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Ever wondered why clocks, watches, and other form of timepieces always say approximately 10:08 before you set the correct time? Ever noticed that whenever you go into a store selling any kinds of time-telling device, that time is at the default factory setting? 

 10:08, or 8 minutes past 10, is roughly the time analogue watches are set to in most advertisements, although sometimes they vary between 10:08 and 10:10. There are several reasons offered by the manufacturers, though none of them have actually been verified. HTC is one such company which has adopted this peculiarity in many of its smartphones. Below are some examples:

 

No explicit reasons were ever officially given, and the theories that have popped up are mostly psychological and grounded on tradition:  

• The form of the hands on a clock has a positive effect on the person who sees it; the short hand pointing at 10 o'clock and the long hand pointing at 8 minutes resembles a check mark, which is usually associated with ‘okay’. There are observers who even 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. Likewise, it does not obscure the company logo, which is often printed under 12 o'clock. 

• Oddly enough, 10:08 is also the time at which a 12-hour digital display will have the maximum number of digit "segments" turned on. That said, digital watches in commercials are more often than not set to 10:58. 

• HTC comes from a region (Taiwan) where the Buddhism is main religion, which respects the number 108 as a holy symbol. Zen priests wear juzu (a ring of prayer beads) around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads. The Lankavatara Sutra has a section where the Bodhisattva Mahamati asks Buddha 108 questions and another section where Buddha lists 108 statements of negation in the form of "A statement concerning X is not statement concerning X"  

And there you have it, popular theories and explanations as to why 10:08 is adopted by companies that have associated themselves with the use of time. Until companies come forward to reveal the true intentions behind the usage, it is best to take this speculation as a form of aesthetics conceived by the marketing person in a company.