Some watches have a 24-hour hand. It is normally used by travelers to keep a reference time, which is why it is often found on “pilot’s” watches. This allows them to set their watch to local time – and even several times, if they travel from one country to another without returning home. They keep the time reading “at home” on this hand.
Make sure that the 24-hour hand gives solar time. Orient the watch so that the hand points in the direction of the Sun. As with the method based on the hour hand of a regular watch, the shadow of a small stick can be used to align the hand correctly.
The principle is the same as with the regular watch, without the halving of the angle between the hand and noon. In this configuration, the watch’s 24-hour graduation indicates North (in the Northern Hemisphere).
The advantage is that if you are not a frequent traveler, you can set the 24-hour hand to solar time: when moving to and from Daylight Saving Time, you only adjust the small hand. This way, you don’t have to adjust your watch to solar time to find the North.
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Finding North without a compass All articles |
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1 |
With a stick (and the day) |
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2 |
With a stick (and 30 minutes) |
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3 |
With a regular watch |
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4 |
With a pilot watch |
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5 |
With a double sundial |
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