Standing Watch

Many people know that it’s possible to tell direction by using a standard wrist watch, but aren’t clear on what the procedure is, or how to calculate it.

In fact, there is no calculation: just a simple couple of steps, and you get a very reliable method of determining your direction. Of course, there’s the official way, and a somewhat easier method most people do not know.

The Official Method

You may either wear your watch or remove it for convenience. Turn either the watch or your body so that the hour hand points toward the sun (yellow line).
Halfway between the hour hand (yellow line) and the 12 (orange line) is due South (green line).

This method is very reliable, except for the step about getting the watch to point to the sun. If the sun is high in the sky (around mid-day), it can be difficult to get the hour hand to line up correctly with the sun. And you want to be correct, because an error of a few degrees can have you miles off course in a short time!

The Better Method

There’s an easier method.

Look on the ground for a thin stick, a good blade of grass, a pine needle, or a very narrow stem of some sort. Anything improvised works well.

Wearing your watch, place the stem into the dead center of your watch face, holding it steady with your fingers. If your watch is in any way unconventional, you simply want to place the base of the stem where the hour hand and the minute hand meet.

Turn yourself so that the stem (purple) casts a shadow (black line) along the hour hand. Even at midday, the slightest shadow will appear. If the shadow is short (because the sun is very high), simply tilt the stem a bit to lengthen the shadow.
Halfway between the hour hand shadow line) and the 12 (orange line) is due North (green line).

This method is equally reliable, but is more accurate because the shadow correctly aligns with the sun no matter how high the sun is. Also, the resulting direction points North, instead of South, resulting in more intuitive navigation (as most maps feature North as the primary direction).

Some vital tips:

In the Southern Hemisphere, both the classical and the shadow method need to be reversed. Therefore, in the shadow method, the green line will point South instead of North. In the classic method, the green line points North!
If your watch is set to daylight saving time, remember to set it back an hour for correct time. Failure to do so will send you miles off course, as you will be walking 30° from your intended direction.
Remember that both methods assume you split the difference clockwise. If your hour hand is on 8:00, your direction line (orange) is on 4:00, and not 10:00!
True astronomical noon would imply there is no shadow, as the Sun is perfectly overhead. The reality is that this is a localized occurrence only two days a year at best, and close to the equator. If you find yourself in just such a situation, simply wait 30 minutes.

The Digital Method

And if you wear a digital watch?

On all but the least expensive digital watches, you will notice clock-like features. Simply utilize them! Use the shadow method.

Turn yourself so that the stem (purple) casts a shadow (black line) along the path of where the hour hand should be. Remember that an hour hand is sometimes closer to the next digit on a watch at certain times: at 4:47, the hour hand is closer to 5 than 4. Halfway between the imaginary hour hand shadow line) and the 12 (orange line) is due North (green line). Use features or functions on the digital watch to align your numbers.

Be wary: if you’re off on your estimate of where the hour hand should be, you can get lost quickly.

Also remember that local time may be different than solar time. For example, Chicago and Des Moines are both in the same time zone. But these cities are far enough that for a given time, the shadows are at different lengths and angles. For example, the sun may cast a Southern shadow in Chicago at 12:47pm. It won’t cast an identical shadow in Des Moines in some cases until 1:11pm. This because—even in the same time zone—Chicago is more easterly than Des Moines so the sun gets there “first.”

Even so, you can experiment all you like with these techniques at home, before you need to rely on them. At first, you may find strange results (including your watch telling you a certain direction is North that you know to be East!), but as you practice, you will find yourself repeatedly getting accurate results.