How many times have you faced the challenge of going on an adventure and forgetting bringing your compass, one of the most essential things when going out to face the world? Now you dont need to worry, for here is the inbuilt compass you never knew your watch had, go on, read on...

Step 1: For the Northern Hemisphere

Hold the watch horizontally. This trick can be used anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere during the day, when the sun is visible. Lay the watch flat and face-up in your palm so that its face is parallel with the ground.

Point the hour hand in the direction of the sun. Turn the watch, your hand, or your entire body so that the hour hand of your watch is pointing directly at the sun. The time on the watch doesn't matter, as long as it's accurate.If you're having a hard time lining the hour hand up with the sun exactly, you may want to use a narrow object's shadow to help you. Stick a twig or narrow post into the ground so that the shadow it casts is clearly visible. Then, line the shadow up with the hour hand of your watch. An object's shadow is cast away from the sun, so lining your hour hand up with a narrow shadow is essentially the same as lining it up with the sun itself.

Step 2: Finding North and South

Imagine a line bisecting the angle made by the hour hand and the twelve o'clock mark, that is the south direction

There, you are done!

Step 3: For the Southern Hemisphere

Point the twelve o'clock mark towards the Sun, and imagine a line bisecting the angle between the mark and the hour hand

Step 4: Voila

The line between the hour hand and the mark is north and the line opposite it is south

There, you are done

Participated in the
Time Contest

6 Comments

EricB10

2 years ago on Step 4

We were taught this method of direction finding 52 years ago while we were at the Escape & Survival Course while at the U. S. Army Rotary Wing advanced flight school before we went to Vietnam. I am glade to see that this old tried and true method is still being taught and learned in the modern age of digital gadgets and GPS. :-)

I would just like to ADD a little "pearl"; Know the time, but don't have an analog watch? A simple drawing of a watch on a piece of paper or a clock face on the ground, as long as it shows the correct time (you only need worry about the hour hand), works just as well.