Blackbird Bezel

[Bright Ling]

I just received my new Blackbird from Ruby. It's pretty amazing; I think it's a darn close to a gen.

I have a dumb question- why does the bezel have compass coordinates on it? Is a pilot supposed to set the bezel and move his arm around to guess at where he's going? Is there another explanation?

[FxrAndy]

If you point the hour hand of a 12 hour watch in the direction of the sun, a point half way between the hour hand and the shortest distance to the 12 will be South in the Northern Hemisphere. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, switch the hour hand and the 12 in the above directions and you will be pointing to the North. Of course, this is only a rough guage and is less accurate the closer you are to the Poles or the Equator. Don't forget to set your watch for the correct time zone.

Google, your best friend!

[chiefwiggum]

Google, your best friend!

:thumbsupsmileyanim:

[chronoluvvv]

no kidding

i think i'll get a blackbird after the sosf shows up

[Bright Ling]

Thanks for the info, but why does the bezel turn with degrees? Is it just so simple I can't see it?

[FxrAndy]

So that you could align it with south and turn the bezel to lign up with the cardinal points, as long as you hour hand os pointing at the sun and the bezel is lines up with true south you can use it as a compass.