Horoscope


Our brain is a natural time machine that can travel ahead in time – but only a couple seconds. Without that useful ability we’d be unable to anticipate anything and we’d cause a lot of accidents. But what would happen if we could go even further ahead in time? Say, three or four seconds - or maybe even a few minutes?
Way back in the latter half of the 19th century – in July 1878 – a clockmaker by the name of Constant Van Hove filed a patent application for a revolutionary clock mechanism based on a gyratory movement. One day, after working for a few hours, he set his creation on a dresser and gazed at it in satisfaction. The time was 9.40 a.m. Aesthetically, the clock was not pleasing enough to the eye to showcase it in his shop, so he adjusted the hands until the clock showed 10.10 a.m., forming a V shape that he found more attractive. As he sat there, staring at his work, he gradually became hypnotised by the regular ticking of the clock movement. Suddenly, he gave a start! He had just seen the clock surrounded by flames, and the hands had shown that it was 10.12 a.m. Roused from his torpor, he examined the watch and everything around it, there was no evidence that anything had been on fire. But he remained watchful. Five minutes later, a slight odour of burning wafted in from the kitchen. The cook had forgotten to turn off the flame under a dish and it had started to burn. Van Hove turned off the gas stove. His vision had probably saved him.
Did the clock have some kind of power?
Obsessed by the idea that his clock could predict future events, the watchmaker worked tirelessly to improve his invention. He refined the movement and modifying it to fit into a pocket watch. He hoped his watch allow him to see 24 hours into the future, like horoscope predictions.
But it just didn’t work, even though the watches were beautiful objects on which he laboured with the full breadth of his talent. He then tried looking 12 hours ahead, one full cycle of the clock’s hands. But the results were equally disappointing.
The only thing he could see was the watch showing the time he had just set with the hands. Still, he didn’t give up.
Nearly 30 years went by and he kept working on his obsession. At one point he was inspired by a model of pocket watch he sold in his shop, known as the Horoscope. And then it happened: he found, more or less by accident, that the further away he tried to move from the present moment, the more blurred the vision became and the only thing he could see was the watch face. As one moves further ahead into the future, the number of possible permutations of future events increases exponentially.
At around 3 minutes in the future, he noticed not only that his vision of the watch was clearer, but that he could start to perceive a small area around the object. It wasn’t always very clear, but it was enough for him to interpret what he saw.
Nobody knows how it works. Some people think that the ticking of the watch acts on a certain part of the brain, while others say that it induces a light trance. Who knows?
He never did find a practical use for the watch; its random behaviour made it impossible to sell commercially. He never was able to use it to win the lottery and he had little success betting on the horses.
And yet…

- For the rest of the story and the effect, you’ll have to visit the Surnateum and watch one of the most incredible routine I ever created....

Nice story! I want to read more!

WOW!! Thank you for sharing!
I always love your work. Looks like I'm going to have to find a way to visit the Surnateum.

Very enticing!

This, once more, seems to be a Masterclass in storytelling magic!
Félictiations!

It's also a masterclass in the Open Prediction effect. In a bizarre but simple setting.

...He never did find a practical use for the watch; its random behaviour made it impossible to sell commercially. He never was able to use it to win the lottery and he had little success betting on the horses.
And yet…

He wasn't a magician.