Navigating with a Watch

That is the first question to answer. Why would anyone want to use a wrist watch to navigate by? Why use an analog watch when you can use a compass, a GPS, a smart phone or a smart watch?

If you are a serious prepper you might be concerned about an EMP wiping out your electronics. This of course would also wipe out battery run watches, requiring a self-winding or auto-winding watch.

Maybe you are a serious environmentalist and don’t want to support the heavy metal mining to provide batteries required to operate smart devices for navigation.Maybe you are simply nostalgic and like an old winding watch and knowing the “Old School” way of doing things.

Or, maybe you are just thrifty and don’t want to spent the extra money for things you don’t need and having to continually replace batteries. All are acceptable reasons. Then of course there is also the fun factor of knowing what others don’t know and being able to teach something new (old) to those that don’t know.

This will orientate the compass bezel and provide a reference for “True North”. If using a map, you can locate the declination diagram and orientate the map using “True North”.

The watch and bezel ring will require realignment with the sun as it moves across the sky. During the morning the hour hand will be to the left of the 12 o’clock position.

You will need to realign the watch with the sun’s movement every time when sighting an azimuth. During the afternoon the hour hand will be to the right of the 12 o’clock position.

However, there are times when you may not be able to determine a precise azimuth to your destination.

Along with the fact that everyone has a natural “drift” in their gait; some drift left, some drift right. Now add in the potential to veer off your azimuth, depending on how you use your watch to navigate; you could miss your destination entirely.

This is especially true if you do not know you own gait and pacing or maintain your pace count while walking.

To help control your travel to locate your destination, use a “linear waypoint” instead of a single waypoint.

Use one of the alignment methods to purposefully allow you to veer to the left (or right) of your intended destination till you hit a linear waypoint such as a stream, road, powerline, railroad, etc.

Then turn against your veer and follow the linear waypoint to your destination or to a recognizable waypoint and continue your navigation to your destination.