A capillary (10) is provided for use in wire bonding and may be incorporated into a wire bonding machine. The capillary (10) incorporates one or more indicators (100, 105, 110, 113) which may be positioned about the capillary. For example, the indicators may be affixed to an outer surface of the capillary. Sensing of a indicator may be achieved by a detector (160) to determine the angular position of the indicator. This may be used to determine and/or establish the angular alignment of the capillary. The angular alignment may correspond to a desired axis of a wire bonding machine table or lead frame, or to a longitudinal axis of a lead on a lead frame, in order to achieve optimum effectiveness in wire bonding between an integrated circuit chip and the leads of the lead frame. The capillary may be any of a number of differing types including those having circular and non-circular faces. The indicators may be any of a number of differing types including passive, active, contact, contactless, electrical, mechanical, magnetic, optical, or other types.