Please help! How does this beautiful magic trick work?

[jelly]

It's puzzle time! :)

Watch this video http://www.thatsimpossible.com/slowburn/slowburnnow1.rm

The author of this trick claims "Totally SELF-WORKING....NO SKILL NECESSARY!...
SELF-CONTAINED GIMMICK does it all for you!... RESETS automatically!... Perform SURROUNDED!"

I have found an own solution that works without any gimmick (tool), but it doesn't look as elegant as in the video.

How does this magic trick work? Any idea?

[jelly]

I have found the complete video (~435 MB, 42 minutes) on the eDonkey network.
It explains this wonderful close-up routine in detail... how to build the gimmick etc. :)

The link:

ed2k://|file|Richard.Sanders.-.Slow..Burn1.mpg|445761292|AB81B904C8F8A6F2FF031EE F01416CC5|/