苹果手表10:09定时之谜

若你喜欢并关注手表，你很可能会发现知名手表品牌对广告和产品演示中所设置的时间都有特殊的偏好。例如，劳力士偏爱10:10:31，豪雅表喜欢10:10:37。而果粉们翘首企盼的苹果智能手表却选择了10:09这一与众不同的时间。这是对手表行业传统的致敬?是有意避开主流趋势?是苹果领先于时代的品牌宣言?还是苹果简洁对称美学观的又一体现?强迫症又犯了的果粉们非得追寻历史渊源，刨根问底不可!

As Apple fans obsessed[1] over every detail, Twitter user Pratiik Rege joked that the watch was set at 10:09 in all images because 10:10 was “just too mainstream. He actually may have been right.

You may not have noticed but the default setting in adverts for many new watches is 10 minutes past 10 o’clock.[2] Many well-known brands, including Rolex, Swatch and Tag Heuer, set their watches to this time for their adverts.[3] Could Apple have set their watch at 10:09 to suggest they are ahead of the curve[4]?

Perhaps, but a quick look at other watch adverts suggest Apple are not the first to deviate[5] from the 10 past 10 time. That’s because many companies show their watches at this time purely for aesthetic reasons.[6] It makes sense therefore to adjust it by just a few minutes around this standard time according to what particular brands think suit their timepiece best.[7]

However it is thought that around 10 past 10 shows the watch at the best angle.

If the logo is directly underneath the 12, this time also has the advantage of “framing the brand name between the two hands.[8] It’s a symmetrical[9] time too making it pleasing to the eye. Often manufacturers photograph the watch with the second hand in a position which emphasises this proportionality:[10] pointing either at the 12, the 6, the 8 or the 4. Another favourite time with clock vendors has been 20 past 8, because of its symmetry.[11]

However 10 past 10 is thought to be a more "positive" time by brand experts, as it looks as if the face of the watch is smiling. Digital clocks are often sold at 12:08 for similar aesthetic reasons.

It is thought to be pleasing on the eye, with the increase in pixels "satisfying" the potential buyer.[12]

This decided answer hasn’t always satisfied though, with some people believing there are more sinister forces at work.[13]

A favourite conspiracy theory is that clocks show 10 past 10 because that is the exact time of Abraham Lincoln’s death.[14] However, although he was shot at 10 past 10 in the evening, he died at around 7 am the following morning. Another theory is that the clock is set at this time because that was the time that President John F Kennedy was assassinated.[15] However John F. Kennedy, was shot in the head in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 pm.

Another theory states that the Hiroshima atomic bomb exploded at 10:10 and clocks have been stopped at this time to remember this.[16] It seems unlikely that watch manufacturers would want to associate their product with this event though. As well as the fact it happened at 8:16 am Japanese time.

There are other conspiracy theories too.

Fans of the Da Vinci code may want to interpret the 10:10 sign as being a chalice V symbol, the symbol for the sacred.[17]

Some say it was the time Guy Fawkes planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament at this time (it wasn’t: he was caught at around midnight on November 5).[18]

This isn’t the first time Apple fans have noticed a time-based quirk[19] on their favourite products. The time shown on iPhones is 9:42 am. Former Apple executive Bob Borcher said it shows this time because 9:42 am was the exact hour, at which the iPhone was unveiled[20] back in 2007.

Scott Forstall, who led the original development team for the iPhone and iPad explained further: it was so that when the product could be displayed on the big screen about 40 minutes into the presentation, the time on the device would match the time it was unveiled.[21]

Apple’s moved on from that. Half an hour on. It’s likely that Apple decided to set its time at 10:09 to establish[22] itself within watch-making tradition. Tim Cook told Bloomberg that during the design of the watch, Jon Ive, who led the project, “immersed himself in horological history.[23]

It may just be a second in time, but 10:09 is further evidence that Apple is taking its new watch very seriously. This is not being referred to as a “smart watch, this is a watch that both wearable tech and the watch industry should take seriously.[24]

1. obsess over: 聚焦于……，对……着迷。

2. default setting: 默认设置;advert: 广告。

3. 此处提到的均是著名手表品牌，分别是劳力士、斯沃琪和豪雅表。

4. ahead of the curve: 思想超前，引领潮流。

5. deviate: 偏离，违背。

6. purely: 纯粹地，仅仅;aesthetic: 美学的。

7. make sense: 讲得通，合乎情理;adjust: 调整;timepiece: 钟、表等计时器。

8. 若商标位于12这一数字正下方，(10点10分的)时针和分针也恰好把品牌名“框于其间。hand: 指针。

9. symmetrical: 对称的。

10. second hand: 秒针;proportionality: 匀称，对称。

11. vendor: 卖家;symmetry: 对称，均衡。

12. pixel: 像素;potential: 潜在的。

13. decided: 明确的，清楚的;sinister: 邪恶的，阴险的;at work: 起作用，在活动着。

14. conspiracy theory: 阴谋论，通常暗指事件的公开解释为故意欺骗，其背后有集团操纵事态的发展及结果，以到达该集团损人利己的目的;Abraham Lincoln: 亚伯拉罕·林肯(1809—1865)，第16任美国总统，1865年遇刺身亡。

15. John F Kennedy: 约翰·F. 肯尼迪(1917—1963)，第35任美国总统，1963年遇刺身亡;assassinate: 刺杀，暗杀。

16. Hiroshima: (日本)广岛市，在第二次世界大战期间曾受到原子弹攻击，是世界上第一个遭到核武器攻击的城市;atomic bomb: 原子弹。

17. Da Vinci code: 此处指美国作家丹·布朗的小说《达芬奇密码》(The Da Vinci Code)，这本书集合了侦探、惊悚和阴谋论等多种风格，并激起了大众对某些宗教理论的普遍兴趣;chalice: 圣杯;sacred: 神圣的，神的。

18. Guy Fawkes: 盖伊·福克斯(1570—1606)，他参与了刺杀英国国王詹姆士一世的阴谋计划，准备在1605年议会开会期间炸掉上议院，史称失败的火药阴谋计划;Houses of Parliament: 国会大厦，又称为威斯敏斯特宫，位于英国伦敦，是英国国会(包括上议院和下议院)办公所在地。

19. quirk: 怪癖，古怪行为。

20. unveil: (首次)透露(新计划)，展示(新产品)。

21. iPhone和iPad原始开发团队的负责人斯科特·福斯特尔进一步解释道：在大概40分钟的演讲之后会在大屏幕上展示新产品，设备上的时间恰好是其展示时间，这就是如此设置时间的原因。

22. establish: 使立足。

23. Bloomberg: 彭博有限合伙企业，1981年成立于美国纽约，是全球商业、金融信息和财经资讯的领先提供商;immerse oneself in: 潜心于，专注于;horological: 钟表的，钟表术的。

24. be referred to as: 被称作，被当作;wearable tech: 可穿戴技术，主要探索和创造能直接穿在身上或是整合进用户的衣服或配件的设备。