18th-century Sundial and Compass at one. This compass has hand colored reproduction compass cards and it aged finish in hand-buffed duotone.
Not that long ago people actually lived by sundial time. Every village and town functioned on local time, depending on local latitude. The arrival of trains and mail coach traffic created a need for coordinated time.
Our travel sundial needs a compass to find north. Raising the triangular gnomon upright while pointing the compass needle North will show the time. The correct time will show only if the local latitude corresponds to the angle of the gnomon.