52: It’s always 10 past 10 on the wall

People have been puzzled about the whys of timepiece hand placement for several years. I have noticed that every advertisement for a clock or  watch always has the hour hand on 10 and the minute hand on 2. This holds true for print ads, online ads, TV ads etc. But for the most part, watch ads stick to roughly 10:10. Strangely, many of the digital watches  are also set to the same time. This is some kind of advertisement standard. Why? Did some famous watch inventor die at 10 past 10? What’s the significance?

Those who pause to examine the print advertising of the day for watches and clocks will sooner or later be struck by a seemingly starling realization – the hands in just about every timepiece ad will be set to 10 minutes past 10. Yet, this is not the supernatural quietly at work via  synchronicity to instil in us a reverence for a particularly important time of day; the coincidence is attributable to no more than the good marketing practice of presenting the manufacturer’s name or logo to the buying public in a fashion most pleasing to the eye. It’s done in an effort to the best frame the manufacturer’s logo or emblem, which is often displayed on the faces of timepieces just below the 12.

Over the years, I have been told by several people that clocks’ hands in advertisement is set at 10:10 because this was the time of the day when Abhram Lincoln was shot or the time when he died. This is a fascinating explanation, but there is no shared of evidence for it (and in fact, Lincoln was shot at 10:15 PM, and died the next morning at 7:22). The same myth is sometimes reported with John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King is the person being memorialized in clock ads.

The consensus – confirmed by Timex – is that clock and watch hands in advertisements are typically set at 10:10 so that the company’s logo is well-displayed as such. In addition, this position of the hands resembles a smile.

I have received various explanations showing the watch as such. Some of them are: because of atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at precisely that time; to ensure that the name of the watch and other details are clearly visible only at 10:10:36; it is a V for victory sing; watch was invented at 10:10; the inventor of modern watches died at this time, ten into ten is equal to 100 and that portrays 100 per cent purity; it signifies the time before which employees have to mark their attendance in office; Jesus went to heaven on Friday and opened His eyes on Sunday at 10:10.

The hands-on dummy clocks and watches used by jewellers for advertising purposes almost invariably point to 18 minutes past 8.

Frankly speaking, my conclusion is that this is one question to which you can have your home-made answer.