Dec 28, 2007 | Ten Past Ten?

In this day in digital age it's almost too easy to forget that there's something exquisite about analog devices. There's a question that many people ask:

Why is it that on advertisements and posters relatively expensive watches invariably show ten past ten?

Apparently the reason is purely aesthetic, which I'm sure many of you already had thought of already. Some interesting alternatives suggested have been that 10:10 is

a) the time JFK was shot
b) the time Guy Fawkes planned to blow up Parliament
c) the time Abraham Lincoln died

but there is no evidence to support any one of them. The positions of the hour and the minute hand makes the watch appear elegant and in a state of equilibrium, and the concept has been in practice since the 1920s. In particular, an analogy can be made between the locations of the hands and that of outspread arms of a welcoming person. It seems like a general consensus is having the second hand right at 12, too.

Some attribute the position to Timex, an American watch company, as they themselves wrote that it was done in order to keep their logo on the faceplate visible. They also said that all of their ads with watches have them set at 10:09:36 exactly, so I set out to find out:

Needless to say, I'm impressed.

Consider other possible configurations: at any of the 12:00, 3:15, 6:30 or 9:45 positions the larger hand obscures the smaller, giving an incomplete and odd sensation to the viewer. Any position in which the hands are perpendicular to each other gives a very squarish, box-ish, disjointed feeling; if the hands are at 180° to each other it seems to split or fragment the image. Furthermore, luxury watches often have date windows that they would rather not have covered up by a hand.

Now an interesting point has been raised: what about 8:20? Some people consider it to be unwelcoming, "comparable to cold reception being accorded to the viewers"¹ or, as Timex refers to it, a "frown" or "unhappy look". Though it isn't as common as the 10:10, others think it's equivalent -- after all, it is 10:10 upside down. What do you think?

¹ Tribune India mailbox, October 15, 1998
Also consulted: The Straight Dope. May 8, 1987
Liz Crenshaw at nbc4.com, May 20, 2002

Also written on this day..

• 2003: Happy New Year