Time in Switzerland
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Switzerland uses Central European Time (CET) during the winter as standard time, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+01:00), and Central European Summer Time (CEST) during the summer as daylight saving time, which is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+02:00).[1]
History[edit]
The electrical telegraph was introduced in Switzerland in 1851, which allowed near real-time communication, especially amongst post offices. By July 1853, all telegraph and post offices across Switzerland were using Bernese time,[2] a local mean time measured from the Zytglogge clocktower[3] at UTC+00:29:45.5.[a] Bernese time was also used on train timetables by at least 1873.[5] On 1 June 1894, UTC+01:00 was officially adopted nationwide.[6] Daylight saving time was first attempted between 1941 and 1942, by moving the clocks forward one hour at 01:00 on the first Monday in May, and back again at 02:00 on the first Monday in October.[citation needed] The decision to observe daylight saving time was made by the Federal Council on behalf of the recommendation of the Federal Chancellery.[7]
Whilst DST was introduced in much of Western Europe in the spring of 1980, Switzerland did not implement DST until the following year. This resulted in there being a one hour time difference between Switzerland and most of Western Europe, including all of the bordering countries (with the exception of Liechtenstein) for around six months in 1980.[citation needed]
The German village of Büsingen am Hochrhein, a small exclave, entirely surrounded by Swiss territory, did not implement DST in 1980 either and observed the same time as Switzerland, meaning there was a one hour time difference between this village and the rest of Germany. The zone Europe/Busingen was created in the 2013a release of the tz database,[8] because since the Unix time epoch in 1970, Büsingen has shared clocks with Zurich.[9]
Since 1981 the shifts to DST occur on the date as specified for European Summer Time.[citation needed]
Solar time[edit]
The difference of longitude between the western and easternmost points of Switzerland is equivalent to 4°32′09″, resulting in a difference of approximately 18 minutes of solar time.[citation needed]
IANA time zone database[edit]
The IANA time zone database contains one zone for Switzerland in the file zone.tab, named Europe/Zurich. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself.[citation needed]
| c.c.* | Coordinates* | TZ* | Comments* | UTC offset | UTC DST offset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CH | +4723+00832 | Europe/Zurich | Büsingen | +01:00 | +02:00 |
Computers not supporting "Europe/Zurich" may use the older POSIX syntax: TZ='CET-1CEST,M3.5.0/2,M10.5.0/3'[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^ Europe. WorldTimeZone.com.
- ^ Messerli, Jakob (1995). Gleichmässig – pünktlich – schnell: Zeiteinteilung und Zeitgebrauch in der Schweiz im 19. Jahrhundert (in German). Zürich. p. 72. ISBN 3-905311-68-2. OCLC 717570797.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Stuewer, Roger H. (2009). The Physical Tourist: A Science Guide for the Traveler. Springer London. p. 128. ISBN 9783764389338. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "Verordnung des Bundesamtes für Landestopografie über Geoinformation" [Ordinance of the Federal Office of Topography on Geoinformation] (in German). Fedlex: The publication platform for federal law. 26 May 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ Black, Charles Bertram (1873). "Guide to Switzerland and the Italian Lakes". Sampson Low, Marston & Company. p. 21. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "Circulaire du conseil fédéral" (in French). Swiss Federal Council. 13 December 1893. Retrieved 28 March 2022 – via Swiss Federal Archives.
- ^ "Protokol Sitzung des schweizerischen Bundesrates" [Minutes of the session of the Swiss Federal Council] (PDF) (in German). Swiss Federal Council. 7 November 1941. p. 24. Retrieved 28 March 2022 – via Swiss Federal Archives.
- ^ Eggert, Paul (2013-03-02). "tzcode2013a and tzdata2013a available". ICANN.
- ^ Olson, Arthur David (2012-03-03). "New zone for DE, split from Europe/Berlin". gmane.comp.time.tz.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Measured at 46°57′08″N 7°26′22″E / 46.95222°N 7.43944°E.[4]