NZST — New Zealand Standard Time

New Zealand Standard Time (NZST) is twelve hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, placing New Zealand among the first major countries to see each new day. The time zone covers both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, as well as some nearby Pacific territories. Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch are the principal cities operating on NZST.

New Zealand's position near the International Date Line gives it a unique relationship with global timekeeping. When it is noon on Monday in Auckland, it is midnight Sunday-to-Monday in London. This makes New Zealand one of the first countries to celebrate New Year's Eve and to begin each trading week. The Chatham Islands, a New Zealand territory roughly 800 kilometers east of the South Island, use their own time zone at UTC+12:45, one of the few 45-minute offset time zones in the world.

New Zealand observes daylight saving time, switching to New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT, UTC+13) from the last Sunday in September to the first Sunday in April. During NZDT, New Zealand is 13 hours ahead of UTC, making it the furthest ahead of any commonly used time zone. New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to adopt DST, introducing it in 1927.