Convert CET to WET Central European Time ↔ Western European Time Free Online Secure
Type a time in CET and read it in WET straight away. The offset is −1 h, the arithmetic wraps at midnight, and the answer says which day it lands on.
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Through the day — Convert CET to WET (Central European Time ↔ Western European Time)
| CET | WET |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | 23:00 |
| 03:00 | 02:00 |
| 06:00 | 05:00 |
| 09:00 | 08:00 |
| 12:00 | 11:00 |
| 15:00 | 14:00 |
| 18:00 | 17:00 |
| 21:00 | 20:00 |
Where these units come from
Until the middle of the nineteenth century every town kept its own noon, set by the sun overhead, and nobody minded that the next town was four minutes behind. Railways ended that: a timetable cannot be written for a hundred local noons. Britain put its railways on Greenwich time in 1847, and in 1884 the International Meridian Conference in Washington chose Greenwich as the prime meridian and sketched the twenty-four-hour scheme we still use. Greenwich Mean Time was the world's reference until 1972, when Coordinated Universal Time replaced it: UTC is kept by atomic clocks and tied back to the turning Earth by leap seconds. The abbreviations on this page name standard time — the winter setting — which is why each one is a fixed number of hours rather than something that drifts through the year.
Where you meet them
A time zone becomes real the moment two people in different places have to agree on one moment: a call between offices, a flight that lands before it took off, a market that opens while you are asleep, a deadline written in somebody else's afternoon. Server logs, train and flight schedules and anything stamped with a time are kept in UTC precisely so that the question can always be settled, no matter whose clock was on the wall.
Questions people ask
What about summer time?
The offsets here are standard-time offsets, the ones a zone keeps in winter. Where summer time is observed, the same places move one hour further on for part of the year and take a different name: Central European Time becomes Central European Summer Time, Eastern Standard Time becomes Eastern Daylight Time. The switching dates are not the same in every country, and the two hemispheres change in opposite months, so for a date inside a summer-time period add an hour to whichever side observes it.
Why isn't every difference a whole number of hours?
Because offsets are decided by governments, not by geometry. India is half an hour off the hour, at UTC+05:30; Nepal is three quarters, at UTC+05:45; the Chatham Islands are at UTC+12:45. Any of these can be changed by law, and several countries have moved their offset within living memory.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
One hour between Central and Western Europe
A Eurostar train leaves Paris at 10:00 CET. A flight to the Canary Islands takes off from Madrid at 09:00. The tomato fight at La Tomatina begins in Spain at 11:00 CEST. Anyone reading those hours in London, Dublin or Lisbon has to convert CET to WET, and the rule is the shortest of all the European ones: subtract one hour. 10:00 CET becomes 09:00 WET, 09:00 CET becomes 08:00 WET, and 00:30 CET slips back to the previous evening, at 23:30 WET. Unlike links with America, this gap never changes: both blocs move their clocks at the same instant, at 01:00 UTC on the last Sundays of March and October.
The page covers the rule, the tables, a description of the two zones and episodes from transport, festivals, sport and music. The calculation takes place in your browser, and no figure is sent to a server.
Eurostar under the Channel
The ticket that lies by an hour
A train that leaves Paris at 10:00 CET and travels for two hours and a quarter reaches London at 10:15 GMT. The ticket shows 10:00 and 10:15, although the journey takes 2 hours 15 minutes: London’s clock is an hour behind.
The return
A train from London at 17:30 GMT reaches Paris at 20:45 CET. A “convert CET to WET” calculation made beforehand shows when you must be at the station in both capitals.
The border between Spain and Portugal
Two clocks in two neighbouring countries
Mainland Spain is on CET and mainland Portugal on WET. A driver who crosses the border from Vigo to Valença sets the watch back an hour: 12:00 in Madrid is 11:00 in Lisbon.
Practical consequences
A Portuguese restaurant open “until 22:00” on its own clock is open until 23:00 on Spanish time. A “convert CET to WET” calculation made beforehand shows why bookings across the border should be written with both hours.
Flights to the Canaries
Leaving Madrid
A flight from Madrid to Tenerife that leaves at 10:00 CET and takes nearly three hours lands at 12:55 CET, which is 11:55 WET. The ticket shows 10:00 and 11:55, as for a flight of nearly two hours.
The islands on WET
The Canaries are on WET, like London and Lisbon, so an hour behind mainland Spain all year. Whoever arrives there sets the watch back.
La Tomatina in Buñol
Battle time
The tomato battle begins at 11:00 CEST, which is 10:00 BST. Britons and Irish who follow it online catch it in mid-morning.
The preparations
Preparations streamed online start an hour earlier, at 10:00 CEST, which is 09:00 BST. A “convert CET to WET” calculation shows at once that on British time everything falls an hour earlier.
The running of the bulls in Pamplona
The hour of dawn
The run begins at 08:00 CEST, which is 07:00 BST. British and Portuguese readers watch it live before their first coffee.
The repeat
A repeat shown at 15:00 CEST is at 14:00 BST. A “convert CET to WET” calculation tells you at once whether you can see it on your lunch break.
Las Fallas in Valencia
The two o’clock mascletà
The daytime fireworks display begins at 14:00 CET in March, which is 13:00 GMT. Visitors from Lisbon or London catch it on their lunch break.
The night of the fires
The burning of the statues on the night of 19 March, at 00:00 CET, is at 23:00 GMT on the evening of 18 March. Whoever does a “convert CET to WET” calculation with the date in view does not mix up the day.
The Bayreuth festival
The opening
The opening performance in July begins at 16:00 CEST, which is 15:00 BST. British audiences watch live in the middle of the afternoon.
The long intervals
The intervals between acts last 60 minutes. One that starts at 17:40 CEST ends at 18:40 CEST, which is 17:40 BST.
How to convert CET to WET, in brief
Subtract one hour
CET is UTC+1 and WET is UTC+0. London, Dublin and Lisbon are an hour behind Central Europe. From the Central European time on a 24-hour clock, subtract 1. If the result is negative, add 24 and go to the previous date.
Eight values to check
00:30 CET is 23:30 WET the day before. 01:00 CET is 00:00 WET. 06:15 CET is 05:15 WET. 09:00 CET is 08:00 WET. 12:30 CET is 11:30 WET. 18:00 CET is 17:00 WET. 21:45 CET is 20:45 WET. 23:15 CET is 22:15 WET. Only the first crosses into the previous date.
In summer
CEST against WEST is also one hour. 10:00 CEST is 09:00 WEST. The two continents move their clocks at the same instant, so the difference never changes.
Central European time, described briefly
Countries and clocks
Germany, France, Italy, mainland Spain, Poland, Austria and Switzerland keep CET (UTC+1) in winter and CEST (UTC+2) in summer. The changes happen on the last Sundays of March and October, at 01:00 UTC.
Romania
Romania is an hour ahead of Central Europe. A reader in Bucharest therefore subtracts two hours for London, not one.
Western European time, described briefly
Who uses it
Mainland Portugal, Madeira, the Canaries and the Faroes run on WET (UTC+0), while Britain and Ireland use the same offset under the name GMT. In summer all of them advance an hour, together with Central Europe.
Exceptions
Iceland stays on UTC+0 all year, so against Central Europe it is one hour away in winter and two in summer. The Azores sit on UTC−1 in winter and UTC+0 in summer, so they are two hours away all year.
One hour on the dial
Working hours
A Paris office open from 09:00 to 17:00 works, on London time, from 08:00 to 16:00. A London office open from 09:00 to 17:00 works from 10:00 to 18:00 on Paris time. The days overlap for seven hours, from 10:00 to 17:00 CET.
Who rings first
A call from Berlin at 08:30 CET rings at 07:30 WET, early for many Londoners. One from 17:30 CET rings at 16:30 WET, when the British colleagues are still at the office.
The short flight
A flight from Frankfurt to London that leaves at 08:00 CET and takes nearly an hour and a half lands at 09:30 CET, which is 08:30 WET. The ticket shows 08:00 and 08:30, as for a flight of half an hour.
When the markets open
The European exchanges
The Frankfurt exchange opens at 09:00 CET, which is 08:00 WET, just when London’s opens. The two markets work almost at the same time.
The close
The German exchange closes at 17:30 CET and the London one at 16:30 WET, which is the same instant. A “convert CET to WET” calculation shows at once that they open and close together, even though the clocks show different hours.
Dated examples
January
On Monday 19 January, 15:00 CET is 14:00 GMT. Both zones are on standard time.
The last week of March
On Monday 23 March, 15:00 CET is 14:00 GMT. On Sunday 29 March, at 01:00 UTC, both clocks advance: on Monday 30 March, 15:00 CEST is 14:00 BST. The difference stayed at one hour.
Summer
On Monday 20 July, 15:00 CEST is 14:00 BST. Both are on summer time.
Autumn
On Monday 26 October, 15:00 CET is 14:00 GMT, after the simultaneous return to standard time on 25 October. On Monday 14 December, 15:00 CET is 14:00 GMT.
The exceptions: Iceland and the Azores
Iceland
Iceland does not change its clock. Reykjavik is on UTC+0 all year, so against Central Europe the difference is one hour in winter and two in summer. 15:00 CEST is 13:00 in Reykjavik.
The Azores
The Azores are on UTC−1 in winter and UTC+0 in summer. Against Central Europe they are two hours away all year: 15:00 CET is 13:00 in Ponta Delgada. A “convert CET to WET” calculation shows at once whether the target is the Azores or mainland Portugal.
Developer teams between Munich and London
The morning meeting
A team with members in Munich and London meets at 10:00 CET, which is 09:00 GMT. For the Bavarians it is already the second working hour, for the Londoners the first.
What stays in writing
Work that ends at 18:00 CET reaches London at 17:00 WET, when the British colleagues still have an hour of work. A “convert CET to WET” calculation at each handover shows that it fits into their day.
Other European clocks, counted from Berlin
How many hours to subtract or add
Relative to Berlin, London and Lisbon are 1 hour behind, Reykjavik 1 hour in winter and 2 in summer, the Azores 2 hours. Bucharest, Athens and Helsinki are 1 hour ahead, and Moscow in winter 2.
One instant, four capitals
When it is 14:00 in Berlin, it is 13:00 in London, 15:00 in Athens and 15:00 in Bucharest. An invitation that lists them all spares the reader any convert CET to WET.
Online courses between European universities
Lecture time
A lecture at 10:00 CET is at 09:00 WET. Students in Britain and Portugal start it an hour later on their own clocks than those in Germany.
Deadlines
A deadline of 23:59 CET is at 22:59 WET the same day. Whoever thinks they have until the British midnight is wrong by an hour.
Concerts from Central Europe broadcast in Britain
The evening concert
A concert that begins at 20:00 CET begins at 19:00 GMT. British audiences watch live at dinner time.
Late broadcasts
A broadcast at 22:30 CET is at 21:30 WET. A “convert CET to WET” calculation shows that the European evening ends an hour earlier on London’s clock.
Clock changes: what they do to the gap
The 2026 calendar
CET and WET move their clocks on the same dates, so the difference stays at 1 hour all year. In summer the labels become CEST and WEST, but the sum is unchanged.
How to apply it
In 2026 the European clocks change on 29 March and 25 October, and the American ones on 8 March and 1 November. The sum behind a request to convert CET to WET is the same on every date.
A day of conversions at a glance
CET into WET
00:00 CET corresponds to 23:00 WET (previous day). 01:00 CET corresponds to 00:00 WET. 02:00 CET corresponds to 01:00 WET. 03:00 CET corresponds to 02:00 WET. 04:00 CET corresponds to 03:00 WET. 05:00 CET corresponds to 04:00 WET. 06:00 CET corresponds to 05:00 WET. 07:00 CET corresponds to 06:00 WET. 08:00 CET corresponds to 07:00 WET. 09:00 CET corresponds to 08:00 WET. 10:00 CET corresponds to 09:00 WET. 11:00 CET corresponds to 10:00 WET. 12:00 CET corresponds to 11:00 WET. 13:00 CET corresponds to 12:00 WET. 14:00 CET corresponds to 13:00 WET. 15:00 CET corresponds to 14:00 WET. 16:00 CET corresponds to 15:00 WET. 17:00 CET corresponds to 16:00 WET. 18:00 CET corresponds to 17:00 WET. 19:00 CET corresponds to 18:00 WET. 20:00 CET corresponds to 19:00 WET. 21:00 CET corresponds to 20:00 WET. 22:00 CET corresponds to 21:00 WET. 23:00 CET corresponds to 22:00 WET.
Using the table
Find the CET hour you need and read off the WET hour beside it. The rows come from the arithmetic behind each request to convert CET to WET. No half-hour is involved in this pair, so the minute figures never change.
Half past every hour
CET :30 against WET
00:30 CET corresponds to 23:30 WET (previous day). 01:30 CET corresponds to 00:30 WET. 02:30 CET corresponds to 01:30 WET. 03:30 CET corresponds to 02:30 WET. 04:30 CET corresponds to 03:30 WET. 05:30 CET corresponds to 04:30 WET. 06:30 CET corresponds to 05:30 WET. 07:30 CET corresponds to 06:30 WET. 08:30 CET corresponds to 07:30 WET. 09:30 CET corresponds to 08:30 WET. 10:30 CET corresponds to 09:30 WET. 11:30 CET corresponds to 10:30 WET. 12:30 CET corresponds to 11:30 WET. 13:30 CET corresponds to 12:30 WET. 14:30 CET corresponds to 13:30 WET. 15:30 CET corresponds to 14:30 WET. 16:30 CET corresponds to 15:30 WET. 17:30 CET corresponds to 16:30 WET. 18:30 CET corresponds to 17:30 WET. 19:30 CET corresponds to 18:30 WET. 20:30 CET corresponds to 19:30 WET. 21:30 CET corresponds to 20:30 WET. 22:30 CET corresponds to 21:30 WET. 23:30 CET corresponds to 22:30 WET.
A note on the list
Schedules often use :30 slots. Each entry below gives the WET equivalent, so you do not have to convert CET to WET again for them.
Ten readings with minutes
Examples from CET to WET
01:05 CET corresponds to 00:05 WET. 03:20 CET corresponds to 02:20 WET. 05:50 CET corresponds to 04:50 WET. 07:35 CET corresponds to 06:35 WET. 10:10 CET corresponds to 09:10 WET. 13:25 CET corresponds to 12:25 WET. 16:40 CET corresponds to 15:40 WET. 19:55 CET corresponds to 18:55 WET. 22:15 CET corresponds to 21:15 WET. 23:05 CET corresponds to 22:05 WET.
What to notice
These are less round examples, with minutes. Only the hour moves. Minutes pass through unchanged, which makes this pair easy to check by eye.
Times of day in WET
A day in CET, translated into WET
06:00 CET corresponds to 05:00 WET (early morning). 08:00 CET corresponds to 07:00 WET (early morning). 10:00 CET corresponds to 09:00 WET (morning). 12:00 CET corresponds to 11:00 WET (morning). 14:00 CET corresponds to 13:00 WET (around midday). 16:00 CET corresponds to 15:00 WET (afternoon). 18:00 CET corresponds to 17:00 WET (afternoon). 20:00 CET corresponds to 19:00 WET (evening). 22:00 CET corresponds to 21:00 WET (evening).
A practical tip
Read down the list to see how the CET day maps onto the WET day. It is useful before you convert CET to WET for a meeting invitation.
Before you convert CET to WET: a short checklist
Preparation
Check the zone names
CET is the winter name only: from late March to late October most of its countries use CEST, one hour ahead. Iceland shares the offset of WET all year but has no summer time, unlike Portugal.
Use a 24-hour clock
The 24-hour clock avoids a.m. and p.m. slips, so rewrite 4:30 p.m. as 16:30 before anything else. For example, 09:15 CET becomes 08:15 WET.
Finishing
The operation
Subtract 1 hour. If the result passes midnight, correct the date: readings before 01:00 fall on the previous date.
A second example
Try a later hour: 22:40 CET is 21:40 WET.
Traps to avoid when you convert CET to WET
Adding instead of subtracting
Because WET runs behind CET, the result must be an earlier clock reading. A later one points to an addition.
Losing the date
Anything on the CET clock before 01:00 lands on the previous date. If the date stays put, the answer is a full day out.
Mixing up labels in summer
In summer the labels change to CEST and WEST, but the gap between the two clocks does not. Do not adjust the sum because of a new name.
Confusing the abbreviation
Romania is not on CET: it uses Eastern European Time, one hour ahead. WET is used by mainland Portugal, Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Faroe Islands; the Azores are an hour behind.
Frequently asked questions
How far apart are CET and WET?
1 hour, and WET is behind CET.
What do I do to convert CET to WET?
Subtract 1 hour from the CET time, then fix the date if the result passes midnight.
How much is 21:45 CET in WET?
20:45 WET.
Do the seasons affect this conversion?
No. The relationship is the same all year.
Is the time I enter sent anywhere?
No. The calculation runs in your browser.
Related conversions
See also Convert CET to GMT, Convert CET to PST, Convert EST to WET, Convert CST to WET, Convert WET to PST, Convert IST to CET, Convert GMT to WET, Convert CST to IST, Convert UTC to WET. The opposite direction is Convert WET to CET.
That is all there is to it. To convert CET to WET, subtract 1 hour; nothing leaves your browser.