This exceptional brass compass is 2 ½ inches in diameter, comes with a solid brass removable protective cover and has a unique format. It has dual level graduated scales. The lower face scale is a distinctive deep etched, engraved brass escutcheon face plate with increments every 5 degrees and eight bearing point indicators. The upper escutcheon ring scale sits about ¼ inch above the face to prevent parallax reading errors. It has an engraved scale marked in finer 1 degree increments. . . . .

The compass mechanism has a pointer "brake". So when you flip a lever on the side, it pops up on the axis of the pointer, clamping it firmly at the heading when clamped. The whole works has a glass lens. There is a pair of vertical sighting arms that fold straight up perpendicular to the compass body on either side of the compass. They are hinged to the main body.

One has 3 small holes, and the other has an oval opening it's whole length with a "hair" stretched down the middle. These features allow the user to sight an object in the cross hair, engage the brake, then hold the compass down to read the direction of the object. It comes with a tight fitting brass lid / cover to make it easy packing in a knapsack or tackle box or pocket!