How to use a Compass Bezel - Watch and Learn #17 

I will never understand why anyone would dislike a simple educational and possible life saving video??? Thanks

Hi Mark, I live in Australia and 60 years ago when I was a scout I learned you point the 12 o'clock position on the dial at the sun and north is half way between the 12 o'clock position and the hour hand's position. This is the correct way to find north using a watch in the southern hemisphere, not as you have explained it as replacing south with north using the northern hemisphere method for finding south. Also instead of continually making adjustments pick a landmark as far off in the distance, in the direction you wish to travel and walk toward it, you can then take another reading when you reach that landmark.

A friend of mine got out of the Navy a couple years ago. He was a navigator. He told me that they still also practice navigating by the stars every night, even though they also have the most advanced electrical navigation instruments on board that money can buy.

If you only have a digital watch, you can still do the "boyscout trick" by drawing the time on the ground (as an analog clock), lined up properly.

Just got my Alpinist from you last week, so I didn't need to watch this video til then. This is really handy to know. I've known of hunters to not believe their compasses and end up getting lost in the forest. This is a great way to verify a company is working too. Hey, Marc, just ignore the comments about the waste of time with your "fluff" - your information is all interesting and useful. I enjoy all your videos!

Also works with a GMT watch, if the GMT hand is on local time when you point the hour hand at the sun the GMT hand will point north.

It's not just ensuring the time isn't set to DST, it's ensuring you're using local solar time as accurately as possible - and knowing how far off local civil time is from local solar time wherever you are. Some civil jurisdictions have deliberately put themselves nearly an hour ahead on standard time, putting themselves nearly two hours ahead on DST -- all so the wealthy die hard golfers can play golf at 11PM. I'm glad you corrected the Southern Hemisphere. If you imagine the solar motion at (local) 6AM, Noon, and 6PM, and how watch orientation can indicate direction, you can ensure you get it right. All that said, I used man-made and natural terrain features, combined with general solar position relative to AM/PM to properly orient a map, and determine more accurate directions much, much faster.

🤯Mind blown. Thanks for this. Now I'll look smart if someone ever asks me about my alpinist instead of an idiot. I love your content. I just haven't found an Islander I love YET. Keep it up.

A great lesson for me, maybe I will never had to use compass on my watch but its allways good to learn new things, thanks!

Great explanation. 36 years and I never learned that trick until now.

Hi Mark. I am from Canada, now living the the Philippines. All my life I have done a lot of hunting and fishing and have used my watch as a rough compass 1000s of times. Canada being so far North, and during mid summer, has long daylight hours where it gets daylight before 6am and well after 6pm. During those hours when using a watch as a compass the 12 o'clock position flips from pointing South to pointing North. That is important to know or one can really get lost and confused. Of course on a clear night after dark in the Northern hemisphere, the North Star (Polaris) is easy to find from the Big Dipper (Google it), then vertically down from Polaris to the horizon is exactly North.

Hr @ Sun, 1/2 way to 12=South. Nov-March or -1Hr. I etched this on the back of my watch so I'll never forget.

Excellent video. I used this technique last weekend in the woods because I was too lazy to get my Silva system compass out of my pack (which would have required me unshouldering and reshouldering 20 kilos. And the cheap compass/thermometer attached to my pack shoulder strap isn't that accurate. If you don't have a bezel you can do it mentally. If you have a dive bezel you can use that, just decide what is what, for example you can point the arrow to the south position and just remember that 30 would be north, 15 west, 45 east. Thanks to the Long Island Watch man for reminding me about Daylight Savings Time, now I know why I was a few degrees off (but accurate enough to position a map and figure out where to go). Google maps isn't so great when in the wild, a watch or compass and a paper map are much better. With the watch the advantage is you do not need to know what your local declention value is (deviation of magnetic from geographic north). My 40 gram Luminox Colormark is enough!

I did learn this in Boy Scouts 50 years ago. Thanks for reminding me Marc!

This is very useful. Thanks! My question is, what is the midpoint between hour hand when it’s 6 o’clock ? Should I set south to 3 or 9?

If you have a divers you can use 15, 30, 45 and your pointer as compass points. ^ = N 15= E 30= S 45= W

Thanks for the video. I would have wrongly "doubled" the hour rather than correctly "half" toward 12 as you've demonstrated. I'm happy to be corrected, and more fun not to be lost! Thanks.

Hi Mark, I use the Compass Bezel on my Endurance Pro as a GMT and a Divers Timer. To use it as a GMT I put the “N” on the Hour Hand. My cousin is 9 Hours ahead of me so his time is marked with “W”. My daughter is 7 Hours behind and shown opposite the 150 and my aunt is 5 Hours behind opposite 210. To use as a Timer I put the “N” on the Minute Hand. 15 Minutes is opposite “E”, 30 Minutes is opposite the “S” and 45 Minutes is opposite the “W”.

Thank you so much, I have a Seiko Kinetic GMT but had no idea why the compass points were on the bezel. Aside from an actual diver using their bezel for dive times this may be the most useful function on a bezel. Tachymeter scale wont get you out of a jam. I have gained a new appreciation for my watch, thanks.

I enjoy your reviews and your watch and learns. I think, however, on the compass watch and learn you omitted an important point - which direction to go when you mark the halfway point between the hour hand and 12 o'clock? If before noon, you move clockwise from the hour hand. If afternoon, you move counterclockwise. An important detail.

Hi Mark, a belated thank you for doing this video. It makes me want to buy the new Alpinist GMT watch.

Fantastic explanation, very thorough!👏

Great tutorial, and that's a really neat trick that I didn't know about. One more thing I love about watches.

I just bought the black leather strapped Prospex Land and now I know how to use that internal compass bezel. I didn't learn that from my scoutmaster. Either I was absent or he could be dumb. Thank You!

Thank you Mark! I wanted to learn that trick 👍🏻

So if the time is 18:20 and you point the hour hand at the sun. Do you position the S on the compass between 12 noon and 1820 or 12 midnight and 1820?

Best example I’ve ever seen. Great job 👏

Awesome! Just got a Seiko with a compass bezel and I was wondering how it worked. Very, very cool. Thank you!

One more reason to wear a cool mechanical watch. Great stuffs and please keep them coming. Thanks!

Great that someone is doing these kinds of videos.

Good SOLID information that does not rely on electronics or Siri. or Google.

Just found your channel. Appreciate the boy scout lesson. Very educational and thorough.

Just emailed you about the Seiko sarb 017..Great feature for someone who likes walking in the woods. This was a new one on me, Thanks.

Kudos for Mark on these videos, great place to buy my watches from too.

I used that trick about 20 years ago to figure out which way was home. Was way out of town and the road signs were not clear and I didn’t know if I was going south or north. So I used my seiko dive watch and did that little trick and figured out pretty quickly that I was headed north so I took the next exit and got going south. Also use it frequently when hiking for general direction. If it’s critical then the GPS comes out. But I didn’t have that 20 years ago. So once it saved my ass from going several miles out of the way. Great video as always Marc. Also quick question do you have a link for the seiko flight master instruction book. I bought it used and didn’t come with any paperwork. The bezel was scratched pretty good so just got done popping a new one on with my press.

So, you always go for the SHORTEST angle between noon & the hour hand to give South (northern hemisphere)? Very interesting, thnx! First saw this in the ‘Scout Handbook’ many, many years ago! 😁 Love your videos btw

Another very handy, informative video! Why do I always start watching your videos at bedtime and end up going to bed really late....lol! FYI it is 3:26 AM as I'm typing this...better go crash. Keep up the good work!

Excellent ! I've known about this for years, and even though I've Googled it.... This is by far the most understandable bit of tuition. .... Many thanks....J

Because I am an old man, I don't remember exactly boy scout days. But as I remember, we put a stick in the ground and laid the watch in the shadow. Then, rotate the watch, so the hour hand aims at the stick. I think halfway between the stick and noon was south.

Another well presented and informative video. This is a great trick for people to know and one I never learned until I purchased a SARG005. I always thought the internal compass added an extra level of cool to the watch compared to a standard bezel version.

Nice video Sir, really informative and though this knowledge was always available in public domain I never bothered to know it untill I brought timex expedition mf13 and decided to know why manufacturer give bezel compass. I really appreciate the video.

I'm a sucker for internal rotating bezels... SO nice and smooth. I wish you guys carried Hamilton, they make a pilot watch with a nice internal bezel.

Marc, you gave new meaning for my compass bezel watches! :-D

Seiko SRP669? It's looks really good! Especially the hands!

I used mine for night land navigation. You use the watch bevel to set your direction after shooting an azimuth. Since the watch has a low-light signature it is easy to read. And helps keep you going in the right direction.

Thank you for your information sir. Can we can tell time using not working watch and a compass , By following this principle in vice versa ?

Thanks Marc. I was going to (eventually) look for a video to explain this! Now I can find my way if the lights ever go out!

Looking for a watch like SRP669K1 really interesting timepiece. Ah... and thanks for this tip. Always wondered there was a trick to it other then just the looks. That's it.... the timepiece I want to get when possible.

Nice information, thank you.

im a mariner and i carry protrek prg 250 and i was wondering where can i use the compass bezel since it has digital compass thanks for the info!

Thanks Marc, another informative video. Always look forward to them. Have you done one on GMT watches ?

I was never a boyscout, but i read about this trick when i was 9 or 10, used it ever since. I now also have a 24 hour watch, so the 12 o'clock position always is in the south, when i align the sun with the hour hand..

Really like new gloves. As always, great video.

CALM-pass bezel? Man that Seiko 5 looks nice. I'm surprised that it's so affordable, especially with a new 4R movement. Seiko has been really upping their game recently.

Just got the Seiko SARB017 and it seemed silly not to at least know how to make use of the rotating compass bezel feature. Thanks for explaining it in terms even I can understand. Thanks too for pointing out the need to account for daylight savings time!

Good refresher for me. I forgot about setting south between the hour hand and 12. I thought you set south to the hour hand. And I never learned about adjusting for daylight savings.

thanks for the video mark.......learned a new thing today logo on the gloves is a nice touch

Instructions not clear, I burnt my eyes from looking at the sun

I had watched this video 1/2 year ago. Good refresher course. Young watchmaker Masahiro Kikuno design a wristwatch that displays Japanese temporal time. As days lengthen and shorten through the seasons events like sunrise, noon and sunset will occur at their assigned temporal time. That would throw an interesting complication into "boy scout" rule. What do you think?

nice gloves man! keep up the good work!

Thanks for the perfect explanation! 👍

Brilliant! Very informative Mark. Thanks you.

Wow! That’s such info to know!

Boy Scout lesson! ;)

Im really looking for a good mechanical military simple navigation watch. The reason why is because the last trip i was 2.5 hours in a decent deep forest, no way to tell what is north or south nor how long it is to safety if something should go wrong. I checked the map and i saw the last turn didn't seem to fit. I took a wrong turn and i checked for North and south to get me started to find my way back. My Navigation app said i was way too deep (about 6-8km more than i expected), that was wrong so i checked my Compass on the iPhone, it started bouncing around all over the place. I was screwed. I had 5 more hours to walk to get to my destination and thank god i remeberd the Boyscount method. I DINT EVEN HAVE A WATCH so i used the Iphone Clock app logo with shows the clock in real time. it was extremely small and hard to match it with the sun but i figured it out and clicked the degrees in the compass app en followed it for 1.5km in deep snow that is laying over a frozen swamp. I finally got me back to a place called Helvete and rustdelva on the map. That actully means Hell and Rust sunken. So i went from lost to hell

Awesome video! I learn something new everytime I watch your videos...Thank Marc, Happy New Year! ....Ed L.

Thanks, I was never a boy scout, but my son is, I'll show him this video.

Will try this tomorrow. That was awesome...

Awesome video ! Thanks so much, that was really helpful

Good video. Thank you

love the video subject came up with the family now I know thanks kid.

I wear a Seiko 5 SRP667K1 but with a canvas strap. I didn't know that the 669 came with a bracelet! Looks much more cooler with a bracelet. Will probably order one.

Thanks Mark! at last I know how to use my Alpanist! :D

Yet another informative video. Thanks

To err is human, to edit, divine.

Amazing Video Mark.I always learn something new from them.Thanks as always for sharing your brilliance. So I have to ask this question watch guy to watch guy."Maybe I am just getting old" I notice in a lot of video's on different you-tube channels that a lot of the reviewers wear a watch on each arm. Soooo hears the question.The watch on each arm is just for the video, not a daily ritual?. Just wondering.

Very cool, thanks!

nice gloves! u can have a standing logo in the table also..that would be cool..

what is the first watch model? it looks great

Is the reverse possible? Identifying approximate time, by knowing the direction and sun position 🤔?

very handy .. I learned something new today .. 🙂🙂

Incredibly useful bit of information, and just as I was thinking of selling my flightmaster! Guess I'm keeping it now. I regularly make use of a compass for prayer direction.

Thank you very much, I never knew this trick!

hey Mark, how about if you live at the equator? do you follow the northen hemisphire one or southern one, or maybe is there any additional "rule" to be followed? thanks!

That was very clear. Thank you, now I can use my sarb17

Thanks a ton. Cool little trick

What If it's 6 o clock? Do you put south halfway on the left or right?

Today I learned a new thing :) Thank you.

Hi Mark, I was just wondering, are these two watches a navigator watch? Just a curiosity. I haven’t find a clear answer regarding navigator, infact just wondering why we call navigator watch and what feature makes watch navigator?

Ahhh I get it after you showed how it works at noon. So I guess it’s as accurate as assuming the sun moves exactly east to west.

Just curious, is it normal that the north position doesn't perfectly aligned with 12 o'clock position like the regular diving bezel? I have Ball DU with inner navigation bezel and the N mark slightly off the 12 hour mark and it's just bothering my eyes LOL 😂. Please let me know if this normal or somekind of lack in detail making process. Thank you so much!

Nice watches..nice video..but.. for the purpose of quality presentation, you need to get to the point sooner

that logo looks great on that gloves, another fantastic info from you. thanks mark really appreciate for this video as I had asked you on 23 January to have a video on compass bezel as I recently got my new Seiko 5 snzjo3k1 n wanted to know about the use of map bezel. if possible can you shed some light on 7s36 movement on my Seiko 5 as nobody talks about it. is it same as 7s26 or superior? will wait for your reply. thanks

I did not know that #SNL's Hill Hader was into watches. Man, he does it all.

Hey there, I appreciate your videos, I've learned quite a bit over the past few days! I wanted to ask how you like that Orient dual dial watch (the one with both a quartz and mechanical movement)? When I saw it I became quite interested, but I can't seem to find much info on it. Seems like it would be a really neat watch.

Great and informative video, thanks!

gloves look so awesome, TGV should weigh into something like that.

what about the difference of using this method in the morning and in the afternoon when finding south by judging 1/2 clockwise or counter-clockwise ?

What do you do when the hour and minute hands are exactly 180 degrees (30 mins) from each other? Which way is south

I love your videos. Good work