Nearly every clock decision in this series moved a city further from its own sun.
Spain went to Berlin time in 1940 and stayed. Malaysia and Singapore rounded up in 1982. Türkiye fixed itself permanently at UTC+3 in 2016. Iceland abolished daylight saving in 1968 by keeping summer time forever. In each case a government chose administrative convenience over astronomical accuracy, and the gap between the clock and the sky got wider.
Four have gone the other way.
ASTANA, 2024 — the clearest case, and the most recent.
For 96 years Kazakhstan was split into two time zones, UTC+5 in the west and UTC+6 in the east. On 1 March 2024 the whole country moved to a single zone: UTC+5. Clocks in Astana, Almaty, Shymkent and twelve regions were turned back an hour.
The stated reason is what makes this unusual. Kazakh scientists argued that UTC+6 did not correspond to natural solar time, and that this negatively affected biological rhythms and human health. The government chose the offset closer to the sun.
Astana went from about 74 minutes ahead of its own solar noon to about 14.
→ Astana
LISBON, 1976 and 1996 — twice rejected, twice reversed.
Portugal sits at about 9° west, in line with Britain and Ireland, and belongs on GMT. It tried Central European Time twice anyway: from 1966 to 1976, and again from 1992 to 1996. Both times it went back.
The second reversal was driven by parents' associations. Children were leaving for school in the dark and refusing to go to bed while it was still light.
→ Lisbon
CARACAS, 1912 and 2007 — the right meridian, adopted twice.
Venezuela is centred near 67°30′ west, almost exactly halfway between the standard meridians at 60° and 75°. Neither whole-hour zone fits.
In 1912 the country adopted UTC−4:30, centred on the meridian it actually sits on. Caracas was then about two minutes from its solar noon. It gave that up in 1965 to conform to international whole-hour practice, and took it back in December 2007.
It abandoned it again in 2016, during an electricity crisis. Today Caracas runs about 28 minutes ahead of the sun.
→ Caracas
SEOUL, 1954 — restoring a pre-colonial meridian.
Korea adopted UTC+8:30 in 1908, based on 127.5° east — which is astronomically about right for the peninsula. In 1912, under Japanese colonial rule, the Governor-General moved it to UTC+9 to match Japan.
On 21 March 1954 the government restored UTC+8:30, the pre-colonial standard and the more accurate one. It lasted until 1961, when the country returned to UTC+9 citing administrative efficiency and coordination with trading partners.
Seoul has therefore had the astronomically correct time zone twice, and given it up twice.
→ Seoul
What these four have in common.
Not much, except that in each case someone made the argument out loud. Portuguese parents talking about dark mornings. Kazakh scientists talking about circadian rhythm. Venezuelan and Korean governments talking about the meridian the country actually sits on.
Everywhere else, the clock moved for trade, for alignment, for an ally, for an occupier, or for an energy calculation — and the sun was not consulted.