The Netherlands turns the clocks back early on 25 October: the gap to China and Hong Kong grows from 6 to 7 hours, and for one week the US East Coast is only 5 hours behind

Every year around now, families in the Netherlands with relatives in Asia hit the same small snag: the Sunday-morning video call with parents back home starts after they have already had lunch. The reason is that the Netherlands changes its clocks and China does not. The Dutch government's site states that at 03:00 on Sunday 25 October 2026 the clock goes back to 02:00, moving the Netherlands from summer time, UTC+2, to winter time, UTC+1 Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are all on UTC+8, and the Hong Kong Observatory's records show Hong Kong has not used summer time since 1980, so the gap with the Netherlands grows from 6 to 7 hours. The US is easier to get wrong: it only changes on 1 November, so the week in between has a different gap. Anyone with regular calls abroad should redo their times for after the 25th.

• How to work out their time: their local time = Dutch time + difference, where difference = their UTC offset - the Dutch UTC offset. Before 25 October the Netherlands is +2, after it +1. Taking China: before the 25th, 20:00 in the Netherlands is 02:00 in Beijing (6 hours), after it the same 20:00 is 03:00 (7 hours); to reach your parents at 20:00 Beijing time, call at 13:00 Dutch time.
• The US week is where mistakes happen: the US National Institute of Standards and Technology states that US daylight saving time in 2026 only ends on 1 November at 2 a.m. So between 25 October and 1 November, New York is 5 hours behind the Netherlands and Los Angeles 8 hours; from 1 November it is back to the usual 6 and 9. Online meetings and classes that week are worth re-confirming in the other side's time.
• The southern hemisphere goes the other way: New South Wales, home to Sydney, started summer time on 4 October at UTC+11, so from 4 to 24 October Sydney is 9 hours ahead of the Netherlands, and from the 25th 10 hours. The UK changes at the same moment as the Netherlands and stays 1 hour behind throughout.
• Will this be the last change: the European Commission proposed ending seasonal clock changes in 2018 and the European Parliament adopted its position in 2019, but Parliament's legislative tracker shows the proposal still blocked in the Council, and a study commissioned by the Commission is only due to finish at the end of 2026. So the clocks change as usual this year and go forward again on the last Sunday of March. Phones and laptops adjust themselves; old alarm clocks, ovens and car clocks need doing by hand.

Hokimi field note: add your family's city to the world clock on your phone so one glance after the 25th tells you their time; for weekly video calls, online classes or cross-border meetings, create the calendar event in the other side's time zone so the changeover days cannot trip you up. Images: © European Union 2019, source: European Parliament; EU time-zone map © European Union. Sources: source 1, source 2, source 3, source 4, source 5, source 6, checked on 2026-09-30.