10:10 - Happy Time

A while back I came across an interesting factoid about clock faces: when packaged for selling they are most often depicted at or near the time 10:10 (a quick Froogle search will help make my case if you don't believe me). There are other pages that try to answer this question and lots of theories that revolve around why this is so, ranging from the idea that 10:10 is when Abraham Lincoln died (not true) to the notion that 10:10 is the most aesthetically pleasing formation of the clock's hands (partially true).

According to Liz Crenshaw at NBC4 in DC, who called Timex to get an answer for the question:

Timex says the hands on timepieces are placed at 10:10 so the company logo on the face will be framed and not blocked by the hands. Timex says the industry standard used to be 8:20 but that looked too much like a frown and created an unhappy look.

Timex says in its ads, the clock hands are placed at 10:09 and 30 seconds, exactly.

So, at least for Timex, it's important to not obfuscate the company logo in an appealing way. Since they maintain that 8:20 "looked too much like a frown", I think it's safe to say 10:10 looks like a smile...that sounds like "Happy Time" to me. So next time you look up and see that the time is 10:10, pause for a moment and smile, like your clock is doing.

Um, if it isn't digital, of course...