Why 10:10?

I was asked this question by a friend recently. Why do all the the watches (analogue display) in advertisement have the time set to 10:10? I gave him the answer, to make the watch look happy as 10:10 looks like a smiling face. Thinking that I have solved the problem, he persisted with 'Really?'. That set me thinking as well. Really? Could the answer be that simple or are there other reasons.

So I searched the Internet for possible reasons. Evidently, some say that Timex started the trend by setting the time to 10:09:36. It seems that in olden days, the setting was 8:20 but that practice stopped when people realised that it makes the watch looks like it frowning. This setting of 8:20 was due to the fact that the manufacturers' logo use to be above the 6 o'clock position.

The other reasons for the 10:10 setting:

• The hands are not overlapping, making them fully and clearly visible and can be admired.
• The setting of 10:10 makes the hands more symmetrical which is generally found to be more pleasant and thus making it more appealing to customers.
• It frames and directs the eyes to the manufacturers' logo which is normally at the 12 o'clock position.
• With the hands at the 10:10 setting, other elements of the dial is not obscured, e.g. date window, sub-dials etc.

How interesting. I guess the answer is not as simple as I thought. Well I learnt something today, thanks to a friend.

On an interesting note, there are manufactures that set the time to 2:50 as opposed to 10:10.