Reading a book written by an American author, the action of which takes place in New York, or enjoying watching a Hollywood film, you often catch yourself thinking: “And how do the heroes always know where the west is, where the east is?..” - after all, even in the dialogue of the police in During the chase, there are constantly phrases like “they went east!” In the Big Apple, particularly in Manhattan, most of the streets are called that way - West or East with sequential numbering, for example, East 56th or West 7th.
School lessons, which so rarely leave the confines of a boring classroom, have left many of us with very vague memories. Apart from having a vague idea of which side of the tree the moss grows on (by the way, not always from the north), most will most likely have difficulty determining where is north and where is south. But, lo and behold, even the simplest analog watch (the presence of an hour hand and markers is required) will help us orient ourselves in space during daylight hours and not get lost in areas where there is no navigation of any kind.
Let's navigate by the Sun
To be quite accurate determine where south is, any clock and the Sun visible in the sky are enough. To do this, remove the watch, holding it horizontally - this is convenient to do on a flat surface - and turn it so that the hour hand points to the Sun.
Bisect the angle between the hour hand and the 13-00 o'clock position. If you are conducting an experiment before one o'clock in the afternoon, take the corner that the hour hand should go through. to 13-00 hours. And if later - which passed after.
A straight line dividing the corner in half will point south. Accordingly, facing in this direction, you will leave the north behind your back, the east will be on your left, and the west will be on your right.
What is "astronomical noon"?
In some sources, and even directly in the instructions for the watch, you can find a description of this technique, where instead of the hour of the day, the reference point will be noon. Actually, astronomical noon is the time when the Sun is at its zenith, and the stick of the simplest sundial casts the shortest shadow pointing to the north (the Sun in this case is towards the south).
For world time, the combination of actual and astronomical noon is quite correct, but in Russia, due to maternity time (which is 1 hour longer than the time of the corresponding time zone) and the abolition of the summer clock change, the concept of “astronomical noon” is closer to the 13-00 mark.
Bezel: useful detail
Some watch models are equipped with a rotating bezel (rim), which can be located both outside and inside the case, under the glass. If the bezel is lined with cardinal directions, and possibly also angle values, then it will be even easier to navigate the area: having found south, align the mark indicated by the letter with this direction S. The cardinal directions are determined, you can set off knowing exactly where your eyes are looking. Those who have already become the proud owner of a “hiking” watch with a built-in compass will be interested in checking this method by checking the readings with electronic data.
