of electrician’s tape. The gimmick is unique, easily concealed and very well made. This is the real deal.

Is it worth $250?

The answer to that question is dependent on what you intend to do with Kronos. In the right hands, this effect will be “a reputation maker.”¹ But if you’re just going to post a single video of your poorly practiced routine on YouTube then, no, it’s not worth it. If you are considering buying Kronos (which has become rare due to its manufacturer discontinuing its production) for YouTube use, then the powers that be have set the price too low.

It is my hope that truly amazing and powerful illusions like Kronos will be priced out of reach of the YouTuber magic hacks. It’s unfortunate that the rest of us will have to pay more for them, but at least we’ll do so knowing that we have a very good chance of being able to perform these effects without someone in the crowd shouting out that they’d seen it exposed on YouTube.

If you plan to astonish and inspire audiences with Kronos, your $250 will be well spent. If you just want to be able to freak a few minds here and there, don’t waste your money by disenchanting this amazing gimmick.

Kronos comes with the gimmick, a roll of electrician’s tape, and a micro-disc DVD (French with English subtitles) in a very nice box. If I have one slam to make against Kronos it’s that, in a time where slot-loading DVD drives are so prevalent, the instructions for how to use this gimmick are on a disc that won’t play on anything but a tray-loading DVD player. That’s not a big deal if you intend to watch on a common DVD unit in an entertainment system, but if you want to watch it on a laptop computer, you may need to first find a friend who has a computer with a tray loading optical drive and rip the little DVD’s contents to a digital file you can view in your laptop’s media player².

1. I just threw up a little in my mouth as I typed that phrase
2. which is a good thing to do with all your magic DVDs anyway…back ‘em up, Kreskin

I’m back.

It’s been over a year since my last post here, but something has inspired me to come back. That something is Paul Harris’ True Astonishments DVD Boxed Set.

We all know magic can be expensive and that, quite often, you get little for cash you put down. This is not the case here. You get 9 DVDs packed with great effects to amaze and enchant audiences and a bag of goodies to help you do it. It all comes in a beautiful case that you can display proudly.

This DVD set made me want to perform magic again—that’s how good it is.

Buy it. I know it’s expensive, but what else do you think you’re going to spend your money on at the magic store? Another magnetic gimmick that is so pathetic you’ll never have the guts to perform it in front of a real audience? Don’t waste your time. Promise yourself that you won’t buy another magic gimmick for the next 8 months to a year, buy Paul Harris’ True Astonishments, lock yourself in a room with a DVD player and a screen and study…practice…master this stuff—it’s worth it.

Honestly.

Jay Sankey is an amazing performer. Few magicians today affect their audience as positively and profoundly as Jay. In this DVD, Jay takes a look at The Invisible Deck and applies his years of performing experience to one of the few trick decks real magicians actually use.

I should first like to corroborate Jay’s sell-job of the Invisible Deck seen above¹ and add that for the $10 price tag, you’d be hard pressed to find a more powerful and magical effect than this deck. If you don’t own an Invisible Deck, you really should. If you’re starting in magic, this deck should be one of your first purchases.

Now— the DVD—Jay demonstrates the “classic” handling of the Invisible Deck (and even then he can’t help but add his own spin) as well as a few handlings that are available in a rather inexpensive book called “Invisible Secrets Revealed.” On top of all that, he adds many of his own ideas and, in so doing, adds that trademark Jay Sankey blend of simple brilliance and insanity to the mix. These routines and ideas are well worth the $20 to $30 price tag. If you’ve grown bored with the old ID routines, this DVD might bring some new life to your performances or even give you ideas from which you can springboard and create your own innovative handlings.

So, get the Invisible Deck and learn how it works. Perform (as opposed to “demonstrate”) it for your audiences. Once you’re ready for the next level, give Jay Sanky’s DVD a look.

I’ll leave you with what is probably the most familiar performance of the Invisible Deck that has been made in the last decade——David Blaine and his mind boggled friend.

1. sadly this video has been removed and Jay’s own YouTube channel holds nothing useful to put in its place