The invention relates to a method for positioning a pointer of an indicator device, especially of a combined instrument in an automobile. Said pointer can be positioned on a scale by means of an electronically controlled stepper motor (16). According to the invention, an actual position (30) of the pointer (12) is scanned when the voltage supply for the display device (10) is switched on and the pointer (30) is only moved into the starting position (28) by means of the stepper motor (16) performing an initialisation run if said actual position (30) is different from said starting position (28).