On the night from Saturday to Sunday during the last weekend of October, the clock goes back one hour. That means an extra hour of sleep and a return to standard time. But did you know that the Netherlands once had its own time zone? Amsterdam Time, which differed by nearly 20 minutes from the rest of Western Europe.
Time seems something obvious. A universal code that is correct everywhere. Whether you are in Maastricht or Amsterdam. But once, in the Netherlands, every city and village ran on its own clock.
When the Sun Ruled
Before the arrival of railways and telegraph lines, every place had its own time. The clock was simply set according to the sun. When it was highest in the sky, it was 12 noon. In Groningen, this happened over 10 minutes earlier than in, for example, Middelburg. But nobody worried about that.
One Clock for the Whole Country
Until the end of the 19th century, modernity accelerated rapidly. Trains ran on schedule, telegrams flew across the country, and suddenly it became difficult when it was quarter to 12 in Amsterdam but almost 12 oclock a bit further away. Train departure and arrival times could differ by a few minutes, causing chaos. A national time was needed. One clock for the entire country.
Amsterdam Time
On May 1, 1909, it happened. The Netherlands got an official time zone: Amsterdam Time. It was determined based on the mean solar time in Amsterdam, specifically at 4 degrees and 53 minutes east longitude. The earliest sunrise in the new standard time was around 3:45 a.m., the latest in winter around 8:15 a.m. The Westertoren was the center point.
The World Keeps Ticking
Almost all European countries switched from the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the 24 (theoretical) time zones on the globe. Geographically, the Netherlands fell under Western Europe and thus Western European Time. This corresponded with Greenwich Mean Time (the prime meridian) followed in England. Germany used Central European Time, which was one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and Western European Time. The Netherlands refused both times and stubbornly adopted Amsterdam Time. The result? Our national clock ran 19 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of London time and over 40 minutes behind Berlin.
A Bit Stubborn
Maybe Amsterdam Time was just typical for the city: a bit stubborn and somewhat different. Meanwhile, the world became smaller. Trains crossed borders, phone calls became international, and radio broadcasts had to be synchronized. This made Amsterdam Time increasingly impractical.
War
Then came the war. On May 16, 1940, less than a week after the German invasion, the occupiers decided that the Netherlands would henceforth use Central European Time, the same time as Berlin. That same day, daylight saving time also started. The clock was thus set forward by 1 hour and 40 minutes as if it was nothing. From one day to the next, the Netherlands was in step with Germany. Belgium, France, and Luxembourg were also forced by the Germans to adopt Central European Time.
No Going Back
After liberation in 1945, there was some thought of returning to Amsterdam Time, but that idea quickly disappeared. The world had become too connected to work with its own, different time zone. The Netherlands remained on Central European Time, and that has continued to this day.
Eternal Struggle with the Clock
However, it was never completely quiet around the clock. As early as 1916, the Netherlands introduced daylight saving time for the first time, following Germany, intended to save energy during wartime. After that, the system was abolished and reintroduced multiple times. Only since 1977 have we consistently changed the clock twice a year: forward in spring, back in autumn.
Time of Society
Actually, time is quite strange. For centuries, we determined the time with the help of the sun until we realized it was more practical to agree on time together. The time your watch shows is not the time of nature but of society. Amsterdam Time illustrates this well. From May 1, 1909, to May 16, 1940, time in Amsterdam ticked just a little differently.
Image: Time Zone Database by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
