Do you know what this object is? It’s shaped like an old-fashioned pocket watch, but it is an even older way of telling time. When the compass is pointing to true north, the user lifts the foldable sundial (called a gnomon) upright and lines it up with the compass needle. Then the sun casts a shadow from that standing piece across the correct hour. (Numbers for the hours are engraved along the outer rim.) French naval officer Gabriel du Brutz, who later settled in Fayetteville, owned this sundial and had it with him during the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.