Anyone who spends a few minutes with a print magazine today will almost certainly spot an actor or athlete wearing a watch on one of its pages. An equally popular option is the same watch resting on a rock or a piece of glass, completely drenched. But both scenes have something in common: the watch always shows a similar time, 10:10. Why? What is so special about it? The answer is a mix of subliminal stimulus, non-conscious processes, and emotional valence.
Go to the official Rolex page. Browse its catalog for a while. Some of the designs there are truly beautiful… but they all mark roughly the same time, 10:10. TAG Heuer? Same. Omega? Same. There may be a few minutes of difference between one photo and another, but the pattern is identical, and it's not something recent. A quick search of vintage ads confirms this.
Now, some of our readers probably see this as an obvious detail, because the manufacturer's plan is to show the brand at the center of the watch. In fact, many ads bet on the reverse configuration, 8:20. However, a team of four researchers from universities in Germany, Egypt, and the United States published a psychological study in 2017 called "Why Is 10 Past 10 the Default Setting for Clocks and Watches in Advertisements?", and their results indicate that there is something more.
Solving the mystery of 10:10 in watch advertising
What does psychology have to do with it? Besides the hypothesis that suggests greater exposure for the watch brand, there is also the smile hypothesis: The V-shaped configuration formed by the hands at 10:10 is similar to someone smiling, which apparently catches our attention. In the first experiment, 46 volunteers participated (20 men, 26 women), and in the second there were 23 (11 men, 12 women). The first experiment focused on the emotional factor of the participants (without mentioning the configuration of the hands), while in the second, the researchers asked about the similarity of the hands to facial expressions at three times: 10:10, 11:30, and 8:20.
The results of the first experiment indicate that watches set at 10:10 generate greater visual pleasure than the rest (more in women than in men), and reduce reluctance to buy the watch. What about the second experiment? No surprises here: Watches at 10:10 indeed convey the idea of a happy face, while watches at 8:20 have the opposite effect. It would be logical to verify these results with additional studies, but the hypothesis seems to point in the right direction. What do you think?
Access the study: Click here.
