Have you ever noticed that Apple always uses the same time on its Apple Watch commercials and promotions? 10:09.
Every single time the smartwatch is shown in an advert or poster, it says that time, and people have a genius theory about why.
Genius theory about Apple Watch time
Traditionally, watchmakers like Rolex and TAG Heuer have always put the time as 10:10 because the hands sit perfectly below the logo, which is always engraved directly below the 12. This means the logo isn’t obstructed and the hands are also perfectly symmetrical.
However, ever since releasing their first smartwatch, Apple has always set its watches one minute earlier than that, at 10:09 on both digital and analog displays. People are convinced they are spreading a subliminal message.
One genius theory says that Apple sets the time one minute earlier than everyone else to show that they are always ahead of the curve. They were the first to release a highly advanced smartwatch, and are always competing to be the best with all new models.
“Apple put it one minute ahead of everybody else to tell everyone ‘Hey, we’re ahead of the times’,” one guy explained in a viral TikTok video.
Apple has never revealed if the time is a secret way of showing they are better than everyone else, but the theory has existed for years and continues to fascinate people almost a decade on from their first smartwatch release.
“When Apple Watch was launched they set the time as 10:09 in ads, because the default time shown in all clocks is normally 10:10, and Apple wanted to show that they are ahead,” another person wrote on Twitter/X.
Someone else said: “Watchmakers typically choose 10:10 as the display time because it ensures that the logo isn’t obscured by the watch hands. 10:09 for Apple Watch is most likely is a cheeky pun about being ahead of its time.”
Apple does have a history of choosing a display time that has some significance. iPhones always use the time 9:41 because that was the time Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone to the world all the way back in 2007.
A 2017 study in the Frontiers in Psychology journal found that participants thought watches set at 10:10 most closely resembled a smiling face, which is another common theory about why watches are set around this time.
However, others think it simply comes down to symmetry as Apple’s exact watch time is 10:09:30, which perfectly spaces out all three hands on the clock face, with one on the left, the other on the right and the second hand at the bottom.
We prefer the first theory!
