The "I Finally Solved One Of Life's Biggest Mysteries" Story

The plaque on the Bowman Technical School.

It was an ordinary day.  Surfin' the web, checking out a few of my favorite Facebook pages.  One of the pages, "Remember when....in Lancaster, PA", deals with events and happenings, both past and present, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  As I was checking out the photographs that had been posted by viewers, one photograph caught my eye.  It was a photo of a clock's face on a plaque that was on the exterior wall of Bowman Techincal School at the corner of North Duke and East Chestnut Streets in downtown Lancaster.  The poster, Cory, asked this question: Does anyone know why the clock on the plaque at the old Bowman building is set at 8:20?  A few years ago I wrote a story about my father, Paul, who attended the Bowman Technical School after returning home from his service time in the U.S. Army in the mid-1940s.  The school was one of the best on the east coast at the time and attracted students from all over the country.  My father graduated and went to work for Meiskey's Jewelry store in downtown Lancaster as a watchmaker, helping repair watches and selling watch parts.  He never once mentioned the time set on the plaque's clock, perhaps because he to had no idea there was a clock on the plaque.  And, maybe there wasn't even a plaque on the building when he was a student.  Anyway, another reader of the Facebook site wrote in part that: you'll see the 8:20 setting on some clocks or watches where the manufacturer's logo is at the bottom of the face above the 6.  Well, I just had to find out for myself about the time set on the plaque.  One theory stated that the hands were set to 8:20 since that was the time Lincoln died.  But, he was actually shot shortly after 10:00 pm and died at 7:30 the next morning.  Then another theory stated that the hands were set to that time since that was the time John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas.  Not so ... since that happened at 12:30 pm and he was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.  So there is no logical reason why it was set at 8:20.  

Advertisement showing the watch set to 10:10.

Then I read that most manufac- turers of watches and clocks set their watches, clocks and timepieces to approxi- mately 10:10 and you set the correct time when you buy the watch.  The theory behind that time was that it was the time that an atomic bomb was dropped on either Nagasaki or Hiroshima and the setting was in memory of the causalities.  But, that bomb was dropped at 11:02 a.m., so there goes that theory.  The real reason for the 10:10 position is AESTHETICS!  Now, that makes sense since: (1) the hands are not overlapping and are clearly visible, (2) the arrangement of the hands is symmetrical, (3) the manufacturer's logo is usually in the center of the face under the 12 and is framed by the hands, (4) additional elements of the face are usually placed near the 3, 6, or 9 and won't be obscured.  Now, I found the major reason that clocks are no longer set to 8:20 (which they really were at one time in history).  Another poster told that setting it to 8:20 made the face look like it was frowning.  So, they flipped the hands to 10:10 to make it look as if it was smiling.  Another mystery of the ages solved! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.