Your wristwatch is a hidden compass

Lost your phone signal on a hike? If you're wearing an analog watch — or can picture a clock face — you can find your bearings using the sun. In the Northern Hemisphere, hold the watch flat and point the hour hand straight at the sun. Now look at the angle between the hour hand and the 12 o'clock mark: the line that cuts that angle exactly in half points south. (In the Southern Hemisphere, you flip the trick — point the 12 at the sun and bisect toward the hour hand to find north.)

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Why does it work? The sun tracks across the sky at roughly 15° per hour, while a clock's hour hand sweeps 30° per hour — twice as fast. Halving the angle re-syncs the watch to the sun's slower pace, so the midpoint lines up with the sun's noon position, which is due south in northern latitudes. It's a rough guide — most accurate away from the tropics and thrown off by daylight saving time (use the hour it would be on standard time) — but it's plenty to keep you walking the right way.