Using a Watch as a Compass

From an old, yellowed newspaper clipping discovered recently:

"Vacationists in the Finger Lake region of Central New York, once the home of the famous Six Nations of Iroquois Indians, have devised a scheme by which a person lost in the woods or along some unfamiliar stream, may get the right direction, if they have a watch, as certainly as if they carried a compass.  The plan is now being followed by many fishermen and hunters in the Adirondacks.  The method of watch direction is described as follows:
     'By pointing the hour hand of your watch to the sun, the south may be found exactly halfway between the hour and the numeral 12 on the dial.  For example suppose that it is 4 o'clock.  Point the hand indicating 4 to the sun and 2 on the dial is directly south.  If it is 8 o'clock point the hand indicating 8 to the sun and the numeral 10 on the watch points to the south.'"