Convert WAT to CEST
CEST is 1 hour ahead of WAT. WAT is UTC+1 and CEST is UTC+2.
Right now: WAT · CEST
Best time to schedule a meeting
Standard 9–5 working hours overlap for 7 hours: 9:00 AM–4:00 PM WAT (10:00 AM–5:00 PM CEST). Schedule meetings inside that window.
| WAT | CEST | Suitable? |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM | 10:00 AM | working hours |
| 10:00 AM | 11:00 AM | working hours |
| 11:00 AM | 12:00 PM | working hours |
| 12:00 PM | 1:00 PM | working hours |
| 1:00 PM | 2:00 PM | working hours |
| 2:00 PM | 3:00 PM | working hours |
| 3:00 PM | 4:00 PM | working hours |
| 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | outside 9–5 |
| 5:00 PM | 6:00 PM | outside 9–5 |
WAT to CEST conversion table
| WAT | CEST |
|---|---|
| 12:00 AM | 1:00 AM |
| 1:00 AM | 2:00 AM |
| 2:00 AM | 3:00 AM |
| 3:00 AM | 4:00 AM |
| 4:00 AM | 5:00 AM |
| 5:00 AM | 6:00 AM |
| 6:00 AM | 7:00 AM |
| 7:00 AM | 8:00 AM |
| 8:00 AM | 9:00 AM |
| 9:00 AM | 10:00 AM |
| 10:00 AM | 11:00 AM |
| 11:00 AM | 12:00 PM |
| 12:00 PM | 1:00 PM |
| 1:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
| 2:00 PM | 3:00 PM |
| 3:00 PM | 4:00 PM |
| 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM |
| 5:00 PM | 6:00 PM |
| 6:00 PM | 7:00 PM |
| 7:00 PM | 8:00 PM |
| 8:00 PM | 9:00 PM |
| 9:00 PM | 10:00 PM |
| 10:00 PM | 11:00 PM |
| 11:00 PM | 12:00 AM (next day) |
About WAT
West Africa Time (WAT) is UTC+1. It is used in Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola and much of central and western Africa.
West Africa Time is UTC+1 all year, with no daylight saving anywhere that uses it. It covers Lagos, Kinshasa and Luanda — a very large population on a single fixed offset. It matches Central European Time in winter and falls an hour behind it in summer, which means a standing Europe–Nigeria meeting moves twice a year at the European end and never at the African one.
About CEST
Central European Summer Time (CEST) is UTC+2. It is used in Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Rome from late March to late October.
Central European Summer Time is UTC+2, in force from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. The European changeover happens at 01:00 UTC everywhere simultaneously, unlike the US which changes at 2am local time in each zone — so Europe's internal offsets never break during the transition, while North America's briefly do.
Does this gap change with the seasons?
This gap is seasonal. The abbreviations themselves are fixed offsets, but the region on CEST switches to CET (UTC+1) from late October to late March. So the 1-hour figure on this page is correct for the part of the year when both places are actually on these abbreviations, and changes by an hour outside it.
WAT does not shift, so the whole change comes from one side. A recurring meeting fixed in WAT will appear to move by an hour for everyone on the other side, twice a year, without anyone changing anything.
This is the reason scheduling systems store an IANA zone such as Region/City rather than an offset or an abbreviation: the zone knows its own rules and the offset does not.
Frequently asked questions
What time is 9:00 AM WAT in CEST?
9:00 AM WAT is 10:00 AM CEST.
Is CEST ahead of WAT?
CEST is 1 hour ahead of WAT.
Which time zone does this use?
WAT is UTC+1 and CEST is UTC+2. Both abbreviations denote a single fixed offset, so this conversion never shifts with daylight saving — what changes is which abbreviation a place is using at the time.