WAT — West Africa Time
WAT is UTC+01:00 on every date, with no daylight saving. Lagos keeps it all year.
Current time in WAT
16:22:15
West Africa Time · UTC+01:00
About WAT
West Africa Time is used all year with no daylight saving changes.
Working with WAT
The same offset, UTC+01:00, is also used by BST and CET, though each follows its own daylight saving rules — or none — so they do not stay aligned all year. One hour to the west of WAT in this directory sits UTC (UTC+00:00); one hour to the east, EET (UTC+02:00).
Clock changes in WAT
West Africa Time has no clock change at any point in the year; UTC+01:00 applies on every date, in Lagos as everywhere else on the zone.
Clock history of Africa/Lagos
| Period | Clocks set to | Seasonal changes |
|---|---|---|
| since 1919 | UTC+01:00 | none |
| 1914–1919 | UTC+00:30 | none |
| 1908–1914 | UTC+00:13:35 | none |
| 1905–1908 | UTC+00:00 | none |
| 1900–1905 | UTC+00:13:35 | none |
Who keeps UTC+01:00
All year: Lagos. Part of the year: London, Dublin, Manchester, Lisbon and Edinburgh from March 28, 2027 to October 31, 2027; Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw, Budapest, Barcelona, Munich, Milan, Prague, Brussels, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Oslo and 2 more until March 28, 2027 and from October 31, 2027.
Countries and territories that keep UTC+01:00 all year, from every entry in the tz database: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo - Brazzaville, parts of Congo - Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Niger, Nigeria and Tunisia. For part of the year: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands and 14 more. Where it is kept all year, UTC+01:00 also goes by these names in the tz database: Central European Standard Time.
Where WAT stands today
West Africa Time is UTC+01:00 today and will be UTC+01:00 on every other day. A recurring meeting anchored to WAT never drifts against UTC, which makes it a dependable reference for logs kept in Lagos and for schedules that run across a whole year.
A working day on WAT
| Place | WAT’s 09:00–17:00 there | Over the next 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| UTC | 08:00–16:00 | — |
| New York | 03:00–11:00 / 04:00–12:00 | 2 h to 3 h |
| London | 08:00–16:00 / 09:00–17:00 | 7 h to 8 h |
| Tokyo | 17:00–01:00 | none all year |
At 09:00 on a Monday on WAT time, Honolulu is still on Sunday. For part of the year, so is Anchorage. By 17:00 on a Friday on WAT time, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Tokyo, Manila, Seoul and 14 more have already reached Saturday.
Sunrise and sunset on WAT time in Lagos
For the working hours Lagos shares with New York, London and Tokyo, and for its sunrise and sunset through the year, see the Lagos page.
How WAT compares with other zones
Right now WAT runs ahead of UTC, New York, London and Los Angeles and behind Dubai, Kolkata, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney. At the moment it shows the same time as Berlin.
| Zone | UTC offset | Difference from WAT | Over the next 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTC | UTC+00:00 | 1h ahead | all year |
| New York | UTC-05:00 | 6h ahead | 6h ahead / 5h ahead |
| London | UTC+00:00 | 1h ahead | 1h ahead / Same time |
| Berlin | UTC+01:00 | Same time | Same time / 1h behind |
| Dubai | UTC+04:00 | 3h behind | all year |
| Kolkata | UTC+05:30 | 4h 30m behind | all year |
| Singapore | UTC+08:00 | 7h behind | all year |
| Tokyo | UTC+09:00 | 8h behind | all year |
| Sydney | UTC+11:00 | 10h behind | 9h behind / 10h behind |
| Los Angeles | UTC-08:00 | 9h ahead | 9h ahead / 8h ahead |
Cities using WAT
- Lagos
- Kinshasa
- Luanda
Convert WAT to another zone
Related time zones
Time zone rules: IANA tz database release 2026c, applied when this page was generated on 2026-11-02.
Frequently asked questions
What is WAT?
West Africa Time, WAT, is UTC+01:00. West Africa Time is used all year with no daylight saving changes.
What is the IANA identifier for WAT?
Africa/Lagos, named after Lagos. Its clock last changed on September 1, 1919, from UTC+00:30 to UTC+01:00, and it has kept UTC+01:00 since.
Does WAT change for daylight saving?
No. West Africa Time keeps UTC+01:00 on every date; so does BST and CET.
What time is it on WAT when it is 09:00 in London?
10:00 until March 28, 2027 and from October 31, 2027; 09:00 from March 28, 2027 to October 31, 2027.
Is WAT the same as BST?
As labels, both mean UTC+01:00. The places behind them, Lagos and London, show the same time on 217 days of the coming year.