In the 90’s one of the tricks I did in every show was stealing a man’s watch without him knowing it. I would involve him in a magic routine and (while misdirecting his attention) I’d take off his watch and slip it into my pocket. After I’d sent him back to his seat I would thank him for helping and announce I had a VERY special present for him (“In fact I just picked it up today…”) as I held up his watch. Sometimes it would take him a moment to realize it was his own watch. More often his wife would notice first and elbow him. Regardless it always brought the house down. The crowd loved it!

On this occasion in 1998 I was performing a companywide corporate show for Continental Airlines at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. I saw the CEO had a watch I could easily steal so I invited him up to help with the routine. The watch came off without a hitch and went into my pocket. I did the reveal and the crowd responded as usual. However, after the show his secretary came up and told me what actually happened in the audience (unbeknownst to me). Apparently the CEO was an avid watch collector, and this particular watch I had stolen was worth about $15,000. She also told me that he has a nervous tick of constantly fiddling with his watch. Although he had no idea I had taken it, when he returned to his seat he instinctively began reaching for his watch and noticed it was gone! He started to panic, searching through his pockets and looking around on his chair and the floor in case he had somehow dropped it. All the while he was trying to look calm and collected in front of his employees. He had no idea I had his watch until he looked up and saw me on the stage holding it. Needless to say he was quite relieved!