Jonny Crockett explains how to use your watch to find North - and impress your friends!
Question: On a shoot at the weekend we were arguing about how to find north using your watch. Could you clear up how to do this?
Jonny Crockett replies: This sounds complicated, but it’s really quite simple. Firstly, point the hour hand at the sun. Then find the angle between the hour hand and twelve on your watch. Halve that angle and draw a line through the middle of your watch on the halved angle. This gives you a north/south line. This only works during GMT, by the way. In the summer (BST) you find the angle between the hour hand and 1. This is because we have adjusted the time, so to bring us back in line with Mother Nature we have to adjust back again.