Budget digital
Casio AE-1200WH
- Switch between four registered cities from a list of 48, with the current zone highlighted on a world map
- About 10-year battery and 100-meter water resistance
World-time watches: what they get right, and the daylight saving catch
A world-time watch shows the hour in other cities at a glance. Most of them share one blind spot: daylight saving time. Here's how to read one correctly, and which kinds suit which travelers.
Picks are chosen from manufacturers' published features, not hands-on testing. WorldHourly earns nothing from them.
The daylight saving catch
Ring-style world timers usually print each city at its standard-time offset. While a city is on daylight saving time, it's an hour ahead of where the ring puts it, so you read the next zone along. Digital world-time watches usually make you switch daylight saving on or off for each city yourself; Casio's G-Shock GW-M5610U, for example, lists "daylight saving on/off" under world time.
And countries don't change on the same day. The US moves its clocks in March and November; the UK and EU move at the end of March and October. For a week or two each spring and autumn, the gap between New York and London is an hour different from usual. See this year's dates.
Which cities are on summer time right now
If you set a world-time watch today, these are the cities where the daylight saving setting matters. A city on daylight saving time is one hour ahead of its standard time.
| City | UTC offset now | Daylight saving now? |
|---|---|---|
| New York | UTC−4 | Yes |
| London | UTC±0 | No |
| Paris | UTC+1 | No |
| Sydney | UTC+11 | Yes |
| Tokyo | UTC+9 | No |
| Dubai | UTC+4 | No |
| São Paulo | UTC−3 | No |
| Los Angeles | UTC−7 | Yes |
Live from the IANA time zone database as of Oct 26, 2026, 08:01 UTC. Every upcoming change is on the clock changes page.
Four picks, by what you need
Rugged, sets itself
Casio G-Shock GW-M5610U-1
- Corrects itself from radio time signals in Japan, the US, Germany, England and China (Multi Band 6), and runs on solar power
- World time for 31 zones (48 cities plus UTC) with daylight saving on/off per city; 200-meter water resistance
Premium travel analog
Citizen Promaster Skyhawk A-T (JY8146-54E)
- Light-powered Eco-Drive, synchronized to atomic time, with time adjustment for 43 world cities
- Second time zone and UTC display; 200-meter water resistance. Limited to 5,600 pieces
Coastal tool watch (not a world timer)
Citizen Promaster Wave Tracker (JV3000-13E)
- Tide graph, moon phase, and sunrise/sunset for 203 locations; yacht-racing timer; light-powered Eco-Drive
- Citizen's announcement doesn't list world time, and says availability varies by market
How to choose
- Mostly checking a few cities? A digital world timer is cheap and exact; just remember the daylight saving switch.
- Want it to set itself? Radio-controlled watches correct the time from official signals. Solar or Eco-Drive power means no battery swaps.
- Prefer hands to digits? Analog world timers look great but need you to do the daylight saving math in your head.
- Planning calls, not just reading the time? A watch can't tell you whether 9 AM in New York works for everyone. The meeting planner can.