10:10?

[spider87]

Ok, so I know that Rolex and I guess a lot of the other watch companies take their pics with the watches set at 10:10 to give you some way to tell the difference between their pics and fakes.... my question is if that is the case..

Why do the watches in some of our dealer's pics read 10:10? Such as WE and I believe PT was the same way?? Is it that they're using gen pics? Shouldn't they be trying to avoid that notion? Is there something about it I'm missing?

Thanks,

Alex

[Pre V]

10:08 - The Reasons Why (to be exact)

Did you know that 10:08 is the time used in most watch advertisements?

Here are several reasons why watch companies use this time:

* The form of the hands has a positive effect on the view: the short hand pointing at 10 o'clock and the long hand pointing at 8 minutes is reminiscent of a check mark, which commonly means "ok" or "fine." Some observers further identify this appearance with a smiling face.

* The position of the hands does not obscure the date on watches with a date-function at 3 o'clock or any other functions at 9 or 3 o'clock.

* The position of the hands does not obscure the company logo, which is often printed under 12 o'clock.

* The hands are nearly symmetrically balanced ont eh face of the dial at 10:08. The minute hand is 48 degrees right of vertical, while the hour hand is 56 degrees left of vertical. Exact symmetry would be achieved at 120/13 minutes past 10:00, approximately 10:08:13.8. Other symmetrical times would not meet the needs above.

* At 10 o'clock in the morning, the day is young. There is still time to accomplish many things.

* 10 o'clock is the time at which people typically wake up if they are able to sleep in. 10:08 is thus associated with weekend, leisure and relaxation.

In short, this is a custom that has been practiced by watch companies worldwide, a generally accepted principle if you will. Replica dealers will photograph their watches in the same fashion so as to ride on the "common" images consumers are accustomed to. There is no reason for them to deviate outside the norm for watches are watches, genuine or replica, the differences lie in location and materials used in production lines.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Pre V

[spider87]

Ah, so it's not as much because rolex does it just because it looks nicer. I've also seen 1:48 or so too to keep the same form. Thanks!

[By-Tor]

Ah, so it's not as much because rolex does it just because it looks nicer. I've also seen 1:48 or so too to keep the same form. Thanks!

I use 9:10 in my Rolex photos. Works better as it doesn't cover much of the dial text this way. If you set it further then the distorting cyclops screws it up a bit.

1:48 works just as well. Here I "slipped" a bit.

[freddy333]

This particular position is used because it places the hands where they will not block the underlying details on a wide range of dials with dates, index markers, chronographs, etc.

[krustybrand]

Timex had so many people write to them in the late '60s to early '70s asking them why their watches always showed 1:50 in their ads that they produced a tv commercial explaining why (and advertising their watches at the same time), with a big cardboard clock and a guy moving the hands about. I was young when they put that ad out, but I too questioned it, even as a child.

iirc, their script talked about hand overlap if taken at random times, and they didn't want people to think their watches only had one hand, and they talked about the hands framing the word 'Timex' to emphasize it.

[Fidestro]

I heard a story once that said it resembles a woman's legs in the air ready for sex, I suppose that helps sell too if you have that image in your head.

[spider87]

I heard a story once that said it resembles a woman's legs in the air ready for sex, I suppose that helps sell too if you have that image in your head.

Oh that was my first though lol. No but I can see all these reasons even the subconscious 'woman's legs' scenario lol. I just had read somewhere that Rolex did it and that was a good way to tell dealer pics from rolex pics and if the dealers had 10:10 or so then they were probably just using ROlex pics...