Cities With the Strangest Clocks
Adelaide runs on an unusual offset of UTC+09:30, one of the world's few clocks not set to a whole hour.
Why Do Some Cities Have Such Strange Clocks?
Most of the world runs on whole-hour offsets from UTC, but a handful of places use half-hour or even quarter-hour offsets. India and Sri Lanka run at UTC+5:30, Nepal at an unusual UTC+5:45, parts of Australia at UTC+9:30, and a few regions use 45-minute offsets. These quirks usually reflect history, geography or a deliberate choice to sit between two neighbours.
Half- and quarter-hour zones can be a headache for scheduling international calls and flights. The cities here all use one of these offbeat offsets; Adelaide runs at UTC+09:30.
Frequently Asked Questions: Cities With the Strangest Clocks
Which places use half-hour or quarter-hour time zones?
Why do some countries use unusual offsets?
Often to better match the Sun across a country, to sit neatly between two neighbours, or for historical and political reasons.
Does an unusual offset cause problems?
It can complicate international scheduling, since a meeting time may fall on an odd half- or quarter-hour in another country.