I went to IKEA this past weekend and noticed that there are literally hundreds of clock are set to 10:10. I was so amazed with that and began to wonder why clock manufacturers set the clock to ten past ten.
It turns out that there are many speculations and reasons why clock manufacturers display the hands of the clock at 10 and 2
- It looks better, aesthetically and practically.
- it resembles a ’smile’ on its face
- it resembles a ‘victory’ sign (v)
- to put the company logo in between the ‘frame’ and hence not blocked by the hand and well displayed
- to make your eye naturally follow to the through and thus bringing your view right to the trademark
The opinions I’ve read tend toward framing the maker’s name on the clock face. Viz: when the logo is placed above the center, the hands are at 10:10 but when the logo is below the center, the hands are shown at 8:20 framing the maker’s name. Wristwatch advertising follows this trend.” - Les Lesovsky…
Most manufacturers trademarks are just above the center pipe, and having the hands at 10:10 causes your eye to naturally follow to the trough, thus bringing your view right to the trademark….’ and often the Model name is centered under the center pipe, ruling out any hand more or less straight down (between 5 and 7). Date windows most often are at 9 or 3, and subsidiary seconds usually at 6. For aesthetic reasons you want the two hands neither nearly covering each other nor nearly in a straight line. By default the 10h10 looks pretty good.” - Fortunat Mueller-Maerki…
The answer is probably quite simply that it looks better, aesthetically and practically, as the clock has a ’smile’ on its face (not just a marketing gimmick, it really does look better than a ‘down turned mouth’ at 8.20) and, as others have said, because it keeps the hands clear of signatures and other subsidiary dials. I note that not every firm uses that position in their marketing though. Synchronome, for example, appear to depict their dials at 3.00.’ - Jonathan Betts
I too have heard the ’smile’ theory, which makes some sense from the emotional marketing perspective. Equally likely is the fact that most manufacturer’s trademarks are just above the center pipe, and having the hands at 10:10 causes your eye to naturally follow to the trough, thus bringing your view right to the trademark.’ - Tom Frank
The hands on timepieces are placed at ten-ten so the company logo on the face on the face will be framed and not blocked by the hands. Timex says the industry standard used to be eight-twenty but that looked too much like a frown and created an unhappy look. Timex also says in its ads, the clock hands are placed at ten-nine and thirty six seconds, exactly.
