# Why is it always 3 o clock on clock pictures ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 9, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105 "2006-01-09T05:17:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/1 "2006-01-09T05:17:15Z")
Symoblically speaking… why did _we_ decide on 3 o clock to mean the universal sign for Clock ? Wouldnt 2 or 4 o clock be just as good ?
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/2 "2006-01-09T06:27:09Z")
Who is this “we” you’re taling about? Generally the clock pictures I see (which are usually ads) have the hands set to 10 and 2.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/3 "2006-01-09T06:43:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> She believes that life is made up of all that you’re used to
>
> And the clock on the wall has been stuck at 3 for days, and days
– “3 AM,” Matchbox 20
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### Author:  [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/4 "2006-01-09T06:54:54Z")
> [@Otto](#):
>
> Who is this “we” you’re taling about? Generally the clock pictures I see (which are usually ads) have the hands set to 10 and 2.
Are you talking about [this?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_330.html)
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### Author:  [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/5 "2006-01-09T06:57:38Z")
My WAG is that right angles are pleasing to the eye. That, plus the info from my previous link.
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### Author:  [@ecobuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecobuckeye)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/6 "2006-01-09T13:53:58Z")
> [@Otto](#):
>
> Who is this “we” you’re taling about? Generally the clock pictures I see (which are usually ads) have the hands set to 10 and 2.
I second that. I believe I read in an old Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader that the 10 and 2 looks like a smile, subliminally making you feel good about what you’re observing.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/7 "2006-01-09T14:11:10Z")
I think the OP is talking about some kind of symbol (like the international symbols for left luggage and toilet genders etc), although I can’t find a good example of any such symbol; a google search on _international clock symbol_ returns nothing interesting and searching for _clock icon_ returns a bunch of clock symbols, all showing different times (a few of them do show 3 O’clock).
Assuming that there is some kind of standard or convention (which is not yet established here), I suppose the best answer is ‘and why not?’ - a symbol depicting a clock can only portray it telling one particular time - whatever time was chosen, the OP would probably be asking ‘why this one in particular?’.
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### Author:  [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/8 "2006-01-09T14:38:37Z")
Has no one thought of the underground Christian movements??? Isn’t 3 oclock the time that Christ died on the cross? Or maybe its 3 AM, the witching hour. It could be the work of Satanist cults who believe that 3 AM is the witching hour. Either way, its probably one of those two conspiracies
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/9 "2006-01-09T14:41:02Z")
> [@ecobuckeye](#):
>
> I second that. I believe I read in an old Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader that the 10 and 2 looks like a smile, subliminally making you feel good about what you’re observing.
I think the actual reason is that the name/logo of the clock manufacturer is often located under the 12 so the hands at 10 and 2 act as a frame for the name.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-always-3-o-clock-on-clock-pictures/339105/10 "2006-01-09T14:55:37Z")
> [@Surbey](#):
>
> Has no one thought of the underground Christian movements??? Isn’t 3 oclock the time that Christ died on the cross? Or maybe its 3 AM, the witching hour. It could be the work of Satanist cults who believe that 3 AM is the witching hour. Either way, its probably one of those two conspiracies
According to the gospels, it was the ninth hour, which corresponds to any time between 2 and 3 PM.