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richCB

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2015
19
2
Surrey, UK
Apologies if this has been asked already but is there any significance to the time '10:09' that all AW faces revert to in settings? Is it just an arbitrary time or does it mean something to someone somewhere? Just curious.
 
i think apple just wanted to be one min ahead of the competitors...

Not necessarily. It might be that they didn't want the minute hand to block the 2 (at :10) on analog faces in the marketing pics so they moved it out of the way, and they wanted to be consistent with it in the digital format.
 
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The article is still speculative. Notice that the article offered an alternative explanation from The Loop's Dave Mark.

That's why I wrote "Not necessarily," as I'm recognizing that my theory is also speculative with regards to visual effects. If it were 10:10, the minute hand would be blocking the 2 in marketing pics. They're also doing the same thing with the second hand right between 1 and 2 in 12, and ditto for the complications.

og_apple_watch.jpg
 
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The article is still speculative. Notice that the article offered an alternative explanation from The Loop's Dave Mark.

That's why I wrote "Not necessarily," as I'm recognizing that my theory is also speculative in terms of visual effects. If it were 10:10, the minute hand would be blocking the 2 in marketing pics. They're also doing the same thing with the second hand right between 1 and 2 in 12, and ditto for the complications.

og_apple_watch.jpg
I get that... and I know what "necessarily" means... it's just that the consensus (multiple articles) points to Apple being a bit cheeky. There are hundreds of time combinations they could use that don't block any numbers - why enter a market and coincidentally use a time stamp that's in line with - but just before - all of the traditional major players in the space? Why not 9:09:14 (announcement date)? Or 10:57:14 (reveal time)?
 
I get that... and I know what "necessarily" means... it's just that the consensus (multiple articles) points to Apple being a bit cheeky. There are hundreds of time combinations they could use that don't block any numbers - why enter a market and coincidentally use a time stamp that's in line with - but just before - all of the traditional major players in the space? Why not 9:09:14? Or 10:57:14?

Umm, the digital format doesn't display seconds anyway.

The significance is most likely a combination of many things listed in this thread, rather than any one reason as the sole significance, including paying homage to horology and the history of watchmaking. Apple isn't the only one using 10:09, and some even display 10:12.

ScreenShot2015-01-31at81523PM_zpseaba93b3.jpg
 
Well when the watch is at 10:10 it shows the golden ratio, which is appealing to the eyes. I'm guessing apple did 10:09 just to be different and show they are "ahead" of the competition
 
Well when the watch is at 10:10 it shows the golden ratio, which is appealing to the eyes. I'm guessing apple did 10:09 just to be different and show they are "ahead" of the competition

Except it's not "Different" to be at 10:09 according to the link:

According to the folks at Timex (who set their products at 10:09:36 exactly)

Bottom line, it's aesthetics as the article mentioned.
 
Those are all good theories but it's actually a little part of apple history. It's the time of day that Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone.
(I'm risking out-nerding you here ;)

Nope. 9:41 was the time of day of the first iPhone announcement.

10:09 (or 10:10, or 10:08, etc) is common for watch catalog photos because it's a smiley, happy face. I'm sure this was mentioned in the links posted earlier.
 
I think the choice for something near 10:09, 10:10, or 10:11 for aesthetic reasons for analog faces. But they chose 10:09 because it's the most aesthetic for digital faces. 10:10 looks weird digitally.
 
I think the choice for something near 10:09, 10:10, or 10:11 for aesthetic reasons for analog faces. But they chose 10:09 because it's the most aesthetic for digital faces. 10:10 looks weird digitally.

This. It is for aesthetic reasons. For watches like "rolex" it does not block the name.
 
Or could it be that a group of people discussed all of these factors before arriving at 10:09. "Hey, we'll be a minute ahead!" "..yeah, and 10:09 looks better than 10:10 on digital displays..."
 
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