Setting a Default Value in aProduct Characteristic

I know that it is possible to set a default value , of say, Select One in a custom field. Is it also possible to have that same behaviour in a regular characteristic field?

I tried to "trick it" by creating a characteristic value of "Choose One", making that the first value, and then adding a varient to correspond. Not sure if there is a better way to accomplish this and would like some feedback.

Thanks!

That's the way to do use, with a variant "select one" for which you set the quantity to 0.